Print and Cut

Quick Reference: Print and Cut

Aligns new output to pre-existing target locations.

Location

Modes Toolbar

Laser Tools → Print and Cut
Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows: Alt+0

Mac: Option+0
Compatibility

Gantry lasers

Print and Cut aligns a current project to existing Target Positions — also called registration marks — in a previously output design.

Print and Cut works by measuring the difference in location, orientation, and scale between two Target Positions in your laser's physical work area and the positions of two corresponding graphics in your LightBurn Workspace.

Use Print and Cut to cut around a pre-printed design, to cut a project larger than your laser's work area, to run a second pass over a previous cut, or to restart a halted job.

To open the Print and Cut Wizard, go to Laser Tools → Print and Cut → Start Wizard, press Alt/Option+0, or click the Print and Cut Icon in the Modes Toolbar.

All individual Print and Cut steps are also selectable from the Print and Cut submenu, without opening the wizard.

Print and Cut Requirements and Notes¶

Print and Cut is only available for Gantry style lasers.
In order to use Print and Cut, your laser must be connected to your computer, reporting its position accurately, and properly homed — for best results, you'll need a laser capable of automatic homing.
You must use Absolute Coordinates positioning with Print and Cut. When you Align Output to Targets with Print and Cut, Absolute Coordinates will automatically be selected as your Start From mode — switching out of that mode will cause misalignment.
When aligning your laser to the Target Positions, you must jog it using the commands in the Move Window, its controller's keypad (if applicable), or the button in the Print and Cut Wizard. You must not move your laser by hand at any point in the process.
The accuracy of Print and Cut depends on the reliability of your laser's motion system and the precision of your laser's beam or red dot pointer's alignment to the Target Positions.
- If your laser slips, snags, or loses position in any other way due to to mechanical problems, you will be unable to achieve accurate alignment with Print and Cut. See Troubleshooting: Mechanical Issues for advice on addressing those issues.
- If the beam or red dot is not perfectly aligned to the center of the Target Positions, output will not be perfectly aligned either.
- Alignments with sub-millimeter accuracy are achievable, but you should anticipate minor deviations in most cases.

Using Print and Cut¶

Notes on Target Positions¶

To use Print and Cut, you must align your laser to two Target Positions in a previously output design, and have corresponding, selectable Target Position graphics in your LightBurn Workspace. LightBurn uses the reported position of the laser over the Target Positions to align new output to the existing design.

The standard use case of Print and Cut is to align laser output to registration marks that were specially added to a file in order to use them as Target Positions later. In this case, the original file is intended to be printed by one device, and cut out (or around) by a laser later on.

In order to align to a previously printed design, the printed file must be in a format that can be Imported by LightBurn.
The Target Position graphics must always maintain their relative position to the design after it is first output, in order to accurately align to them later.

Tip

Lock all objects in your project to ensure they always maintain their relative position to one another.
The Target Position graphics must be a single object or single Group of objects.
Output is aligned relative to the center of the object or Group used as a registration mark.
The farther apart the Target Positions are positioned from one another, the greater the accuracy of your alignment will be.
Crosshair marks make ideal Target Positions. Include them in any printed design you intend to cut with your laser.
In LightBurn, crosshairs must consist of one vertical and one horizontal line, Grouped together.

Tip

Create a circle with lines between its top and bottom and left and right midpoint Snapping locations to make a perfect crosshair.
The crosshairs cannot be images, or part of a larger image. They must be individually selectable vector graphics.
Set the crosshairs to a Tool layer if you do not want them to be cut or engraved by your laser.
To cut a project larger than your laser, you can divide it and engrave sets of crosshairs with each section, and use them to align the next section to the previous section.
You can also center crosshair marks over sharp corners in an existing cut or engraving, and align to those corners. Useful for running a second pass over an incomplete cut, or recovering halted jobs.

Left: Crosshairs imported from a pre-existing design for use as Target Positions.

Right: Crosshairs placed over sharp corners in pre-existing design, to use as Target Positions.

See below for more information on alternate use cases:
- Rerunning a project or recovering a halted job
- Cutting a project larger than your laser's workspace

Aligning Your Project to Target Positions¶

Start by Importing or creating a project that contains Target Position graphics — ideally crosshair marks — following the above guidance.
Go to Laser Tools → Print and Cut → Start Wizard, or press Alt/Option+0 to open the Print and Cut Wizard.

Using Print and Cut from outside the Wizard

Optionally, you can choose not to open the wizard and instead set Target Positions and align output from the Print and Cut submenu, or by using hotkeys.
In your LightBurn Workspace, select the first crosshair mark.
Using the buttons in the Move Window or on your controller's keypad (if applicable), jog your laser over the first Target Position in the existing output in your laser's work area.
Use the laser Fire button in the Move Window or the Pulse button on your laser's controller (if applicable) to align the laser's beam to the center of the Target Position. If your laser has a red dot pointer, position it over the center of the Target Position instead of firing or pulsing the laser.

