Software, File Formats & Design Tools
The software stack you'll use alongside any laser, Lightburn for control, vector tools for design, raster tools for image prep. Knowing what file formats work where saves hours of conversion frustration.
The standard laser software
- Lightburn: industry-standard for nearly all consumer/prosumer lasers. Three editions: Standard / DSP for CO2 (Ruida, GCode for diodes), Galvo for fiber lasers (separate license). Pricing and licensing model have changed in recent years. Verify current pricing and whether perpetual or subscription on the Lightburn website before budgeting.
- EZCAD2 / EZCAD3: ships free with most fiber lasers. Functional but dated UI. Most users replace with Lightburn Galvo edition immediately.
- Glowforge web app: proprietary cloud-only software for Glowforge Basic/Plus/Pro. No offline mode. Limited material library.
- xTool Creative Space: proprietary for xTool machines. Often replaced with Lightburn for power users.
- RDWorks: older Ruida control software. Lightburn replaces it on every count.
- LaserGRBL: free GRBL controller for diode lasers. Adequate for hobby; Lightburn is better for production.
CAM / CNC + laser hybrid software
If you also run a CNC router (or want to do CNC + laser hybrid pieces. See CNC + Laser: Engraving 3D Plaques), CAM software bridges the design and CNC toolpath side. Vectric's lineup is the dominant choice in the small-shop and hobby CNC space; their files (V-carve toolpaths, 3D depth maps, registered geometry) integrate cleanly with laser workflows.
| Tool | Approximate price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Vectric Cut2D Pro | ~$249 | 2D vector design + CNC toolpaths. Entry-level Vectric. Limited 3D capability. Fine for sign cutouts and 2D V-carved text. |
| Vectric VCarve Desktop | ~$349 | V-carving + 2D/2.5D modeling. Limited to smaller bed sizes (24×24" or similar). Good fit for most hobby and entry-pro CNC routers. |
| Vectric VCarve Pro | ~$699 | Full V-carving + 2D / 2.5D, no bed-size limit. The mainstream choice for production CNC shops doing signs, plaques, and relief V-carving without full 3D modeling. |
| Vectric Aspire | ~$1,995 | Everything VCarve Pro does PLUS full 3D modeling and rendering. Generates depth maps from 3D models, the cleanest path into Lightburn's 3D Sliced / Grayscale image modes. Industry standard for relief coin work, topographic maps, and CNC + laser hybrid plaques. |
| Carveco Maker | ~$15/mo | Subscription alternative to Aspire's depth-map workflow. Cheaper monthly than buying Aspire outright; lower ceiling on advanced 3D features. |
| Carveco Maker Plus / Pro | Subscription tiers | Higher tiers approach Aspire feature parity. |
| Fusion 360 (Autodesk) | Free for personal / hobby use under $1,000/yr revenue · ~$70-85/mo commercial | Full CAD + CAM. Heavier learning curve than Vectric. Strong for engineered parts; overkill for sign work. Personal license restricts to limited active documents and removes some advanced toolpaths but is genuinely free. |
| Easel (Inventables) | Free / paid Pro | Browser-based, very simple. Pairs with Inventables' X-Carve. Limited to 2D and basic V-carving. |
| F-Engrave | Free | Open-source V-carving. Functional but dated. Used by makers who need V-carve without paying. |
Verify current pricing on each vendor's site, Vectric pricing has shifted over the years. Vectric also offers free trial versions with Vectric-supplied sample projects only (no save / no export of your own work), useful for evaluating the UI before buying.
Picking between VCarve Pro and Aspire
If your CNC + laser work is signs, plaques, and 2D / V-carved pieces, VCarve Pro is enough and saves you ~$1,300. If you need full 3D relief modeling (custom-sculpted coins, organic 3D plaques, topographic maps from scratch), Aspire is the right tier, VCarve Pro can only IMPORT 3D models, not create them. Most hobby + early-pro shops start with VCarve Pro and upgrade to Aspire only when they need 3D origination capability. Aspire licenses include a free upgrade path FROM VCarve Pro.
