It will ask you what controller you use (Rudia with the OMTech units), if you are using ethernet or USB, your IP address (if ethernet), the dimensions of your work area (this would be your bed size) and then the origin of your laser. With the manual set up, you need to know some things. There is a step by step guide it takes you through which is called “Find my Laser”, or if you have a Mac and face some issues, you can do a manual setup.

When starting out, you will need to make sure you set up your machine correctly. In order to use the program for more than 30 days, you will need a special license code which can be purchased from either LightBurn's site, or the OMTech site. LightBurn can be installed from the official website as a trial, and is both Mac and Windows compatible. If you are familiar with designing and want to export laser-ready files, LightBurn makes it easy to export in. You can use LightBurn as a stand-alone design software, or you can use it in conjunction with other design-centric software, such as CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator. That way you can get a feel for it so when your OMTech laser cutter arrives, you are ready to test and go! How do you use LightBurn? You will want to start off with the 30-day free trial prior to purchasing your machine, if possible.

Such softwares include RDWorks and LaserGRBL which offer some functionality, however the design and feature options are more limited with what you can do. I’m honestly not too familiar with the additional softwares out there as options are limited on Mac, but some quick research shows there are alternatives if you are running a Windows machine. It is a powerhouse and allows unlimited possibilities for creating complex design files that directly translate to G-code so your laser can engrave it! Not to mention, it is also one of the only laser cutter software that is Mac compatible.

It allows not only design editing capabilities, but a very beginner-friendly interface that is easy to navigate. LightBurn is often considered the best laser engraving software of use for many brands of lasers, including OMTech. LightBurn is the CO2 laser engraver industry-standard software.

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