# MyLaserTools 2.5 release notes: The Workbench, customizable community designs and editable templates

> Community designs can now be customized. The Workbench is a code editor in your browser where you write a design in KerfScript for laser cutting, in OpenSCAD for 3D printing, or both, and the settings in your code become sliders, choices and text fields. Publish it and its page becomes a customizer: anyone can change the sizes and text, watch the preview update and download an SVG, STL or 3MF. Laser parts placed with at and rotate show up assembled in 3D, so you can check a box fits together before you cut it. The Design Editor can also turn any design into an editable template, where you choose what people can change, like a name and its font, a symbol or the shape. One design can now have a laser cut and a 3D print version, and the community gallery shows how each design is made, with filters for laser cut, 3D print, UV print and customizable designs. Version 2.5 also rebuilds the Learning Center, adds the Depth Map Inspector and 292 free Kerf Designs from book nooks to automata, gives every community design a full page of its own and brings UV print styles and 110 race tracks to the Map Designer.

- **Version:** 2.5
- **Released:** October 2026
- **Web page:** https://www.mylasertools.com/release-notes/2-5

## New features

- **[The Workbench](https://www.mylasertools.com/generator-studio):** The Workbench is a code editor for designs with settings. Write the laser cut version in KerfScript and the 3D print version in OpenSCAD, or start from the name tag and box examples. Variables at the top of your code become a settings panel, the preview updates as you type, and you download SVG, STL or 3MF. Saved designs live in My Designs, and free accounts keep up to 10 private ones.
- **[Editable templates](https://www.mylasertools.com/learn/guides/editable-templates):** Select a part of your design and choose what people can change: their own text and font, show or hide it, its size, the line width, a different symbol, or one of several versions. Name each option, preview it as a customer and save it. Templates are free and listed in My Designs under Templates.
- **[Customize community designs on their page](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs/customizable):** Designs written in the Workbench and editable templates carry a Customizable label in the community gallery. Their page shows the settings next to a live preview, so anyone can type a name, change the sizes and download the file, without an account. Every download counts for the maker, and Copy to Workbench gives other makers their own copy of the code to learn from.
- **[Laser cut and 3D print versions of one design](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs):** A design can have a laser cut version and a 3D print version, saved and published together. The design page shows them under Ways to make it, and makers can add the missing one later with Add a 3D print version or Add a laser version on a design made in the Workbench.
- **[See laser parts assembled in 3D](https://www.mylasertools.com/generator-studio?example=box):** Place each KerfScript part with at and rotate and the Workbench 3D preview shows the design put together. It warns you when two parts collide, which is how a finger joint facing the wrong way shows up, and parts without a place lie flat beside it. The Box with lid example shows how.
- **[UV print styles for maps](https://www.mylasertools.com/map-designer):** Map Designer layers can take a ready-made colour palette for UV printing, from Sea Glass and Porcelain to Neon city and Blueprint. Try each style on your map in the style gallery, then apply it. The features you picked and their line widths stay the same.
- **[Community designs on category pages](https://www.mylasertools.com/category/christmas):** Category and occasion pages now show community designs after the tools, on the same cards. Christmas lists ornaments and gifts makers have shared, and Load more brings in the next set.
- **[Search finds community designs](https://www.mylasertools.com/):** Search on the home page now shows matching community designs after the tools. It matches every word you type in the title, description or tags.
- **[Build KerfScript designs step by step](https://www.mylasertools.com/kerfscript-playground?example=lock-box):** The KerfScript Playground and the Workbench now run KerfScript 0.8, which adds the kerf/cones and kerf/linkage libraries. Designs that place their parts get an Assembled view with arrows that build the model one step at a time, with dowels, screws and magnets in place and living hinges shown bent. The Playground adds a Format button, printable assembly instructions and back side files for designs that engrave both faces, and errors underline the exact spot in your code.
- **[A new Learning Center](https://www.mylasertools.com/learn):** The Learning Center has a new home page, a sidebar with every guide by topic and search that opens with Ctrl K. Tell it which machine you have and the guides show your setup first. New pages cover troubleshooting, a glossary and short videos for each part of MyLaserTools, and tool pages open their guide in a side panel. Finishing a learning path earns 10 sparks, and every guide hides one more to find.
- **[292 free Kerf Designs](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs/miniatures):** Kerf Designs brings 292 free laser designs you can customize: 51 book nooks, 67 miniatures, walking automata, marble machines, working models like an orrery and a Geneva drive, puzzle boxes, ornaments, desk organisers and shop signs. Set the material thickness and the sizes, watch the model go together in 3D and download the cut file. Book nooks and miniatures have their own Miniatures tab in the community gallery.
- **[A full page for every community design](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs):** Every community design now opens on a page laid out like our tools: a banner with its picture, the settings or a Download panel next to the preview, then photos, details, how to make it, common questions, makes from the community and similar designs. Links to the old customize page bring you here.
- **[Depth Map Inspector](https://www.mylasertools.com/depth-map-inspector):** Check a 16-bit depth map before it goes on the laser. The Depth Map Inspector reads PNG, PGM and PPM files in your browser, counts the grey levels that are really there and tells you why a map falls short, like 8-bit data saved as 16-bit or a shaded render instead of a height map. It shows how many depths your pass count can cut, a histogram and a 3D relief preview.
- **[Customizable 3D printable models](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs):** The 3D print side of the community gallery opens with more than 250 models you can customize before you print, from vases, planters and lanterns to bit holders, cable mounts, keychains and name blocks. Change the sizes and the text, then download STL or 3MF.
- **[Race tracks in the Map Designer](https://www.mylasertools.com/map-designer):** A Route layer can draw a race circuit instead of a GPX or KML file. Choose from 110 circuits, from Monza and Suzuka to Daytona and Mount Panorama, search by name or place, filter by region and pick a layout such as Grand Prix or Oval. The track cuts, engraves or prints like any other route.
- **[Print the hardware a design needs](https://www.mylasertools.com/category/hardware):** Under You will also need, each pin, axle, bolt, nut, spacer or Chicago screw links to the matching 3D print generator with its sizes filled in. The 3D print side of the gallery also adds 34 hardware models you can customize, including threads, brackets, hangers, clamps, knobs, plugs and switch plates.