Vector design tools
Vectors are infinitely scalable shape definitions (SVG, AI, DXF). Critical for clean cuts and edge detail.
| Tool | Cost | Strengths |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Illustrator | ~$34.49/mo (monthly) or ~$22.99/mo on annual plan | Industry standard. Image trace AI-friendly. Best for professional design pipelines. Verify current pricing on adobe.com. |
| Inkscape | Free | SVG-native, full vector editing. Solid alternative to Illustrator. |
| Affinity by Canva | Free (with free Canva account) | Canva's 2024 acquisition of Serif unified Designer/Photo/Publisher into "Affinity by Canva" v3.0 (released Oct 2025) and made it free. Full local features free; cloud AI features require Canva Pro. The Illustrator alternative most laser shops should pick first. |
| CorelDRAW Graphics Suite | ~$549 one-time perpetual or ~$269/yr subscription | Popular among older laser shops; many tutorials assume Corel. Verify current pricing on coreldraw.com. |
| Lightburn (built-in) | Included | Basic vector tools. Good for simple shapes; weak for complex design. |
| Figma | Free tier | Browser-based; collaborative. Export SVG cleanly. |
Raster / image tools
For photo engraving, depth maps, and image prep before laser engraving.
| Tool | Cost | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop | ~$22.99/mo single-app | Levels adjustment, dither prep, depth-map editing. Industry standard. Verify current pricing on adobe.com. |
| GIMP | Free | Photoshop equivalent. UI is dated but functional. |
| Affinity Photo (now part of Affinity by Canva) | Free (with free Canva account) | Free as of Oct 2025 under the unified Affinity by Canva v3.0 release. |
| Krita | Free | Painting/digital art focused; works for image prep. |
3D / depth-map tools
For Vectric VCarve / Aspire / Carveco (the dominant CAM tools that also generate depth maps from 3D models), see the CAM / CNC + laser hybrid software section above. The list below is depth-map generation specifically (turning an image or STL into a grayscale depth map for laser engraving).
- Blender (free), 3D modeling and rendering. Use the depth pass / Z-pass output for relief coin / 3D engrave depth maps. The free path if you can model.
- SculptOK (paid + free trial), AI depth-map generator for relief coins. Highest-quality output in community tests.
- tiling-zoedepth (Bill F Smith, Google Colab): free, runs on Google's GPU. Search "tiling zoedepth Bill F Smith" or grab the Colab link from his GitHub. One-click after upload; downloads a high-res depth map automatically. Quality is below SculptOK but the cost is zero. Great for testing before committing to a paid tool.
- stl2png (free online), STL files → grayscale depth maps. The LightBurn-official path when you already have a 3D model from Blender / Aspire / scanned source.
- Marigold / MiDaS: AI image-to-depth converters; require local Python setup.
Ring test: look at the rim around your coin's main subject in the depth-map output. Uniform mid-gray = the tool framed your design well. Fades or blowouts = uneven engrave. SculptOK passes this test most consistently.
AI design tools built for laser
A newer category, AI tools tuned specifically for laser engraving workflows, rather than generic image generation:
| Tool | What it does | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| EngraveFill Pro | Fill a custom outline (knife, hatchet, grip, buckle) with ornamental artwork, Baroque scrolls, leather tooling, themed motifs (Norse, Viking, Egyptian, Aztec, Mayan, American, Army). Recognizes internal cutouts and flows art around them. | €5 / €12 / €20 / €35 credit packs; 1 credit per image, X4 button = 4 variations for 4 credits |
| Outlaw Laser Studio | Same idea, custom outline + ornamental fill. Strong Western / heritage style library. | $10 (150 credits) / $30 / $70 / $160 packs |
| SculptOK | AI depth-map generation for relief coins (covered above). | Paid; ~100 free credits on signup ≈ 5 free coins |
| Midjourney (general AI) | Source for vector image generation, use prompts like "vector, black on white, simple" then image-trace in Illustrator. Also for depth-map source images using "bas relief" keyword. | $10/mo and up |
Current AI fill limitation
EngraveFill Pro and Outlaw Laser Studio export PNG / JPEG only, no SVG yet. You'll have to image-trace and resize the output in Lightburn / Illustrator / Inkscape before engraving. Expect SVG export to land eventually; both tools are early.