Warning

Make sure you are wearing properly rated safety glasses before firing or pulsing your laser. Consult your laser's manufacturer to make sure your safety glasses are properly rated for your laser.
After aligning the laser to the Target Position, click Set to set the laser's current location as the first Target Position. If you are not using the Print and Cut Wizard, select Set First Target Position from the Print and Cut submenu, or press Alt/Option+1.
The selected crosshair mark in your Workspace will be highlighted in red.
Select the second crosshair mark in your LightBurn Workspace.
Jog your laser over the second Target Position in the existing output. The Jog button beneath Jog To Selection in the Print and Cut Wizard will automatically jog your laser to the predicted location of the second Target Position. Use the Move Window or controller's keypad to correct or fine-tune alignment if the predicted location is imprecise.
After verifying alignment, click Set to set the laser's current position as the second Target Position. If you are not using the Print and Cut Wizard, select Set Second Target Position from the Print and Cut submenu, or press Alt/Option+2.
The second crosshair mark in your Workspace will be highlighted in blue.
Select Scaled (Alt/Option+3) or No Scaling (Alt/Option+4) to align the current project in your LightBurn Workspace to the Target Positions in your laser's work area. In the Print and Cut submenu, these options appear as Align Output to Targets and Align Output to Targets (no scaling).
- The Scaled option resizes your project to account for any discrepancy between the size of your project in LightBurn and the size of the pre-existing output in your laser's work area, based on the distance between the Target Positions.
- The No Scaling option aligns the project but does not resize it according to the distance beteween the Target Positions.
The wizard will close when you select one of the above options. You can select an alternative option by re-opening the wizard, selecting it from the Print and Cut submenu, or by using the appropriate hotkey.

Choose Reset Print and Cut to remove the current alignment and start the process over.
The Enabled Mode(s): Print and Cut indicator will appear at the bottom right corner of your screen:

And green outlines will appear around both crosshair marks:

Warning

Absolute Coordinates will automatically be selected as your Start From when you enable Print and Cut. Make sure not to switch to a different Start From mode.
After verifying that your project will output correctly by Framing and viewing it in the Preview window, Start the job.

Expected appearance of Print and Cut Preview

You should expect to see your project rotate in the Preview window, if the location of the Target Positions you've set indicates that a change in orientation is required.

Error Messages¶

There are a few error messages you may receive when setting the Target Positions.

Multiple Shapes Selected¶

You may not use multiple shapes as a registration mark, unless they are Grouped. If you are using a crosshair mark as your Target Position graphics, you must Group the lines before setting the positions.

Need to Select a Different Target¶

After setting your first Target Position, you did not select a different Target Position graphic in your LightBurn Workspace, before clicking to set the the second position.

Select the second graphic, and try again.

Must Move the Laser¶

The laser has reported no movement from the position it was in when you set the first Target Position.

Make sure the laser is still connected and reporting its position. If the laser has disconnected, you must re-home and start the process over.

Make sure you are moving the laser using the jog buttons in the Move Window or on its controller's keypad (if applicable), and not by hand.

Insufficient Separation¶

The laser has reported a change in position, but the second Target Position is too close to the first. Make sure you have jogged your laser the whole way to the second position using the jog buttons in the Move Window or on its controller's keypad (if applicable), and not by hand.

If the Target Positions are physically too close together, you must amend your original design to increase their separation. That requires re-printing or re-outputting the original design, and making sure the design in your LightBurn Workspace is updated to match.

Alternate Use Cases¶

Rerunning a Project or Restarting a Halted Job¶

If a design has suitable sharp corners, you do not need to have special Target Positions in the original design to use Print and Cut.

Using sharp corners in existing output allows you to align a project that was not originally intended to be used with Print and Cut, either to run a second pass over an incomplete cut, or to align to and restart a halted job.

To align to corners of existing output, you must create two crosshair marks and position them so that they are perfectly centered over two sharp corners in your design in LightBurn.

Tip

Use Snapping to ensure that the centers of the crosshairs are directly over the points of the corners.

Move the laser to the corresponding corners in the existing output, and select the appropriate crosshair for each corner when setting the Target Positions.

These crosshairs do not ever need to be output to the laser, so they should be set to a Tool layer.

Alternate method for restarting a halted job

Cutting a Project Larger Than Your Laser's Workspace¶

In order to cut a project larger than your laser's work area, divide it into sections using Cut Shapes, and add crosshair marks to each section, to use as Target Positions to align the subsequent section to.

Be sure to divide the sections and position the crosshair marks such that each section and the crosshairs from the previous section can fit in your laser's work area.

After a set of crosshairs of each section have been engraved, set them to a Tool layer, so they are not output to your laser again — be sure not to delete or move them, you'll still need them for alignment. Set the rest of the graphics in each completed section to a Tool layer as well, or delete them.

Coordinates and Origin

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