Converting Artwork to Vector for Laser Cutting

Why Vector Matters

A raster image (JPG, PNG) is a grid of pixels. The laser interprets it by scanning left-right across every row, firing at dark pixels. This works for photo engraving but it's the wrong approach for cutting shapes and lines.

A vector path is a mathematical description of a curve or line. The laser follows it directly at your set speed and power. Result: clean, consistent cuts with no wasted travel time.

Use raster for: photo engraving, greyscale artwork. Use vector for: cutting shapes, clean line engraving, text, logos.

What Images Work for Vectorizing

Works well:

• Black-and-white logos with clean edges
• Silhouettes
• Simple line drawings
• Solid text
• Geometric shapes

Works poorly:

• Full photographs (too much gradation)
• Watercolor or painterly art
• Low-contrast or soft-focus images

LightBurn: Trace Image

Select your imported image → Tools → Trace Image (or press T).

Key controls:

• Threshold — the black/white cutoff. Drag left for more detail, right for simpler/bolder output. Watch the preview.
• Smooth — reduces jaggy edges from pixel staircasing. Start at 1-2.
• Optimize — reduces node count while preserving shape. Higher = fewer nodes.
• Ignore Less Than (mm²) — removes tiny noise paths below this area. Set 0.5-1.0 to clean up spec noise.

Click Trace. The vector paths appear over the original. Delete the raster image, keep the paths. Check that closed shapes are actually closed — open paths create line burns instead of filled cuts.

Limitation: LightBurn's tracer is good for quick jobs but for complex artwork, Inkscape or Illustrator produce cleaner output.

Inkscape: Trace Bitmap (Free)

The most capable free tracing tool available. Path → Trace Bitmap (Shift+Alt+B).

Single Scan modes (best for cut paths):

Brightness Cutoff — simple threshold trace. Best for clean logos and solid artwork. Set Threshold to 0.45-0.55 and adjust.

Edge Detection — traces edges only. Good for line drawings you want as single strokes.

Color Quantization — breaks multi-color artwork into separate trace layers. Useful for multi-layer laser work.

After tracing:

1. Delete the original image
2. Ungroup the result (Object → Ungroup or Ctrl+Shift+G)
3. Path → Simplify (Ctrl+L) — press 2-4 times to reduce node count
4. Check for unwanted background shapes and delete them
5. Switch to the Node editor (N key) to manually clean problem areas

Export: File → Save As → SVG or Plain SVG for LightBurn. File → Export → DXF if your laser uses proprietary software.

Adobe Illustrator: Image Trace

Window → Image Trace to open the panel. Place your image (File → Place), select it, then expand the Image Trace panel.

Useful presets:

Manual control:

• Threshold — same as all other tools. Adjust for desired detail level.
• Paths — how closely paths follow edges. Higher = more nodes, more accurate.
• Corners — sharp vs rounded corner handling.
• Noise — minimum spot size to ignore (like LightBurn's "Ignore Less Than").
• Ignore White — prevents the white background from being traced as a shape. Enable this.

Click Expand to convert from live trace to actual editable paths.

Then: Object → Path → Simplify to reduce node count. Target 50-100 nodes per simple shape.

Export: File → Export → Export As → SVG (for LightBurn) or DXF (for other laser software).

Illustrator tip: For simple logos and text, it's often faster and cleaner to manually trace with the Pen tool than to auto-trace. You get perfect paths with 5-20 nodes per shape instead of hundreds.

Affinity Designer: Vectorize and Clean Up

Affinity's auto-trace is less powerful but it's excellent for cleaning up paths traced elsewhere.

For tracing: Layer → Trace Bitmap (varies by version). Set tolerance and smoothing.

Where Affinity shines:

• Node editor is very comfortable for smoothing and adjusting traced curves
• Boolean operations (Add, Subtract, Intersect, Divide) work cleanly for combining shapes
• Artboard setup is easy for multi-piece laser files

Workflow: trace in Inkscape → import SVG into Affinity → clean paths and organize layers → export.

Export: File → Export → SVG or PDF (LightBurn imports both).

CorelDraw: PowerTRACE

Select your bitmap → Bitmaps → PowerTRACE (Ctrl+F12).

Two trace types:

Outline Trace — traces closed filled shapes. Options:

• Line Art — clean high-contrast artwork
• Logo — for logos with detail
• Detailed Logo — complex logos

Centerline Trace — traces lines as single strokes, not filled shapes. Unique to CorelDraw. Good for:

• Technical drawings you want as engraving lines
• Pen plotter-style designs
• Single-stroke engraving paths

Adjust Detail, Smoothing, and Corner Smoothness sliders while watching the preview. Remove background with the color picker.

Export: File → Export → DXF (most compatible format for proprietary laser software). CorelDraw's DXF export is more reliable than most.

Universal Tips for Any App

• Delete white/background shapes after tracing — keep only cut outlines
• All cutting paths must be closed — start and end node at the same point
• Put engrave paths and cut paths on different layers with different colors — you'll need different settings
• Check final file at 1:1 scale — is it actually the size you need?
• Aim for 50-200 nodes per shape — more = sluggish laser movement
• SVG or DXF are the most universally compatible export formats