Fill modes
How filled shapes are turned into machine moves: Line, Fill, Offset Fill, and Image.
When a layer is set to fill, Beam Bench has to decide how to fill: which way the scan lines go, whether the laser hugs the contour or scans straight back and forth, what happens at the edges of complex shapes. Each method has trade-offs.
The modes
Line
Not actually a fill, runs the laser along the shape's outline. Use for:
- Cutting through material.
- Scoring fold lines.
- Drawing the perimeter without filling the interior.
Fill
Standard scan-fill. The laser scans back and forth in horizontal lines across the shape's bounding box, firing only inside the shape.
- Fast.
- Predictable, even on complex shapes.
- Lines are perfectly horizontal regardless of shape orientation.
Use Fill for: most filled engravings on flat material.
The line spacing is controlled by the Interval field on the layer (see Scan interval).
Offset Fill
Contour-following fill. Instead of scanning straight lines, the laser follows the shape's outline, then steps inward by the interval and follows the new (smaller) outline, and so on until the center.
- Hugs the shape, no visible scan-line direction.
- Looks more "machined", like an offsetting tool would produce.
- Slower than straight Fill on complex shapes (more direction changes).
Use Offset Fill for: shapes where the visible scan direction of straight Fill would look wrong, like a circle filled with concentric arcs.
Image
For raster (pixel) data. See Vector vs raster and Dithering algorithms.
Image mode scans back and forth like Fill, but the laser fires or varies power per pixel rather than uniformly inside the shape. The Image mode appears as a selectable option only when the layer contains raster content.
Engrave plus outline
To engrave a shape and also cut its outline from one layer, set up two sub-layer entries on the same layer: a Fill entry, then a Line (or Cut, treated as a line-family operation) entry. Each entry has its own power, speed, and pass count. The machine runs them in order: fill first, outline last.
The Mode column
The Mode column in the Cuts/Layers panel shows which mode each layer's entry uses. To change it, double-click the layer to open the editor, or use the inline dropdown.
Which to pick
| Goal | Mode |
|---|---|
| Cut through | Line |
| Score fold | Line, low power |
| Engrave a solid filled shape (most cases) | Fill |
| Engrave a shape where scan-line direction would look wrong | Offset Fill |
| Engrave a photo | Image |
| Engrave shape + cut its outline in one pass-set | Two sub-layer entries: a Fill and a Line (or Cut) on the same layer |