Layers and cut settings

In Beam Bench, color = layer. Every object on the canvas belongs to a layer based on its color, and each layer has its own cut settings: power, speed, mode, 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 the object (Select tool, or Esc then click).
Click a color swatch in the Color Palette at the bottom. The object now belongs to that color's layer.

If no layer exists yet for that color, one is created with default settings.

Edit the layer's settings

Open the Cuts/Layers panel (upper-right by default). Each layer appears as a row with its color swatch, name, and current power/speed.
Double-click the row (or click the edit icon) to open the layer's full settings.
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, top to bottom by default. Drag rows to reorder.

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