Beam Bench Docs
Explainers

Layers and color families

Color = layer in Beam Bench. The mental model behind the Cuts/Layers panel and the Color Palette.

In Beam Bench, color and layer are the same concept. Every object on the canvas has a color tag. Every color tag corresponds to one layer. The layer holds the cut settings (mode, power, speed, passes, interval, ...). Click a color in the Color Palette and you are assigning the selected objects to that color's layer.

If you have used other laser apps that key cut settings by color, the mental shift is zero. If you have not, it is the same idea as layers in a CAD tool, just colored instead of named.

Why color, not "layer name"

Many CAD tools have layers as a separate concept, named things like "outline" or "engrave-1". The user picks which layer each object belongs to from a dropdown.

Beam Bench uses color because:

  1. It is visible at a glance on the canvas. You can see which objects belong together without consulting a layer list.
  2. It maps cleanly to the SVG-and-CAD convention of using color to indicate cut intent. Most laser source files already do this.
  3. It eliminates a class of bugs around layer rename / merge / move.

The trade-off is that you have a finite palette. Beam Bench's palette is large but not infinite.

Color families

A color family is a group of related colors that share the same base hue. The palette is organized into clusters so that distinct workflows (engraving levels, cut categories) can use related shades without consuming wildly different colors.

In the Cuts / Layers panel, layers from the same color family are visually grouped with a separator. This makes it easy to see "all my engrave layers" or "all my score layers" at a glance.

You can still have layers with totally different colors, color families are an organizational hint, not a constraint.

Tool layers

Not every layer outputs to the machine. Tool layers are special non-output layers used for:

  • Guides and rulers drawn on the canvas as references.
  • Background images you traced from but don't want to engrave.
  • Markup that helps you lay out the design but does not belong on the material.

Tool layers appear in the Cuts/Layers panel with Tool as their immutable mode label. Their power/speed/output settings are disabled.

By default, tool layers don't accept imports (so an imported SVG won't accidentally land in a tool layer). The Settings, File & Import Allow importing to tool layers toggle changes that.

Assigning, reassigning, separating

  • Assign an object to a color: select it, click the color swatch in the Color Palette.
  • Reassign is the same operation, clicking a new color moves the object to that layer.
  • Separate objects of the same color into different layers. Beam Bench currently uses one layer per color tag. To get them on different layers, give them different color tags.

If you import an SVG that uses many colors, Beam Bench creates one layer per color it encounters. You can then merge layers (by changing their color tag to match) or split them as needed.

Layer order

Layer order in the panel = execution order on the machine. Drag layer rows to reorder, or use the reorder arrows in the Cuts / Layers panel.

The recommended order: engrave first, score second, cut through last. This keeps the material held in place until the final operation.

Material library + layers

You can save layer settings (power, speed, mode, etc.) as a preset in the Material Library panel and drop the preset onto any layer. This is the canonical way to reuse known-good settings for a specific material.

Overscan

Why the head travels past the edge of each fill line. Avoids burn-in at the start and end.

Job origin vs workspace origin

Two different reference points decide where your job ends up on the machine. Knowing which is which prevents bad-direction-jobs.

On this page

Why color, not "layer name"Color familiesTool layersAssigning, reassigning, separatingLayer orderMaterial library + layersRelated