SVG for Glowforge and xTool
Glowforge's app and xTool Creative Space (and xTool Studio) take SVG files and decide what to do by colour: each colour becomes a step (Glowforge) or a layer (xTool), a line is cut or scored and a filled shape is engraved. File › Export › Export… writes such a file: choose SVG for Glowforge and xTool as the file type in the export dialog. (The plain SVG export is for drawing programs: it keeps the layers' own colours, line widths, text and fills.)
What is written
- The size in millimetres: the document is exactly the size of what is cut (
widthandheightin mm, itsviewBoxin mm), so it comes in at full size: no scaling to check. - A colour for each operation: cuts as red lines (
#FF0000), scores as blue lines (#0000FF), and the shapes an engraved layer closes filled black (#000000, with no line, holes such as a letter's counters left unfilled). Or, with A colour for each layer, each layer in a colour of its own (LightBurn's palette: see Colour below), so the app makes a step for each layer and each can have its own settings. - A group for each layer, named after it.
- Plain shapes only: paths of straight lines and Béziers, and circles. Arcs and other curves become Béziers; text becomes its outlines. There is no text, style sheet or transform for the app to misread.
- What every export leaves out is left out here too: hidden elements, the Construction layer, layers that aren't plotted, the Tape layer, and the Dimension layer.
The export options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Operation (each layer) | Cut, Score, Engrave (fill) or Leave out: it starts as for LightBurn (creases scored, the standard Engrave and Etch layers and layers named Engrave or Etch engraved, the Dimension and Tape layers left out). |
| Colour (each layer) | With A colour for each layer: the colour (LightBurn's 00 to 29) its lines or fills are drawn in. |
| A colour for each layer | A colour for each layer rather than one for each operation. |
| Line width | The width cut and score lines are drawn with (0.1 mm): the apps don't cut by it. |
Speed, power and passes are set in the laser's own app, which has its material settings.
On the laser
- Glowforge: upload the file in the Glowforge app. Each colour is a step: lines are set to Cut and fills to Engrave; switch the blue step to Score, choose your material, and print.
- xTool Creative Space / xTool Studio: import the file. Each colour comes in as a layer: set the red layer to Cut, the blue one to Score and the black fills to Engrave, with your material's settings, then frame and process.
About the format
The file is SVG 1.1 as the W3C specifies it. The colours follow how the apps read SVG: Glowforge makes a step for each colour, cutting lines and engraving fills; xTool Creative Space makes a layer of each line colour.
To estimate how long a job takes and what it costs, use the Laser job time and cost report.
See also: LightBurn projects, SVG, Laser cutting, File formats.