Measure Tool 
¶
With the measurement tool you can view a wide array of useful information about any shape object. To use this tool, click on the ruler icon in the Creation Tools toolbar. (Alt+M)
It will display the following dialog:
As you hover the cursor over shapes, individual shapes are highlighted in green and the line or curve segment the cursor is currently hovering over is highlighted in purple, as shown on the right edge of the first M below:
The measurement dialog describes the highlighted shape. A brief explanation of the values included:
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Nodes | Number of nodes (end points of line segments and curves) |
| Lines | Number of straight lines |
| Curves | Number of arcs or Bézier curves |
| Perimeter Length | Total length of all line/curve segments |
| Closed/Open | Whether or not the shape is closed |
| Area | The total area of the shape. Empty for open shapes |
| Segment Length | Length of the highlighted line/curve segment |
| Start Point | X, Y coordinate of the start node of the highlighted segment |
| End Point | X, Y coordinate of the end node of the highlighted segment |
| Difference | Difference in X and Y between the start and end nodes |
| Angle | Angle of the line between the start and end points |
| Arc Radius | Radius of the arc, if the curve is a true circular arc. Empty otherwise |
| Arc Center | Center point of the arc, if the curve is a true circular arc. Empty otherwise |
Below you can see further examples of the state of the measurement tool dialog, based on the type of segment being measured.
Drag Measure¶
If you need to measure the distance between two points, you can click and drag between any two points and get the above information. You can select an existing node, but this works for any two points, regardless of whether any shapes exist.
LightBurn 1.5+: Starting in LightBurn 1.5, holding down Shift and dragging with the Measure Tool locks the measurement to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angles.
Dragging with axis snapping