AI-Powered Tools
BeamTracer's AI features — Beam Creator for prompt-to-laser generation, Video Analysis for auto-tuned tracing, and File Diagnostics for corrupt ILDA repair.
BeamTracer offers AI Beam Creator, Video Analysis, and File Diagnostics. All three are available on Pro, and signed-in free users can try the allowance shown in the app before upgrading.
AI actions send only the input needed for the action you start: Generate Beam sends your text prompt, Ask Gemini sends one representative video frame rather than the whole video, and Analyze with AI (Gemini) sends the file name, file size, load error, and a diagnostic excerpt of the first 512 bytes rather than the whole ILDA file. These transfers happen only after you press the named AI action. Standard conversion, preview, and export remain local to your browser.
Tier: Pro. The app shows your remaining free tries beside each AI action. See Pricing for the current allowance.
AI Beam Creator
Generate laser-friendly vector outlines from text prompts. Open AI Beam Creator →
Using Beam Creator
- Type a description of what you want — e.g., "a butterfly with spread wings" or "mandala pattern with rainbow colors"
- Click Generate Beam. Each attempt uses one generation; a technical failure restores the attempt.
- The generated outline appears on the preview canvas.
- Set Export Rate to match your ILDA player's playback rate, then Download ILDA, Send to Animation Studio, or Open in ILDA Viewer
A few practical details:
- Recent Prompts — your prompts are kept in a Recent Prompts history panel below the input (stored for the current browser session). Clicking a recent prompt re-runs it — and re-running consumes a generation, since the AI produces a fresh (possibly different) result each time.
- Free adjustments — after a generation appears, use Simplify, Smooth curves, Show Point Density, and Color Palette without spending another generation. Only pressing Generate Beam starts a new attempt.
AI Beam Creator returns outline-based shapes that can be previewed and adjusted with the same visible laser controls as other SVGs.
Colors
By default, the AI generates laser-green (#00FF00) outlines. When your prompt mentions colors — such as "rainbow", "colorful", or specific colors — the AI assigns distinct, fully-saturated stroke colors to each path or logical group. Supported laser colors include red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and magenta.
You can also override the AI's colors using the Color Palette at the bottom of the preview. Selecting a specific color applies it uniformly to all paths; selecting Auto preserves the SVG's original per-path colors.
Lasers emit light — dark colors like black, dark gray, or near-black hex values (e.g., #333333) are physically impossible to project. If you request a dark color, the AI will automatically substitute the nearest bright equivalent. Stick to vivid, fully-saturated colors for accurate results.
Live output
The Convert / Live switch at the top of the workspace streams a generated beam straight to a laser instead of exporting it. In Live, the Laser Output panel appears in the Properties sidebar: choose Preview or a supported DAC (Helios directly; Ether Dream and LaserCube through the Bridge app), confirm the two-step Arm, then press Start. Connected hardware brings up the bottom-edge safety dock with Power, Arm, Blackout, and Start, exactly as in every other laser tool. The panel's Frame rate slider trades per-frame detail against flicker, and Galvo speed, Power limit, Corner brightness (Advanced), and Color delay (Advanced) are documented in full under Laser DAC Output, and the color delay is remembered per DAC.
Tips for Good Prompts
- Be specific about style — "minimalist line art butterfly" produces cleaner output than just "butterfly"
- Mention laser — "laser-safe outline of a cat" helps the AI prioritize clean paths
- Keep it simple — simple subjects (logos, icons, text, animals) convert better than complex scenes
- Request symmetry — symmetrical shapes are naturally scanner-friendly
- Ask for colors — "star with rainbow colors" or "red and blue spiral" for multi-color output
About AI-Generated Content
AI-generated content is inherently non-deterministic. The same prompt may produce different results each time, and outputs may not always match your creative intent. Each attempt counts as one generation, including a re-roll. A technical failure restores the attempt, but a successful result still counts even when you decide not to use it.
For best results, start with simple prompts and iterate. Use the Reset button to clear and try again. If the output needs refinement, adjust your wording to be more specific about the shape, style, or structure you want.
AI Video Analysis
When converting video to laser via the Video → Laser pipeline, click Ask Gemini to automatically analyze the video content and configure tracing settings.
What It Changes
After Ask Gemini finishes, the visible tracing controls update with a recommended conversion method, trace mode, threshold, detail, invert, smoothing, and POV setting. Review those controls and refine any value before converting.
There is also a free, instant Auto-Detect button beside Ask Gemini. It provides a quick first-pass configuration without using an AI analysis. See Auto-Detect vs Ask Gemini for when to use each.
AI File Diagnostics
When viewing a corrupt or problematic ILDA file in the ILDA Viewer, click Analyze with AI (Gemini) in the error panel to get a diagnosis.
What It Analyzes
- Header corruption — malformed signatures, wrong format codes, invalid byte sequences
- Truncation — files that end mid-frame or are missing the EOF marker
- Encoding errors — wrong coordinate scaling, flipped axes, missing blanking data
- Compatibility — identifies which laser software likely created the file and known bugs in that software's exporter
What You Get
A plain-English explanation of what's wrong, why it happened, and what to do about it. For example:
"This file was likely exported by an older version of LaserShowGen that incorrectly sets the blanking bit using 1 for off and 0 for on (reversed from the ILDA specification). BeamTracer's viewer has auto-corrected this during display, but if you export this file to Format 5, the blanking will be fixed permanently."
Availability
All AI features are available on the Pro tier. When you are signed in, each tool shows the free tries remaining and prompts you to upgrade when they are used. Beam Creator generations are counted separately; Video Analysis and File Diagnostics share one analysis allowance. See Pricing for the current trial table.
| Feature | Visible action |
|---|---|
| AI Beam Creator | Generate Beam |
| AI Video Analysis | Ask Gemini |
| AI File Diagnostics | Analyze with AI (Gemini) |
Further Reading
Oscilloscope Music
Preview stereo XY audio, trim it into Animation Studio layers, and export ILDA or video with clear timing and output limits.
Export to ILDA
How ILDA export works across BT Laser Studio — direct downloads in every creation tool, the Export ILDA dialog in the ILDA Viewer, and how tier gating applies.