How to Create a Wood Mosaic SVG for LightBurn

Build a laser-ready mosaic pattern at the finished project size, keep every tile enclosed, and move the SVG into LightBurn without hours of manual cleanup.

A good wood-mosaic SVG is more than a picture made of lines. If the pattern is going to become real pieces, the geometry needs to behave like a fabrication file: the overall size should match the project, shared edges should line up, every interior tile should be enclosed, and the exported SVG should arrive in LightBurn at a predictable scale.

MosaicGenny was built around that production workflow. You can experiment with the design in the browser, then export vector geometry when the layout is ready for the shop.

1. Start with the finished physical size

Enter the width and height of the finished mosaic before you spend time tuning the pattern. This keeps the generated geometry tied to the real project instead of forcing you to resize an arbitrary drawing later. If your backer is 24 × 8 inches, generate the pattern at 24 × 8 inches. If your project is designed in millimeters, stay in millimeters from generation through LightBurn.

2. Choose a geometry that matches the build

For a general wood mosaic, the Traditional Mosaic Generator is a strong starting point because it can create organic polygons, irregular honeycombs, triangles and quads. If you want flowing boundaries, use the Curved Mosaic Generator. For an angular fractured look, the Shattered Mosaic Generator creates controlled broken-glass geometry.

Do not judge a pattern only by how it looks on screen. Think about how you will cut and finish the pieces. Extremely tiny slivers can be annoying to stain and easy to lose. Very narrow points can be fragile in thin wood. A slightly simpler pattern is often faster to build and looks cleaner once assembled.

3. Verify that pieces are actually closed

Every interior cut should contribute to one or more enclosed tiles. A decorative line that stops in the middle of a piece may look interesting, but it does not create a separable mosaic tile. MosaicGenny generators are designed around closed/shared boundaries, so neighboring pieces use the same edge rather than two almost-identical lines stacked on top of each other.

This matters in LightBurn because duplicate or overlapping cut lines can cause the laser to travel the same edge twice. Closed geometry also makes numbering, adjacency detection and later color planning much more reliable.

4. Add piece numbers before export when the layout is complex

If the mosaic has dozens of pieces, numbering saves time during assembly. Enable piece numbering in the generator before export. For projects where you engrave the number on the back of each tile, use the backside mirror option so the physical placement is mirrored while the digits remain readable.

The number layer and cut geometry should be treated differently in LightBurn: cut lines get the cutting settings for your material, while numbers get a light engraving setting. Keeping those operations visually and logically separate reduces mistakes.

5. Export the SVG and import it into LightBurn

Download the SVG when the pattern is ready. In LightBurn, import the file rather than recreating the pattern from a screenshot. Verify the imported overall dimensions against the size you entered in MosaicGenny. If your workflow uses inches but LightBurn displays millimeters, compare the physical dimensions rather than assuming a unit display means the file scaled incorrectly.

Before cutting valuable material, run a small framing check or test on scrap. Confirm that the design fits the intended board and that your laser settings are appropriate for the wood species and thickness.

6. Separate cut and engraving operations

Assign the mosaic boundaries to a cut layer and the tile numbers to an engraving layer. The exact speed and power depend on the laser, wood and desired mark, so use a material test rather than copying settings blindly. For numbered pieces, the goal is usually a clear but shallow mark on the back rather than a deep engraving.

7. Plan color or stain before cutting everything

If the finished artwork uses multiple stain colors, upload the generated SVG to the Minwax Stain Planner. It can detect neighboring pieces and build a layout that avoids placing the same stain on shared edges when the palette provides enough choices. The CSV sorting output is useful for grouping numbered pieces into finishing batches.

A practical LightBurn workflow

1. Measure the finished mosaic area.
2. Generate the SVG at that exact size.
3. Regenerate until the piece sizes and shapes are practical to cut.
4. Enable numbering and backside mirroring if needed.
5. Export the SVG.
6. Import into LightBurn and verify the overall dimensions.
7. Assign cut geometry and numbering to separate layers.
8. Test on scrap before committing the full sheet.
9. Sort, stain or paint the numbered tiles.
10. Assemble the mosaic using the generated layout as the reference.

Start a wood mosaic pattern

You can use the Traditional Mosaic Generator to build the first SVG, then move directly into the color and production-planning tools when the geometry is finished.