# Camera for Avid cnc
**URL:** https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966
**Category:** General Chat
**Created:** [February 16, 2024, 3:29am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966 "2024-02-16T03:29:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2024, 3:29am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/1 "2024-02-16T03:29:07Z")
Good day.
Anyone knows if some thing like this can be done for our machines?
or where available?
[Atomstack AC1 Lightburn Camera Precise Positioning For All Brands Laser Engraving Machine (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sodCijM9Fjc)
Seems a great time saver to me…
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### Author:  [@jjneeb](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/jjneeb)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/2 "2024-02-16T04:44:26Z")
That is kinda in the realm of what @brettbond is doing with paper tools. Maybe he can comment.
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### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/3 "2024-02-18T02:45:45Z")
Good day.
I see this from Mach but cannot find it \> [Mach 4 Vision Installation Guide (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7quVIziCdUY)
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### Author:  [@jjneeb](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/jjneeb)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/4 "2024-02-18T03:48:52Z")
> [@ROTM](#):
>
> I see this from Mach but cannot find it
I’m not sure if vision is available for Hobby, maybe just Mach4 industrial. You might also try to load the stock Mach4 Router screen to see if you can find it in there. There are a lot of things in the newer Mach4 screens that AVID doesn’t include in theirs. I have recently been looking at the surface mapping feature and probing module because they look interesting.
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### Author:  [@brettbond](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/brettbond)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/5 "2024-02-18T16:27:15Z")
That camera looks nice, I would wonder:
- does it have auto focus?
- can it focus close enough to be mounted on your gantry?
- is it sensitive enough to light to deal with the varied lighting conditions as your machine moves around
The one I use is far from perfect, but if you’re curious I show a few different options to mount it in this vid:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHY7ehZiNRw)
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### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/6 "2024-02-28T02:53:18Z")
I got a light burn demo and I am going to try to install it this weekend with a camera…the reason for this I want to make the cnc table like a big scanner.
I also got a usb camera to try out…
looking for something like this… [Centre Finding using a webcam (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwSIylSWEWQ)
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### Author:  [@djdelorie](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/djdelorie)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 4:59am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/7 "2024-02-28T04:59:19Z")
> [@ROTM](#):
>
> the reason for this I want to make the cnc table like a big scanner.
I’ve thought of just bolting my flatbed scanner to the z carriage…
Plop. Scan. Move. Plop. Scan…
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### Author:  [@brettbond](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/brettbond)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/8 "2024-04-26T17:18:34Z")
I’m curious what you ended up using and if it worked??
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### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/9 "2024-04-26T17:51:08Z")
Good day.
I tried a spare camera sony a6000 but it did not work.
So I will buy a camera that lightburn is selling mount it in the ceiling.
so it will become like a big scanner which is what I need. so Ican trace big and odd shapes.
I got a microscope camera as well that I need to install …this is for finding and setting centers …when I get odd jobs.
I always get odd jobs lol.
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### Author:  [@brettbond](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/brettbond)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/10 "2025-03-07T13:03:32Z")
Here’s a video demonstrating this idea with a video camera on your spindle:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mp5TZZXydE)
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### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/11 "2025-03-07T16:52:34Z")
Question…does the paper tools need t be online for it to work?
my cnc pc has no internet connection.
I ended up buying a Lightburn camera but I had not time to install it yet…but hopefully soon. this will be for tracing shapes only. lightburn will flatten your item as well.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TaZUkvDbM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TaZUkvDbM)
Tnx!
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### Author:  [@brettbond](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/brettbond)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/12 "2025-03-07T17:48:35Z")
Lightburn does have a lot of these kinds of features. Yes the app needs to be online. There’s a work-around but it still involves connecting your CNC machine to at least your local network. You can then run Paper Tools on a different computer and connect remotely to Mach 4.
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### Author:  [@ROTM](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/ROTM)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/13 "2025-03-07T17:51:01Z")
Does it work with centroid?
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### Author:  [@brettbond](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/brettbond)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/camera-for-avid-cnc/2966/14 "2025-03-08T13:45:13Z")
Funny you should mention it, I actually just released a beta. I’d be grateful if you’d like to try it and let me know how it works on your system. I’ll provide a free month of service too:
> [@Centroid Support](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/centroid-support/4483):
>
> I’ve got a beta build of my Paper Tools project for Centroid. Anyone wanna give this a shot? I’m looking for some basic usage just to confirm the software works with your setup. Drop me a note and I’ll set you up with a free subscription. Thanks for the help, I’m trying to get broad Centroid support going using their APIs. Here’s an example using the camera to measure a part and pull coordinates as an SVG that you can use in Fusion or Vectric [[Putting Calipers Precision Under the Magni…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mp5TZZXydE)