Head Mounted Camera

Head cameras are attached to a laser's head and travel with it as it moves around its work area. After properly Calibrating and Aligning your Head camera, LightBurn will be able to stitch together captures taken by the camera at multiple locations in the work area, producing an Overlay for your Workspace that you can use to position graphics over material.

Before configuring your head camera, make sure the camera is securely mounted to your laser head, with no ability to move or wiggle as the laser jogs. Before use, make sure the camera's wires don't interfere with the laser's movement.

Selecting a Head Camera¶

With growing interest in Head Cameras for compatibility with our new Camera Print & Cut feature, we've had more people asking for guidance on what to purchase.

If your laser didn't come with a head-mounted camera pre-installed, we recommend an inexpensive USB Endoscope Camera with a long, flexible USB cable. These cameras are also sometimes listed as a "USB Inspection Camera". Avoid cameras with built-in screens or rigid or semi-rigid cables that will interfere with your laser's motion. As of October 2026, these cameras are typicallly available for about $15-30 or €20-30 from common online retailers.

If you want to explore other options, any small, light camera you can mount securely to your laser head and connect to over USB or WiFi should work. Keep in mind that WiFi cameras that use RTSP will not work - IP cameras need to output individual frames or an MJPEG feed.

For more information on mounting your new camera, see Camera Intallation - Head Cameras.

Open the Camera Alignment Wizard¶

There are a few ways to open the Camera Alignment Wizard outside of creating a new camera:

• Click the Alignment button for the camera you want to align in the Cameras / Overlays Window.
• Click the Align to Workspace button in the Edit Camera window.

Before You Begin¶

1. Add your camera to LightBurn.
2. Calibrate your camera or import an existing Camera Lens Calibration from a LightBurn Camera File.
3. Make sure your camera is mounted appropriately and wires are out of the way.
4. Make sure you have laser-engravable material to burn the test pattern on. Choose a light-colored material that works well for engraving on your laser.
5. Make sure you've tested the material you'll use and have cut settings ready for a high-contrast, crisp engraving. You can enter the settings manually, import from the Material Library, or use an existing layer in your current file.
6. Place your material into the laser and focus the laser so you're ready to engrave.

Head Camera Alignment¶

After calibration, when it's time to perform the Camera Workspace Alignment, choose the Head Camera option.

The Camera Alignment Wizard will walk you through the process, or you can continue reading for more detailed instructions. Click Next to continue to the next screen and select your alignment method.

1. Select Camera Alignment Method¶

You can use automatic or manual Camera Alignment. The automatic method is quicker and easier, but requires good lighting and high contrast between the marked pattern and the background material. Select the method you want to use and click Next. You'll see an overview of the process you've chosen. Click Next again to continue to set up your alignment pattern.

2. Alignment Pattern Setup¶

The automatic alignment process and the manual alignment process use different patterns, but the process is similar. Regardless of which pattern you're using, you can adjust the Feature Width under Pattern Size Parameters to adjust the size of the markings and the overall pattern size. The pattern should be:

• Roughly centered in the camera view.
• Sized to fit on your engraving material. Adjust the overall size by changing your Feature Width.
• Created with features large enough to be clearly visible in the camera, but not so large they take an excessively long time to engrave.

Automatic Alignment Pattern¶

The automatic alignment pattern uses AprilTags to allow LightBurn to automatically detect the position of the camera relative to the workspace.

Manual Alignment Pattern¶

The manual alignment pattern engraves a set of markers for you to identify, and uses them to guide you through aligning the camera to the workspace yourself.

3. Burn Alignment Pattern¶

This step is the same between automatic and manual alignment, even though the actual pattern is different. Place your material in the laser cutter, make sure it's focused, and get ready to burn the alignment pattern.

Use the camera preview to make sure the material is near the center of the image and clearly visible. Use Frame to make sure the pattern fits the material, and use Preview to see what will actually be burned. Use the Machine Control section in the lower left to move your laser head around if needed.

Adjust your cut settings to engrave a dark, crisp mark without cutting through the material. You can adjust your settings in a few ways:

• Adjust speed and power right in the Alignment Wizard window, just below Laser Settings.
• Click the Import button to load a layer from your Material Library.
• Click Settings to adjust your layer settings in the Cut Settings Editor.

Run the job using Start or Send, however you'd usually control your laser.

Do not move the pattern after you burn it, or you will need to burn a new alignment pattern.

4. Target Alignment¶

This process is different depending on whether you chose Automatic Alignment or Manual Alignment.

Automatic Target Alignment¶

Automatic Alignment uses the camera to read the AprilTags you've engraved.

Manual Target Alignment¶

Manual Target Alignment will walk you through identifying the centers of the targets you've engraved and identifying the portion of the camera's view that's clear and well-focused.

Capturing an Overlay¶

LightBurn 2.2's new [Cameras / Overlays] window has three options for capturing overlays with your Head Camera.

• Single, which captures a single frame at the laser's current location using your Head Camera.
• Selected, which captures the area around selected shapes using your Head Camera.
• Workspace, which captures the entire workspace.

You can read more about Head Cameras and Overlays in the Cameras / Overlays window.

Troubleshooting¶

• If the Overlay is misaligned, try rerunning the entire process, taking care to mark the points in the pattern as precisely as possible, and to not move the pattern at all from its original, engraved position.

Related Topics¶

• Cameras / Overlays Window
• Calibrate Camera Lens
• Calibrate Camera Alignment
• Camera Selection Helper
• Camera Installation and Focusing