Learn/Plasma/Toolpath Generation & Post-Processing
Toolpath Generation
At a glance
- Inside-out ordering: holes are always cut before outer profiles — eliminates part shift
- Nearest-neighbor rapid travel optimization to minimize cycle time
- Arc-preserving kerf offset: exact arcs throughout — linearization only at the post stage if required
- Kerf direction: outward for outer contours, inward for holes, centerline for open paths
- Lead-in/out generation: arc or line with configurable radius, angle, and length
- Overcut support to eliminate pierce marks on lead-out
- Rules evaluate after cut chart and manual contour overrides, before kerf and leads; skipped contours excluded from pierce count, cut time, quotes, and post
- Collision detection: warns when parts overlap before generating
- Estimated cut time: includes rapid traverse, pierce dwell, and cutting segments
The Generate button turns everything on the active sheet into machine-ready cut paths. Each part's contours run through rule evaluation, kerf compensation, lead placement, and cut ordering — and the result draws directly on the sheet for inspection before you post.
Kerf compensation
The kerf width from the active cut recipe is halved and offset to the correct side of every contour: into the scrap on outer profiles, into the void on holes, and no offset at all on open paths, which cut on center. Climb or conventional direction flips which way the torch travels. Arcs are never linearized — bulge geometry survives the entire pipeline, so G2/G3 moves in the output are exact, and linearization only happens if a post processor requires it. If an offset pinches a narrow neck into separate islands, each island becomes its own cut with its own lead and pierce.
Leads, overcut, and small holes
Lead-ins stabilize the arc off the part before it touches the contour: a tangent arc (radius and angle) or a straight line (length and angle), placed to avoid burning into neighboring geometry. Lead-outs can be a line, an arc, an overcut — which keeps cutting past the pierce point, retracing the start of the cut to erase the pierce divot — or nothing. Circular holes too small to hold the configured arc lead switch to a center pierce with a soft tangent entry into the wall, and you're asked once per generate before that happens.
Ordering, checks, and estimates
Within every part, holes always cut before the outer profile, so interior cuts finish while the part is still anchored to the skeleton. Between cuts, a nearest-neighbor pass minimizes rapid travel. Generation warns you by name when parts' toolpaths collide, and rule-skipped contours are excluded from pierce counts, cut length, quotes, and post output. When it finishes, the Generate button shows the estimated cut time — rapids, pierce dwells, and cutting moves included — the same figure the Quote Job calculator builds on.