Browse Learn topics

Learn/Design/Layout & drawing

Vector-first workflow

At a glance

  • Built for artistic shape layout and layer-based output prep—not parametric history trees
  • Top-view editing with the same camera habits as Plasma and Laser
  • Full undo and redo on the document stack — every edit is reversible

The Design workspace is a dedicated 2D vector environment for signs, artwork, and cut-file prep. There is no feature tree and nothing to regenerate: you draw shapes, push them around, and what you see on screen is exactly the geometry that exports. The viewport is a true top view with the same camera behavior as Plasma and Laser, including the shared ViewCube strip and a Fit command (F) that frames everything visible on visible layers.

Direct geometry, not features

Every Design shape is stored as plain open or closed polylines. Rotation, mirroring, scaling, and stretching are baked straight into the vertices the moment you commit them — there is no hidden transform stack to flatten later and no history to replay. That keeps the workspace fast and predictable on dense artwork, and it means a DXF you export is exactly what was on screen. Every mutation lands on the document undo stack, so Cmd/Ctrl+Z walks back through anything — draws, transforms, traces, imports.

One toolbar, grouped

Tools sit in labelled clusters: Draw (creation tools and text), Modify (Node Edit, Trim, Fillet, Bridge, Offset, Simplify, Pattern, Trace), Boolean, plus Align, Distribute, and Arrange. There are no floating parameter popups — tool interaction stays in the viewport and the top HUD.

From layout to the table

Layers carry the output intent: assign shapes to colors with the bottom palette, then export the whole design or a single layer as DXF or SVG in your preferred units. The Plasma, Laser, and Router workspaces can also import Design geometry directly — no intermediate file needed to go from layout to toolpaths.