Move Selected Objects

Quick Reference: Move Selected Objects

Move objects to a corner, midpoint, or center of your Workspace.

Location

Arrange Toolbar

Arrange → Move Selected Objects
Keyboard Modifiers

Hold Ctrl/Cmd to Move Laser to Selection instead.

The Move Selected Objects tools move objects to a corner, midpoint, or center of your Workspace. If you have a Gantry style laser, it can also move objects to the last reported position of your laser head.

Use these tools to rearrange objects in your Workspace, or to align graphics in LightBurn to the location of material placed in your laser's bed, when using Absolute Coordinates positioning.

UI Locations¶

All Move Selected Objects tools are available in the Arrange Menu or as a drop down menu in the Arrange Toolbar.

In the Arrange (long) Toolbar, the options to move to the center of your Workspace, a corner of your Workspace, or the last reported position of the laser head are available in the full toolbar, while other options are available in a drop down menu.

Move Selected Objects in the Arrange Menu

Move Selected Objects in the Arrange Toolbar

Move Selected Objects in the Arrange (long) Toolbar

Options and Icons¶

Info

Holding the Ctrl or Cmd key while pressing one of these buttons will move the laser to the indicated location on the selection, in machine coordinates, instead of moving the selected objects.

Warning

In order to use Move to Laser Position, LightBurn must be connected to your laser, and it must be capable of reliably homing and reporting its position accurately. If the position reported by the laser is inaccurate, using this feature may cause your laser to attempt to travel outside of its physical bounds.

Option	Icon	Action
Move to Laser Position		Moves selected objects in your Workspace to the location that corresponds to last reported position of the laser in machine coordinates. This option is not available for Galvo lasers.
Move to Page Center		Moves selected objects to the center of your Workspace.
Move to Upper Left		Moves selected objects to the top left corner of your Workspace.
Move to Upper Right		Moves selected objects to the top right corner of your Workspace.
Move to Lower Left		Moves selected objects to the bottom left corner of your Workspace.
Move to Lower Right		Moves selected objects to the bottom right corner of your Workspace.
Move to Left		Moves selected objects to the far left of your Workspace, centered between the top and bottom.
Move to Right		Moves selected objects to the far right of your Workspace, centered between the top and bottom.
Move to Top		Moves selected objects to the top of your Workspace, centered between the left and right.
Move to Bottom		Moves selected objects to the bottom of your Workspace, centered between the left and right.

Move to Page Center Hotkey¶

Press P to move selected objects to the center of your Workspace.

This hotkey only works if the Workspace / Edit Window — the area where you create and edit graphics — is in active focus.

What does it mean for a window to be in focus?

There are several windows in LightBurn that accept user input — when a window is clicked on, it is in focus, and accepting input.

If a window other than the Edit Window is in focus, click anywhere in the Workspace to bring it into focus.

Movement of Selections¶

When using the Move Selected Objects tools, all objects in your selection move as a single unit, maintaining their relative position to one another.

Edges of selections are defined according to the farthest points of any object in the selection area, in each direction — imagine the selection area as the smallest possible rectangle that can contain every object in your selection. The edges of a selection are the same as the edges of that imaginary rectangle.

Selections are moved so that their edges abut the location you move them to — for example, the left edge of a selection will move to touch the left side of your Workspace when you use Move to Left, and the top and right edges of a selection will touch the top and right sides of your Workspace when you use Move to Upper Right.

When using Move to Page Center, the center point of the entire selection is moved to the center of your Workspace.

For more help using LightBurn, please visit our forum to talk with LightBurn staff and users, or email support.