File formats: what each is for
| Format | Type | Use for |
|---|---|---|
.lbrn / .lbrn2 | Lightburn project | Save your job as a Lightburn project (settings + design + layers). |
.svg | Vector | Universal vector exchange. Lightburn imports cleanly. |
.ai / .eps | Vector (Adobe) | Adobe Illustrator native. Lightburn imports newer .ai formats. |
.dxf | Vector (CAD) | Industrial / engineering files. Lightburn imports. |
.pdf | Mixed | Lightburn imports vector PDFs. Hit-or-miss with complex PDFs. |
.png | Raster (transparent) | Best for photo engraves. Supports transparency. |
.jpg / .jpeg | Raster (compressed) | OK for photos. Lossy compression, re-save from original PNG when possible. |
.bmp | Raster (uncompressed) | Lossless. Common for depth maps. |
.tiff | Raster (uncompressed) | Premium image archival. Good for high-detail photos. |
.rd / .ud5 | Controller (Ruida) | Save-to-Ruida-memory format for offline running. |
Lined SVG, filled SVG or PNG: what each program wants
The same design behaves differently from one laser program to the next, and a file that is perfect for one is a headache in another. A "lined" SVG is line art drawn as strokes; a "filled" SVG is solid closed shapes; a PNG is pixels.
| Program | SVG strokes (lined) | SVG fills (filled shapes) | PNG / JPG | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LightBurn | Imports the path centerline, stroke width ignored. Set the layer to Line to cut or score. | Closed shapes fill when the layer is set to Fill. Open shapes cannot fill. | Engraves directly; Trace Image turns a clean logo into vectors | Everything is decided per layer, so an SVG's stroke or fill styling is only a starting point |
| Glowforge | Strokes become cuts; switch one to score in the app | Fills become engraves | Engrave only. No path for the laser to follow. | Colour is the step: each colour in the SVG becomes its own operation |
| xTool Creative Space | An SVG lands as score by default; change it to cut or engrave | Engraves when set to engrave | Engraves directly (PNG, JPG, BMP) | A multi-element SVG comes in as one object; split it in Inkscape and export the parts you want separately |
| LaserGRBL | Loaded as is: every path is cut or engraved, no fill option, no layers | No fill. A filled shape becomes its outline. | Its strong suit: dithering, line by line, vectorise and centerline tools all work on images | This is the program people mean when they say "it prefers PNG". Export filled artwork as a PNG for it. |
| EZCAD2 / EZCAD3 | Imports SVG, AI, DXF and PLT; hatch is set inside EZCAD | Fill is a hatch you apply to a closed shape after import | Imports BMP and JPG as bitmaps for engraving | Fussy about SVG versions. If an SVG will not open, export DXF or PLT from Illustrator or Inkscape instead. |
Glowforge, xTool and LaserGRBL behaviour is from their own support pages and documentation, read September 2026; check the current release notes before relying on a default. The rule that survives every program: closed filled shapes give you a choice, outline-only line art is a cut or score file, and a PNG is an engrave file. If you sell the same design for CNC too, the CNC side is on CHIP's file types page.
Vector vs raster: when to use which
- Vector for cuts and clean edges: text, logos, shapes. Lightburn cuts paths exactly.
- Vector for engrave perimeters: outlines, scrollwork.
- Raster for photos: portraits, gradient images, depth maps.
- Raster for textures: wood grain effects, simulated patterns.
- Mix both: a typical job has vector outlines + raster fill or photo content.
Image trace: converting raster to vector
For taking a logo PNG and getting clean vector cut paths:
- Illustrator: Object → Image Trace → "Black and White Logo" preset → Expand.
- Inkscape: Path → Trace Bitmap → Brightness or Edge Detection.
- Lightburn: built-in Trace Image tool (right-click image → Trace Image).
Always clean up the result, orphaned points, jagged edges, doubled paths. AI traces are not production-ready without manual touch-up.
Standard project file structure
For organizing customer / production work:
customer-name/YYYYMMDD-projectname/- Inside: original artwork (.ai, .png), Lightburn project (.lbrn), proof image (.png), invoice (.pdf), notes.txt
- Save controller-native files (.rd) for offline running.
- Tag photos of finished pieces with the project name for portfolio.
The 80% case
For 80% of laser work: Lightburn (engraving control) + Photoshop or GIMP (raster prep) + Inkscape or Illustrator (vector design) is the complete software stack. Add Blender + SculptOK if you do 3D relief work. That's it.