## Improvements

- **[One gallery for every design](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs):** The community gallery lists every design together. Each card says how it was made and how you can make it. Filters hide laser cut, 3D print or UV print designs or show only customizable ones, and the gallery remembers your choice.
- **[Kerf Designs and the Customizable tab](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs/customizable):** A new Customizable tab in the community gallery lists laser designs with settings, starting with the Kerf Designs. Change the sizes and the words, then download the cut file.
- **[Pick categories when you publish](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs):** Makers can pick up to three categories when they publish or edit a design. The gallery can be filtered by category, and design pages link to their categories.
- **Personal and commercial use on every design page:** Every community design page shows whether the maker's licence allows personal use only or commercial use too.
- **OpenSCAD fonts in the font picker:** Liberation Sans, Liberation Serif, Liberation Mono and Noto Sans join the font catalogue, so text looks the same in the Design Editor, KerfScript and OpenSCAD.
- **[Three ways to publish](https://www.mylasertools.com/community-designs/publish):** The publish guide walks through sharing a design from the Design Editor, an OpenSCAD file or a KerfScript file.
- **Share next to Like:** On community design pages, Share now sits next to the heart at the top of the page.
- **[Open source credits](https://www.mylasertools.com/licensing#open-source):** The licensing page credits OpenSCAD and the other open source projects behind the Workbench.
- **[Community designs on the home page](https://www.mylasertools.com/):** Home page category rows fill up with community designs when a category has only a few tools, and each row shows how many designs it holds.
- **[KerfScript 3D preview in wood](https://www.mylasertools.com/kerfscript-playground):** The KerfScript 3D preview shows plywood grain, each part in its own material and the engraving on its surface, and opens on the assembled model.
- **Material thickness and kerf:** Customizable KerfScript designs show Material thickness and Kerf in their settings, including designs published before 2.5. STL and 3MF files use the material thickness, and a design made from different sheets gives each part the thickness of its own sheet.
- **You will also need:** Customizable KerfScript designs list the dowels, screws, magnets and other parts they need under the size, so you can gather them before you cut.
- **Build steps play on their own:** On design pages, the 3D view plays through the build steps by itself and stops as soon as you touch it.
- **Link your 3D model:** Makers can add a link to an outside 3D model viewer when they edit a design. Visitors see it as View the 3D model on the design page.
- **One card for tools and designs:** Tools and community designs share one card shape, four to a row. Small badges show how a design is made and spell out what they mean when you hover, and free designs made by MyLaserTools say FREE.
- **Back keeps your place:** Open a design from a category page or the gallery, press Back, and the designs you loaded with Load more are still there, at the same spot.
- **[Wider map lines](https://www.mylasertools.com/map-designer):** In the Map Designer you can type road, GPX route and border widths past the end of the slider, up to 100 for lines and 200 for the border. Copies of a map project are named after the original with copy at the end.
- **[New categories](https://www.mylasertools.com/category/toys):** Toys, Models, Desk & Office and Shop Displays join the categories, and Father's Day joins the occasions. Each one lists the tools that fit and the community designs placed there.
- **[Print and cut earring cards](https://www.mylasertools.com/earring-card):** The Earring Card Generator now supports print and cut: add your brand name and a border, print the cards and cut them out on the laser.

