Color Discovery
The Color Lab turns physical laser testing into a recorded loop: begin from one known setting, sweep two parameters, photograph the engraved grid, refine a promising cell, and export or save measured swatches as a Color Palette. Results remain specific to the machine, material, lens, preparation, and viewing setup used to produce them.
Generate a discovery grid
Choose a Material Library, material, and base setting, then select one parameter for columns and another for rows. Selecting the base setting initializes both sweep ranges from its values; change the minimum or maximum values to explore above or below that baseline.
Use the Labels selector to choose the setting that will engrave the Grid ID. Color Lab automatically selects a Cut Setting Entry named Labels from the same material when one exists; otherwise it begins with the selected base setting. You may choose any other setting listed for that material, and that final selection supplies the actual LightBurn parameters for the label.
Set the overall grid width and height. Color Lab automatically calculates equal square cells, packs 29 cells without gaps, and records the generated grid before it is measured. Parameters other than line interval are written as integer values. Download the LightBurn project and inspect every setting before engraving.
Photograph and align the grid
Choose a previously generated short Grid ID or type an ID manually, then load a photograph of the engraved grid. Loading the image also loads its recorded layout. Color Lab attempts to align the overlay automatically and leaves the corner controls available for manual correction.
When the engraved grid is photographed on white paper, enable White Background. The surrounding paper is used to estimate white balance, and the corrected preview helps show what the measurement process sees. Keep the grid flat, avoid clipped glare, and align the overlay cells with the engraved cells before measuring.
Measure and review swatches
Color Lab samples each cell from the aligned photograph, displays the detected color, and groups results by their nearest official Rasterizer swatch. Click a detected swatch to enable or disable it. The detected hex value remains editable, including through a color picker.
Only one enabled result may be assigned to each official Rasterizer swatch when exporting or saving. If two enabled results share the same official swatch, disable one or change its assignment before continuing.
Refine a promising result
Choose Refine Grid and enable exactly one measured swatch. The selected swatch supplies the complete center setting for the next grid. Color Lab initially keeps the source grid's column and row parameters, with a default range spanning approximately one prior cell step before and after the selected setting, spread across the same number of cells and the same overall dimensions.
The refinement retains the original grid's validated label-setting choices and current Labels selection. You may change the Labels selector before generating the refinement; the chosen setting engraves the refined Grid ID and does not alter the swept cell settings.
Before generation, you may independently choose a different supported parameter for the columns or rows. This makes it possible to find a useful region with Speed and Frequency, then refine the same measured setting with Pulse Width and Power or another distinct pair. An axis retained from the source grid keeps its prior cell spacing; a newly selected parameter begins with a conservative editable range around that parameter's value in the selected swatch.
The calculated row and column bounds are shown before generation and may be edited. To vary only one parameter, set the minimum and maximum of the other axis to the same value; that parameter remains constant across its rows or columns. A refinement grid can itself be photographed, measured, and refined again, allowing repeated narrowing or a deliberate change of variables at each stage.
The discovery method is the same for every source
Whether the source is MOPA or Q-switched, use the same basic loop: hold the setup constant, vary a small and intentional set of parameters, engrave labeled cells, observe them under controlled conditions, repeat promising cells, and record only results that reproduce. The source type changes which parameters are available, not the need for disciplined testing.
Begin with the laser manufacturer's supported operating ranges and a conservative setting already known to mark the material. Do not begin by copying an isolated internet recipe at full scale. A published setting may belong to a different source, lens, spot size, controller interpretation, material grade, finish, or focus distance.
Lock down the test conditions
Choose one machine, source, lens, material alloy or product, surface finish, preparation method, focus distance, and fixture. Clean every coupon consistently and, when possible, cut test pieces from the same material batch. Record the Laser Source and Lens Field of View in a dedicated Material Library before testing.
Decide how the color will be judged. Use the same lamp position, viewing angle, background, camera position, exposure, and white balance for every comparison. This is essential for oxide colors and diffraction effects, which may look different when the light or observer moves.
If you need consistent blanks or test stock, compare Cloudray's laser marking materials. Verify alloy, coating, thickness, and fume safety before testing.
Search broadly, then refine
Use a coarse grid to find productive regions rather than changing many controls randomly. Vary one parameter along the rows and another along the columns while keeping everything else fixed. Label the grid and record every constant. If no useful region appears, change one fixed value and run another grid.
Once a promising neighborhood appears, build a smaller grid around it with narrower steps. Refine only the variables most likely to improve separation and repeatability. A coarse search finds the neighborhood; a fine search finds the address. Do not treat a single attractive cell as a finished recipe the first time you see it. Repeat the experiment several times under the same controlled conditions. If the setting maintains the desired appearance across every test, it is a strong candidate for a highly repeatable color setting and a useful addition to the palette.
