Automatic Guidelines in LightBurn: Alignment Made Easy

Master Alignment with Alignment and Draggable Guidelines

What are Automatic Guidelines?

LightBurn offers two types of automatic guidelines to help align objects with precision:

1. Alignment Guides: Temporary visual guides for aligning object edges or centers.
2. Draggable Guidelines: Persistent, adjustable lines that act as snapping aids for objects.

1. Alignment Guides

Overview

• Purpose: Temporarily indicate when the edge or center of a selected object aligns with another object.
• How to Enable: Hold Alt/Option while dragging an object.

How It Works

• As you move objects, temporary guides appear, showing when alignment is achieved with:
  • Edges of other objects.
  • Centers or midpoints of other objects.

Practical Use Case

• Perfect for quick alignments without adding permanent guides.

2. Draggable Guidelines

Overview

• Purpose: Persistent vertical or horizontal lines that help align and snap objects with precision.
• Layer: Set to the T1 Tool layer, meaning they won’t be output to your laser.

How to Create Draggable Guidelines

1. Hover over the ruler on the top or left of the Workspace.
2. When the cursor changes to a line icon, click and drag:
   • Drag from the top for a horizontal guideline.
   • Drag from the left for a vertical guideline.
3. Release to place the guideline.

Features

• Guidelines can be:
  • Adjusted or repositioned as needed.
  • Snapped to by other objects for precise alignment.
  • Locked to prevent accidental movement.

Important Notes

Guideline Behavior

• Draggable Guidelines are treated as objects, meaning they can be selected, moved, or deleted.

Excluding Guidelines from Output

• Draggable Guidelines will not be sent to the laser because they are on the Tool layer.
• However, if using Current Position or User Origin, delete guidelines or toggle off the Frame option in the Cuts/Layers Window to exclude them from Origin calculations.

Practical Tips

1. Lock Guidelines: Prevent accidental adjustments by locking guidelines once positioned.
2. Combine with Snap Tools: Use guidelines in conjunction with snapping tools for maximum precision.
3. Organize with Layers: Keep guidelines on the T1 Tool layer to ensure they remain excluded from laser output.

LightBurn's automatic guidelines simplify alignment, making them essential tools for creating professional and precise designs.