RDWorks and/or LightBurn

[Trevor Allison]

Hi guys

I have ordered my laser machine and it should arrive next week. It will have a Ruida controller so will typically come with RDWorks, but I have heard about LightBurn. The problem is I can't find anywhere a side by side comparison of the two programs, so what are the pros and cons of each package? Do I need both or is one superior to the other?

[Pete Cyr]

Light burn is a better all in one program and the guy that developed it keeps improving it.
I don’t use it but I do endorse it....it is head and shoulders better that RDWorks.

[Dave Vigness]

RDWorks is a basic program and interface for high end programs. Lightburn lets you do a lot of design programming and input it directly to the laser controller.

If you have Lightburn, that's all you use. It costs $80 USD, and has an $80 USD renewal if you want to keep getting updates.

If you use an outside program like I do, I use CorelDraw, it does not interface directly with your controller. I do my design work in Corel, then use the RDWorks macro to export it directly to RDWorks. I set my cut layers, power and speed, bridges, and such there before sending it out to the controller.

I would say it depends on what level of design you are getting into, and I my be a bit off on LightBurn as I to do not use it, but I have heard nothing but good about it and Oz. I've heard nothing but good about LightBurns camera feature. It appears that RDWorks is catching up to that feature though. It's in the .48 release, but no documentation so far.

[Gene Uselman]

I also use a graphics program [not Corel] and simply save an .ai file to a folder used for the laser and then open or import from there. I often go back to the original .ai file for reference after I forget to save in RDw or LB or do some other old phart move.

[Willy Ivy]

Having used RDWorks for over three years and then switching to LB for about a year, I would recommend purchasing LB and learning it rather than RDW. It is well worth the money for the MANY more things it will do. I create a lot of stuff and I do most all of it in LB.

[Doug Fisher]

>>and has an $80 USD renewal if you want to keep getting updates.<<

I am guessing Dave just had a typo but is only $30 each year after the first year for access to updates. Updates are optional though. The software doesn't stop working, you just don't get any updated features. One thing to keep in mind - you can't skip a couple of years and then only pay $30 to get access to the latest release.

Relatively frequent updates, a great user support community and the ability to contact the development team directly make this the default software for many users now.

[Dave Vigness]

Doug,

Wasn't a typo, but it was taken from somebody else's post. So I guess I can take the blame since I didn't verify the number.

[Ian Bell]

Very good question Trevor,

I have always been intrigued by Lighburn, but I don't tend to be an early adopter for software, i've been allowing time for the application to develop.

Seeing this thread encouraged me to have another peek, and after watching only the first couple of videos I can see some of the benefits over rdworks. I already like the ability to do multiple passes simply, whereas I have to create duplicate layers in RDworks to do similar. (i'm sure someone will point out an easy way in rdw )

It also looks like the graphics management is superior, creating vectors from images is particularly useful for me, and I love the slider option for amending the tolerance of colour selection, so it's immediately evident what the resultant vectors will be.

Occasionally rdw loses my laser, so i have to redectect and change my cut optimsation etc. which can be a PIA.

Can LB import the parameter file from RDW, would be a useful "one off" function. I'll be looking to see if there is a parameter library in LB as I find it most useful, although my tube is nearing end of life so I tend to have to do multiple cuts or power /speed changes quite frequently now.

I'll look at another few videos, but I reckon it's time I download the trial before I make the switch.

[Willy Ivy]

Ian, I think you will be well pleased with LB and will be purchasing it when the trial is over.

[Doug Fisher]

>>I'll be looking to see if there is a parameter library in LB as I find it most useful,<<

Yes, there is a good library function and you can place it in one of your cloud accounts so that it is accessible to any computer (obviously, make sure to hit the save function before changing to another computer). I don't know if you can import your parameters library into the LB library though. My guess is no but I wanted to start over with a clean sheet anyway.