Camera
Capture the workspace and position the still-image overlay for visual job placement.
Beam Bench captures a still frame from a fixed workspace camera and displays it behind the design. Once the frame is positioned over the workspace, you can place artwork against the material shown in the image.
The current camera transform supports uniform scale, rotation, and translation. It does not correct lens distortion, perspective, or a left-to-right mirror. A rigid overhead or lid-mounted camera with modest lens distortion works best.
In this section
- Align the overlay: capture, fit, adjust, or solve the overlay position.
- Map the camera: optional point-pair mapping for a fixed camera and resolution.
- Background capture: refresh the still frame when the bed changes.
Recommended setup
- Install a fixed camera.
- Create or activate the machine profile for this laser.
- Open the Camera panel, choose the camera, and click Update Overlay.
- Click Fit to Bed, then Adjust Overlay. Drag inside the frame to move it, drag a corner to scale it, and use the top handle to rotate it.
- Click Save Alignment when the image matches the bed.
For more repeatable placement, use Align Camera with 3 or more well-spread, non-collinear reference points.
Important limits
- Only fixed cameras are supported. Beam Bench does not currently compensate for a camera that moves with the laser head.
- Changing cameras or capture resolution clears saved mappings or alignments that no longer match the frame.
- Moving the mount, changing camera orientation, or changing material height can require a new alignment.
- A wide-angle or fisheye lens may remain inaccurate near the edges because the current transform does not undistort the image.