Layers and cut settings

Every object on the canvas belongs to a layer. A layer has a color for identification and shared cut settings such as power, speed, mode, and passes.

This is the core mental model. Read Layers and color families when you want the why; the how is below.

Assign an object to a layer

Select one or more objects with the Select tool.
Open Properties and choose the destination from Layer.

Only the selected objects move. Other objects that shared the original layer stay there and continue using that layer's settings.

You can also right-click the destination layer tab and choose Move Selection to This Layer. Create the destination layer first if it does not exist yet.

Edit the layer's settings

Open the Cuts/Layers panel. Each layer appears as a colored tab.
Select a tab to make that layer active, then use its settings controls.
Set the mode: Line (run along the path), Fill (engrave the inside), or Offset Fill (contour-following fill). When the layer contains raster content, Image is also available. To both engrave and cut an outline, add two sub-layer entries on the same layer: a Fill and a Line (or Cut).
Set Power: typically a percentage of your laser's max output.
Set Speed: in mm/s (or mm/min, depending on your Speed unit setting).
Set Passes: how many times the laser repeats this layer.
For Fill / Image modes, set the Interval, line spacing in mm. Smaller intervals = darker but slower.

If you have presets saved in the Material Library, you can drop one onto a layer to apply known-good settings for a specific material.

Order layers

The machine runs layers in the order shown in the Cuts/Layers panel. Drag the tabs to reorder them.

A good general order:

Engrave (fill, image) first.
Score (low-power lines) next.
Cut through (full-power line layers) last.

This way the material does not shift mid-job from being cut into separate pieces while you still need to engrave it.

What just happened

You set the rules the planner uses when it converts your design into machine moves: which paths to traverse, how fast, with how much power, in what order.

Your changes save with the project. The same layer in the next project starts at app defaults again unless you save settings to the Material Library.

Frame and preview