Simple nesting software

[hani123]

Our estimators sometimes could use a simple nesting software where they can enter dimensions of a plate and then some simple plates as squares and rectangles and then run the nesting software to figure out how much material they need to buy.

I found Deepnest and does a great job except it does not give you any dimensions for the resulting nest. Anyone knows of such an animal, and preferably a free one? Thanks.

Hani

[caretech]

The software from Vecric isn't free, but does offer good nesting capabilities. If you check out their product comparison page, it looks like the cheapest option that offers nesting is Cut 2D Pro. https://www.vectric.com/products

I use Aspire here when I have lots of fiddly pieces to nest, and it sure beats manually placing them all one-by-one in Sheetcam.

I've used deepnest a little bit. Trouble with Deepnest is, it's had zero development or update activity in 6 years. Unless someone picks it up and works on it, it'll be a dead project. If there was a lively community of enthusiastic contributors behind it, I'd feel better about using it, and maybe even supporting it financially via donations. (software devs need to eat, too! )

[hani123]

Thank you very much for the response. I am going to try Cut 2D Pro and Desktop in the morning. I used Deepnest but it was not giving me the dimensions so I know how much of the plate is being used, it just gives the shapes nested on the plate.

I also tried https://app.nestandcut.com and it seems ok, you enter pre-made shapes with various dimensions or upload DXfs and then it gives a square footage of used plates, all online. Not bad but was hoping for better. Not to mention I am still not sure if it is free or I am at a trial period (:

[caretech]

Another thing the Vectric software can be used for is to validate vectors: automatically join open paths, remove intersections, etc.

[PlasmaDon]

It's hard to run a real for profit business on free software.....