Using Hatch Palettes
A Hatch Palette uses the Rasterizer's familiar color swatches to classify artwork, but the physical variation assigned to those layers is directional hatching. Every swatch shares one tested base laser setting while its hatch angle and, optionally, its line interval can differ.
When a Hatch Palette is useful
Hatch Palettes are not particularly useful for ordinary MOPA Laser color engraving. If each source color should become a tested physical laser color, use a normal color palette whose swatches map to the distinct laser settings that produce those colors.
A Hatch Palette is especially useful for engraving without physical color when differently colored regions in the source image should still look different in the finished mark. Rasterizer uses the source colors to separate the artwork, then assigns those regions contrasting hatch directions or line densities. The resulting differences can remain visible through texture, tone, grain, reflectivity, or viewing-direction response even when every region is engraved with the same base laser process and nominal mark color.
Use a Hatch Palette when you want different artwork regions to receive different line directions or densities while keeping their underlying laser process consistent. This can create directional texture, tonal separation, grain-like effects, changing reflections, or experimental diffraction patterns without requiring each swatch to represent a different physical color.
The workflow is not exclusive to MOPA sources. A compatible Q-switched fiber, diode, CO2, UV, or other laser may use hatch-directed artwork when LightBurn supports its controller and the selected base setting is safe and validated for that exact machine, lens, and material. The physical effect will differ by process and should not be assumed to produce metal color or diffraction.
For an enclosed diode example to compare for hatch artwork, review the WeCreat Vision 20W. Confirm LightBurn support for the delivered controller, the materials and settings you intend to use, and whether its fill-angle behavior fits your workflow.
Create the palette
Open Swatch Palette Vault and choose New Hatch Palette. Give the saved palette and its material shelf clear names, then choose a base setting from any saved Material Library or enter one manually.
The base setting supplies operation type, power, speed, frequency, pulse width, passes, and other laser parameters. Rasterizer clones it across the default swatches. Only LightBurn layer identity, hatch angle, and line interval are intended to vary by swatch.
Guest workflow with an uploaded library
Guests do not have access to saved Hatch Palettes in Swatch Palette Vault, but they can still apply prepared hatch settings through a Material Library uploaded for that Rasterizer job. The Description of each Material Library entry must match the Rasterizer swatch name assigned to that artwork color, and the entry's LightBurn cut settings must already contain the hatch angle and optional line interval intended for that swatch.
For example, geometry quantized to the Blue swatch uses the uploaded entry whose Description is Blue. To engrave that region at a particular direction, configure the desired angle in that Blue entry before uploading the library. Repeat the mapping for every enabled swatch, then select the uploaded material and verify every matched layer in the generated .lbrn2 project.
The guest workflow does not provide account-backed Hatch Palette creation, planning, editing, retention, preferences, or Job History. Changes must be made in the source Material Library and uploaded again for each job. A guest Rasterizer job counts toward the five-job UTC-day allowance only after its artwork, parameters, Material Library, and selected material pass worker validation.
Member workflow with saved Hatch Palettes
Signed-in members can create Hatch Palettes in Swatch Palette Vault from a saved base setting or manually entered parameters. Members can use the Hatch Angle and Interval Planner, edit individual swatches, preserve the palette between sessions, and select the saved palette and its material directly when running Rasterizer jobs.
The same name-matching rule still applies: each saved entry Description identifies the Rasterizer swatch whose geometry receives that entry's LightBurn settings.
Read the swatch previews
Each preview uses colored lines rather than a solid block. Line color identifies the Rasterizer swatch that source artwork will match. Line direction represents the stored hatch angle, and relative spacing represents the stored line interval or lines per inch.
The preview communicates the plan; it is not a physical simulation of spot size, overlap, heat, texture, or the final appearance on material.
Use the Hatch Angle and Interval Planner
The planner distributes angles across all palette entries from the requested starting angle and angular span without duplicating the ending orientation. Applying the plan saves those angles into the Swatch Palette Vault's stored library copy.
First and last interval are optional. Leave both interval fields blank to preserve every entry's existing interval. Supply interval values only when you want the planner to distribute and overwrite intervals across the palette.
Edit individual swatches
The planner is optional. Open the palette's Settings and select any entry to edit its Scan Angle and Line Interval manually. You can also run the planner first and fine-tune individual entries afterward.
Running the planner again replaces individual angle edits. It replaces interval edits only when planner interval values are supplied; blank interval fields preserve them.
Fill and Offset Fill
Ordinary Fill allows Rasterizer to store an angle that LightBurn uses as the hatch direction. Offset Fill is allowed so an existing tested base setting can be preserved, but LightBurn controls the effective offset-path direction. The displayed or stored angle therefore cannot guarantee Offset Fill orientation in the same way as ordinary Fill.
Use the palette in Rasterizer
On the Rasterizer page, choose the saved Hatch Palette as the Material Library and select its material name. Artwork pixels still quantize to enabled swatch colors, and the resulting vector regions receive the matching Hatch Palette layers and settings in the exported LightBurn project.
Inspect the regenerated .lbrn2 file in LightBurn before engraving. Confirm every layer's output state, operation type, angle, interval, power, speed, frequency, pulse width, passes, dimensions, and placement. A Hatch Palette organizes tested settings; it does not certify them or operate the laser.