Observe, measure, and reject
Let the coupon cool, then inspect every candidate in the intended lighting as well as from nearby angles. Record a photograph or measured color value using the same capture setup, but also record visual qualities that RGB alone misses: gloss, darkness, iridescence, directional behavior, edge quality, and sensitivity to fingerprints or cleaning.
Reject cells with visible scorching, excessive debris, unstable edges, warping, unsafe heat accumulation, or colors that disappear under the intended viewing conditions. A near-duplicate may still be worth preserving in a separate Material Library because its finish, behavior, or appearance could prove better for a particular project. Avoid placing two nearly identical colors in the same active palette, however. The palette is designed to represent one distinct tested setting per swatch, so a duplicate occupies space that could instead provide another useful color. A smaller set of clearly separated colors is easier to use than a large set of uncertain ones.
Remember that each swatch color is also used to match pixels in the source artwork. If an extra setting that physically produces green is assigned to a red swatch, every red region in the artwork will be placed on the layer carrying that green-producing setting. The engraved material will therefore show green where the source image showed red, and the project will be harder to understand at a glance because the displayed layer color no longer describes its expected result. That remapping can be a useful artistic decision when it is deliberate, but not if it wasn't, so always assign swatches to settings intentionally.
Prove that a setting is repeatable
Engrave each candidate at least several times in separated locations rather than repeating it over the same mark. Repeat it on another coupon from the same material, and test it again after the machine has returned to a normal starting condition. If the result shifts significantly, investigate focus, surface preparation, material variation, delivered power, heat, or observation conditions before saving it.
A setting becomes palette-worthy when it produces the intended appearance repeatedly and remains distinguishable from neighboring palette entries. Give it a Material Library Description that matches the Rasterizer swatch name you intend to use, and record the machine, lens, material, preparation, focus, date, and viewing notes.
Real-world MOPA example
Suppose an operator wants a compact gold, blue, and dark palette on a specific batch of stainless steel. They mount the same 110 × 110 mm lens used for production, clean several coupons identically, set focus with the same method, and begin from a conservative color-marking setting known to work on that machine.
For the coarse search, pulse width is varied by row and frequency by column while speed, power, hatch interval, angle, and passes remain fixed. Promising gold and blue neighborhoods are then tested with narrower pulse-width and frequency steps. A second refinement grid varies speed against power around each candidate, followed by a small interval or pass test only if needed.
The operator repeats the finalists in multiple locations and on a second coupon under fixed lighting. Stable gold, blue, and dark settings are saved to that machine-and-lens Material Library; an attractive violet that changes unpredictably is documented but excluded. The example is a process, not a set of transferable numeric values.
Real-world Q-switched example
Suppose another operator has a Q-switched fiber source with fixed pulse duration and wants a useful tonal or limited-color palette on the same kind of metal. The coupons, cleaning, focus, lens, labeling, observation, and repeatability requirements are unchanged.
Because pulse width is not an adjustable axis, the first coarse grid varies frequency by row and speed by column while power, hatch interval, angle, and passes remain fixed at supported values. Promising dark gray, bronze, pale, or colored regions are refined with smaller frequency and speed steps. The operator may then test power against speed or hatch interval around the best candidates, changing only two variables at a time.
The final library may contain fewer distinct settings than the MOPA library, but every retained entry has earned its place through repetition. The test may also uncover an unexpected vivid or highly useful mark in a narrow parameter region. That surprise is worth keeping precisely because it was measured on the actual source rather than predicted from its category.
Export or save the discovered Color Palette
Guests can generate grids, load a previous Grid ID, analyze photographs, measure colors, and refine a selected result repeatedly. They can export enabled, qualified swatches as a .clb file, but cannot save them directly to Swatch Palette Vault. Keep the exported file if you want to import it after signing in.
Signed-in users can instead save enabled, qualified swatches as a new Color Palette in Swatch Palette Vault. Each exported or saved swatch keeps its measured display color, its assigned official Rasterizer color, and the complete laser setting from that grid cell.
Use a clear palette and material name, retain only results you trust, and keep separate palettes for materially different machine, lens, substrate, finish, or preparation combinations. Rasterizer can then use the palette to match source-image colors and apply the corresponding tested settings. Always inspect the exported LightBurn project before engraving.
Safety and experimental limits
Stay within the source, controller, lens, and material manufacturer's limits. Use suitable guarding, extraction, fire precautions, and wavelength-appropriate eye protection, and never leave a running laser unattended. Unknown alloys, coatings, plated surfaces, paints, and plastics may emit hazardous fumes or react unpredictably; confirm material safety before testing.
Color settings are process records, not guarantees. Revalidate them whenever the source, lens, material batch, surface preparation, focus procedure, maintenance state, or viewing arrangement changes materially.