Nesting Controls
At a glance
- Three effort levels: Quick, Medium, Max — selectable per nest run
- Part spacing — clearance between nested parts (default: 0.125")
- Sheet margin — inset from sheet edges
- Rotation step — initial rotation granularity in degrees
- Lock parts to pin them in place; locked parts act as fixed obstacles for the algorithm
- Rip Up button to clear all nested positions and start over
- Auto-nest on import option — nest incoming parts immediately
The Auto-Nest split button in the Parts browser is nesting mission control. Clicking the button itself toggles nest-on-import: with the dot green, freshly imported parts nest immediately using your default effort; red means imports stage loose and wait. The dropdown lists the three built-in efforts — Quick (skyline), Medium and Max (NFP edge-walk) — plus any custom efforts. The radio picks the import default; clicking a name runs that nest right now. Placements stream in live as the worker computes them, and the button becomes Cancel while a nest is running.
Spacing, obstacles, and overflow
Plasma nest spacing is kerf-based: built-in efforts keep one kerf width between neighboring cut paths, measured from the actual toolpath offsets using the active sheet's cut chart — tighter with a fine consumable, looser with a heavy one, automatically. Locked parts (and anything already nested) are fixed obstacles the algorithm packs around, so you can pin a remnant-filling part and nest the rest. Nesting fills the active sheet first (including loose parts), overflows to other existing sheets in order, and creates a new sheet if parts still remain. Rip Up Nest clears every unlocked part back to the staging area — it never re-nests on its own, so you can rearrange before running again.
Custom efforts
Settings… in the dropdown opens the effort editor. A custom effort names its own combination of: algorithm (Skyline or NFP edge-walk), rotation granularity, nesting spacing from 1 to 100 kerf widths, a placement scan/candidate spacing in kerf widths, a time limit in minutes, a Concavity threshold controlling whether complex outlines keep concave detail or collapse to a convex hull for collision, and a start corner — follow the sheet origin or force a fixed gravity corner. Custom efforts appear in the dropdown alongside the built-ins and can be the import default.