Lightburn Trace Tool - Beginners Guide to Getting it Right for Better Results

Soooo many times I see comments in forums and groups about using the Lightburn software trace tool and one of the most common responses is "Just play with the sliders till you get what you want" - I get it, it's an easy response but doesn't necessarily provide the understanding how to get consistent results. It's important to understand HOW the tools work so you get better results on repeat.
In this video (yes, it's a bit of a long one!!) I cover all of the basics and what the sliders do and show examples to help you understand what you are working with so you can then apply this knowledge to your next laser project.

[@ericeinsmann5559]

Great video! I was definitely a member of "fiddle with the controls till it looks good" school, but now I understand it better! Thanks!

[@mrcraftsmith]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dymarke]

This is very helpful. One thing struggling with in trace is layering properly. So if I trace an image with text and I want to fill an area I'm using the same trace line to define the fill area and the non fill area so I need to be able to clearly see each area then stack them directly on top of each other. I'm struggling with organizing and managing my layers and then stacking them perfectly.
Thank you for your videos.

[@mrcraftsmith]

Glad it was helpful for you - If you have an example of an image you are struggling with, shoot me an email and I can have look

[@georgechambers3197]

Well, Darren I now know what I never spent the time to really look at. I've always just twiddled the sliders until I got something I could use. Now I can use the trace function with the for-knowledge of what I really am doing. Thanks for the video!

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thanks for tuning in George - it is in my inquisitive nature to understand how and why things work, if other people find it helpful, I’m pleased 😀

[@norm5785]

Thank you for sharing. Everyone stay safe, warm, happy and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia

[@mrcraftsmith]

You're welcome Norm

[@davidchisholm457]

Thanks Darren, Being new to Lightburn I was having difficulty in producing an acceptable trace of the object I wanted. I searched for the tracing topic in a number of You Tube videos and yours was one that explained tracing in a manner I was able to understand and went farther in depth. Many videos seem to wander off the subject a bit causing me more frustration than before I watched their video rendition. Once again thank you and you have another grateful subscriber.

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thank you David - appreciate your support and am glad it helped you out :)

[@beverlybenham3458]

Thanks, Darren! I really appreciate the step-by-step approach you take with these tutorials--and I get the bonus of being able to apply this information to the trace functions in my Aspire and Silhouette software. You're a valuable resource!

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thanks Beverly - I appreciate your support 🙂

[@Bizill75]

I've been playing with tracing with pretty good results but with your video I'll get even better results. Thank you.

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thanks for tuning in Bizill - and glad you found it helpful 🙂

[@swantjegramann5875]

Thank you for this great explanation - you've got a new subscriber from Germany who's looking forward to your next tutorial. Now I'm having a look at the previous ones. Have a nice day

[@mrcraftsmith]

Awesome Swantje, thank you! I hope you enjoy your day too :)

[@robertarmstrong2323]

This vid is the best explanation I've seen. Thank you

[@mrcraftsmith]

You're welcome Robert - glad it made sense for you

[@trevorbroadbent1604]

Been in Hospital, now playing catch up with your videos

[@mrcraftsmith]

Hope all is well with you Trevor - thanks for watching

[@bran3209]

Awesome video, thank you

[@mrcraftsmith]

Glad you found it helpful - thanks for watching :)

[@marksmanaz]

Thank you

[@mrcraftsmith]

You're welcome 🙂

[@flashcorp76]

Subbed😊Immediately !

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thanks Flash 🙂

[@msidefx1]

Thanks Darren. Great info. I often need to do center line tracing for scoring objects. Is this a feature of LightBurn?

[@mrcraftsmith]

Hey Mark - thanks for watching - I apologise but I' not quite sure what you mean by centre line tracing - do you mean finding the centre automatically between 2 lines?

[@msidefx1]

@@mrcraftsmith Yes. For example. You draw a circle on paper then take a picture of it and import it into LightBurn. Perform the trace function in LightBurn you will see it traces both sides of the line. So instead of having one line to score you have two. I use Inkscape to trace hand drawings because it has the centerline trace feature but it would be awesome if LightBurn could do this.

[@mrcraftsmith]

Sorry Mark - I only just found the filter that shows me responses (not just new comments, my bad). - I know what you mean now, I'm unfamiliar with that function, if it doesn't exist, you could always put forward as a feature request, a clumsy workaround would be to take either the inner of outer line and do an offset that would approximate the centre of the two lines

[@MrJimpurvis]

Can someone help out? All of a sudden now when I change the passes in lightburn it will indicate the change, but will still do only one pass.

[@mrcraftsmith]

Did you get this sorted Jim? Maybe try Lightburn support?

[@pblais404]

you lost me totally with your explanation of threshold

[@mrcraftsmith]

Thanks for watching Pierre