## Bug fixes

- **Pick a different symbol in a template preview:** In Preview as a customer, the symbol picker lets you choose another symbol again. The same fix applies to every picker that opens inside a window.
- **Holding tabs in the 3D preview:** Designs whose outlines leave small holding tabs show as a solid piece with thin cut lines in 3D, not as broken slivers.
- **Thin cut lines stay whole:** The Workbench 2D and export previews draw cut lines one screen pixel wide, so thin lines no longer break up when you zoom out.
- **Refilling a pattern no longer freezes the editor:** Filling a shape that already has a pattern takes a moment instead of locking up the Design Editor.
- **Empty text layers clean up:** A text layer left empty is removed once you stop editing it, also after undo.
- **Deleting a project asks first:** The Design Editor asks before it deletes a project.
- **Clear sign-in message:** After too many sign-in attempts you see that message, not Invalid email or password.
- **[Shared box links stay in range](https://www.mylasertools.com/box-generator):** Box Generator share links with sizes out of range open with the nearest sizes that work.
- **[Background Remover card](https://www.mylasertools.com/background-remover):** The before and after slider on the Background Remover card shows the cut-out on a transparent background again, not on black.
- **Layer numbers in the 3D export preview:** The numbered layer labels in the 3D export preview are plain labels now, so dragging across them turns the model.
- **Picker lists scroll without moving the page:** Scrolling a font or symbol list no longer scrolls the page behind it, and opening the picker no longer jumps the page. The Snowman Ornament tells you when a font cannot load instead of showing a blank preview.
- **Background Remover tries again:** Try again works after a failed cut-out, and a new photo uploaded while the last one is still processing replaces it.
- **Saved maps open without unsaved changes:** Maps saved before newer settings existed no longer show the unsaved changes dot or ask before you leave when you have not changed anything.

## Quick answers

### What's new in MyLaserTools 2.5?

The Workbench lets you write customizable designs as code, in KerfScript for laser cutting and OpenSCAD for 3D printing, and publish them so anyone can change the settings and download their own file. The Design Editor can also turn a design into an editable template, and one community design can now have both a laser cut and a 3D print version. It also brings a rebuilt Learning Center, the Depth Map Inspector, 292 free Kerf Designs from book nooks to automata, a full page for every community design and UV print styles and race tracks for maps.

### Do people need an account to customize a design?

No. Anyone can customize a shared template or Workbench design and download the file. Writing, saving and publishing need a free account.

### Do I need to know how to code?

Not to use customizable designs. Visitors only see the settings, the preview and the download buttons. To write your own, start from the Workbench examples and the guide to writing a customizable design.

### Is the Workbench free?

Yes. Writing, saving, publishing and customizing designs is free. Free accounts can keep up to 10 private designs; published ones do not count.

### Where are the new book nooks and miniatures?

In the Miniatures tab of the community gallery. They are free Kerf Designs you can size to your material and download as SVG.

[All release notes](https://www.mylasertools.com/release-notes)