LightBurn Tutorial 09 – Basics: The LightBurn Snapping Feature

0:00today we’re going to learn about

0:01snapping in Lake burn what it is and

0:04what it’s for so if you haven’t seen

0:07snapping behavior before it’s fairly

0:09simple to demonstrate I’m going to use

0:11my pen tool here create a line and as I

0:14drag the end of the line close to an

0:17existing shape you’ll see two things

0:18happen one my cursor changes and two the

0:22line snaps to the other shape and so you

0:26can use these snapping behaviors to line

0:29up things in light burn and to make sure

0:30that things are attached to other things

0:33so as I’m dragging this line you’ll see

0:35that the cursor changes to a plus two

0:37tell me that I’ve hit a node or a corner

0:39the cursor changes to a line with a

0:42small circle in the middle to tell me

0:44that I’ve hit the center of an edge now

0:46this works over here as well as up here

0:48or you’ll see a line with a small slash

0:52through it to tell me that it is

0:54attaching to another line or an X with a

0:58circle in the middle to tell me that I’m

1:00at the middle of another shape so this

1:03is very useful when you are trying to

1:05create things freehand so I can create

1:08this line drag it snap it to that corner

1:10create another line and when I’m

1:12starting this second line my cursor has

1:15changed to a snap cursor so I know that

1:18when I place the beginning of this other

1:20line it’s snapped perfectly to that one

1:22and so on so I can again drag more lines

1:27wait for the snap to happen and attach

1:31it to existing shapes this also works

1:34when you are in selection mode so I’m

1:36going to remove these two if I create a

1:39copy of this square put it over here if

1:44I wanted to drag this square so that it

1:46was perfectly touching this one there

1:49are a number of tools in light burn to

1:50do this such as the alignment tools up

1:52here but you can also do it quite

1:53directly by just grabbing the edge when

1:56you see the cursor change to an edge

1:58snap drag it over to the other shape and

Transcript for The LightBurn Snapping Feature (Cont…)

2:01they will snap together edge to edge you

2:05can also do this with points so I can

2:06select this corner point here and when

2:08the cursor changes to the snap cursor

2:10for the corner I can tell that I’m going

2:12to be dragging from the

2:13corner and then as I get close to the

2:16existing corner on the other shape and

2:17the cursor changes to the snap cursor

2:19again now they are snapped together that

2:23will work for center points so if I grab

2:25the center drag here I can snap to the

2:28center of this I can snap to the center

2:31of this and so on

2:34Center snapping also happens when you

2:36grab from the middle if I drag from the

2:39center handle here it’s automatically

2:41snapped to the middle and then if I drag

2:43over another shape and you’ll see the

2:45cursor change to the X with the hole in

2:48it that means I’m snapping to the center

2:50of that other shape and so these two

2:51shapes are perfectly centered over each

2:53other now this is useful for things like

2:56offset editing if I create a small piece

2:59of text like this select it and do an

3:05offset change the color of the offset so

3:08let’s say that I was planning on cutting

3:10this out as a keychain if I move this

3:13out of the way to make it simpler for me

3:15to weed the unwanted bits out of the

3:17middle I lose the registration that I

3:21had between these two shapes so this

3:23shape and the shape are no longer

3:25aligned and I want to get that back so

3:27if I grab the center drag handle here

3:29and drag it over the original when the

3:32cursor changes to the X shape I can tell

3:35that they are aligned again and so when

3:37I let go now these are perfectly aligned

3:38back the way I wanted them to be this

3:42behavior also works in node editing mode

3:45so as an example if I just create a

3:48random shape the nodes in node edit mode

3:53will also snap to other shapes like this

3:56they’ll snap to each other so if I

Transcript for The LightBurn Snapping Feature (Cont…)

4:00insert a new node here in this one I can

4:04snap it to that one I can snap it over

4:06here and so on and this also works for

4:08control handles as well so these handles

4:11will snap to other things in the same

4:14way that nodes will snap to each other

4:17the snapping behaviors are also useful

4:20for creating things like rulers so light

4:22Burton does not have guide rulers

4:24however there’s nothing to prevent you

4:27from

4:27making your own so if I use the line

4:29tool I’m gonna hold shift to make this

4:33line perfectly vertical or you can also

4:34make it in 45 so I’ve made this vertical

4:39line this line is on a layer that is set

4:41not to output so that’s why it’s faded

4:44but it means that it won’t get sent to

4:46the laser so it’s not part of my design

4:48however it is useful for alignment so if

4:52I want to make sure that multiple shapes

4:55are lined up along the same edge I can

4:58do so by grabbing the shape on a line

5:00like this and dragging it until I get

5:03that snap cursor on this other line and

5:05so I’ve effectively created my own guide

5:08line and I can use it to make sure that

5:12these two shapes are perfectly in line

5:13with each other as well as with other

5:16shapes anywhere that I wanted to so it’s

5:18very useful for creating your own guides

5:20rulers things like that and that’s kind

5:24of what it’s intended for but it also

5:27just helps general creation so hopefully

5:29you find it as useful as I do thanks for

5:31watching