Export to ILDA

When your content is ready, BT Laser Studio exports it as a standard .ild (ILDA) file for playback on laser hardware and in third-party laser software. There are two export paths, and it matters which one you're using:

• Direct download — SVG → Laser, Text → Laser, Beam Creator, Video → Laser, and Animation Studio each have a Download ILDA button that saves a Format 5 (2D True Color) file immediately. No dialog, no options.
• The Export ILDA dialog — exists only in the ILDA Viewer (the EXPORT ILDA button in the left sidebar). It handles format conversion, hardware presets, and point reduction in one place.

Tier Gating

Every ILDA export path in BT Laser Studio follows the same model:

Direct Downloads (all creation tools)

Download ILDA in SVG → Laser, Text → Laser, Beam Creator, Video → Laser, and Animation Studio writes your converted content as Format 5 (2D True Color) — full RGB per point, the modern default — named after your source. There are no format or point-limit options on this path; if you need Format 0/1 output or point reduction for legacy hardware, open the file in the ILDA Viewer and use the Export ILDA dialog there.

Direct downloads do not refuse a file merely because the whole animation contains many points. Where a tool exposes a safety panel, it checks the heaviest frame at the chosen FPS against your selected device profile and warns when the artwork exceeds that rate. You can still download the file and decide whether to lower FPS, simplify the artwork, or use a faster scanner.

Choose the Playback Rate

An ILDA file does not store a playback point rate. Before downloading, choose the rate you will use in your ILDA player: use the device selector in a tool's Safety Check, or Export Rate in Text → Laser and AI Beam Creator. BeamTracer sizes blanked settling for that choice. Play the finished file at the same rate; changing it later also changes the physical settling time.

Animation Studio additionally has an Export for Projection Mapping modal. It independently selects video and laser layers, renders 1080p/4K H.264 or WebM, can add a configurable video-only glow, previews every per-layer ILDA filename, optionally adds combined.ild, checks scanner safety, and keeps every video and ILDA frame synchronized. See Animation Studio for the complete dialog guide.

The Export ILDA Dialog (ILDA Viewer)

Click EXPORT ILDA in the ILDA Viewer's left sidebar to open the Export ILDA File dialog. The dialog summarizes the file at the top — the source filename, the number of frames, and the total point count — so you know what you are about to save.

Smart Recommendation

The dialog inspects your content — its current format, average points per frame, and whether it uses true color or indexed color — and suggests the best export path. If a preset is recommended, you can apply it in one click. The recommendation flags high-density files that may overwhelm cheaper hardware.

Quick Presets

Four presets cover the common targets:

Format Options

If you choose Custom, set the output format directly:

• Original (keep as-is) — download the file unchanged, no conversion
• Format 0 (3D Indexed Color) — widest hardware compatibility
• Format 1 (2D Indexed Color) — smaller files for 2D-only content
• Format 4 (3D True Color) — full RGB per point with the Z axis kept
• Format 5 (2D True Color) — full RGB per point, the modern default

Indexed exports (Format 0 and 1) embed the color palette they were matched against, so the colors you see are the colors every player shows. Converting between the 3D formats (0 and 4) keeps the Z coordinate; converting to a 2D format drops it.

For a full comparison of what each format supports and how conversion behaves, see ILDA Format Versions.

Limiting Points per Frame

When converting, you can set an optional Max Points per Frame. SD-card projectors typically need this capped around 500–750 points. If your content exceeds the limit, choose how it is trimmed:

For the reasoning behind point budgets and clean hardware playback, see the Optimization Guide.

Convert and Download

Click Convert & Download. If the conversion is clean the .ild file downloads immediately, named after your source file with the format appended. If the conversion produces warnings — for example, colors mapped to the nearest palette entry or points truncated — the dialog shows a results summary (input/output format, frame and point counts, colors mapped, points truncated, file size) and any warnings so you can review before choosing Download anyway.