I just ordered the Laserbeam for my Longmill. I have Easel and gSender. Is there any reason I would need to get the Lightburn software to get up and running?
I believe LB trial is fully functional for a certain period so you can check it out. I haven’t looked into easel or any other alternatives so am realy not a good source.
My take is that it’s an essential, though I bet I would be able to work around it, if needed.
Just check it out, it’s there for da takin.
I do not use Easel so cannot comment. I have vcarve pro and lightburn I find lightburn to be much more versatile than the laser module in vcarve. Lightburn is very intuitive to use. There are also times that I will design in lightburn and export to vcarve for carving. I paid $60 and it has been well worth the money.
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@wcr What are your plans for the laserbeam? I have LB. When I design in LB, it send the file from LB to my laser module on the Long Mill. I’ve never seen the value in exporting gcode from LB to load it into gSender, then to send it to the LM. Many others have, though.
When I design in VCarvePro, I use a modified post processor to send the code to gSender to burn it with the laser module. This is handy when doing “hybrid” projects which include some router carving and some laser burning.
If you can find a post processor for easel that will write code that you can use in gSender to run the laser, that is an option.
Again, it really depends on what you are planning to do with the laser.
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Short version is you don’t need it to get started but you might want it depending on your needs.
I’ve only tried LB and Vectric VCarve but between those two, LB does photos much better and faster. I have the laser module for VCarve but I don’t think it’s any better than the J TECH post processor.
The Vectric laser module has a tool path for photos but it pales in comparison to LB. During a photo with Vectric the mill does small movements and fires the laser at each pause. With LB the mill is always moving and it modulates the laser power as it moves which produces better results in less time. There are also lots of options for dithering methods and adjusting contrast etc.
EDIT: @wcr I forgot to mention that LaserGRBL might be worth looking into. I’ve never used it but it’s free and open source.
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I’m only fairly new to easel but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a way to control the laser thru it. So I’m guessing you will need light burn or at least some form of dedicated laser software.
@wcr When you are using gSender for toolpaths created in Easel, what post processor are you using to create the gcode?