Shape Generator
At a glance
- Same generator dialog as Drafting, Plasma, and Laser—gears, sprockets, pulleys, splines, and custom .jshape profiles
- Live preview with parameters; inserts into the active sketch as grouped geometry
The Shape Generator button on the Router toolbar opens the same parametric shape dialog found throughout JetCad3: browse the catalog, set parameters, and watch the preview update live. In Router, Generate sends the result through the normal vector import pipeline — the shape lands as a part in the staging area, with its outer profile and holes classified like any imported DXF, ready to duplicate, nest, and assign operations.
From parameters to parts
Each shape declares its own units, so a metric sprocket script comes in at true size regardless of
your display units, and bare lengths you type in the dialog follow your preferred units unless you
add an explicit in or mm suffix. Because generated shapes are ordinary parts, everything
downstream just works: quantities via Multiple Duplicate…, auto nesting
(including nest-on-import when the Auto-Nest dot is green), and per-layer operation assignment.
Beyond the built-in catalog
Shapes are portable .jshape files — small scripts you can edit, share, and import from the same
dialog. The full story lives in the Shape Generator section: see
create and share for writing your own and
live preview for how the dialog works in depth.