Cutter4D user guide

Getting started

Cutter4D runs in your browser — no installation, licence file or updates. Sign in with your Google or Microsoft account and start right away.

• Free plan: 10 optimisations; review the result on screen.
• Paid plan (monthly, yearly or 24-hour pass): unlimited optimisations, DXF and PDF output, projects and cut history.
• Optimisation runs on your computer, inside the browser. A faster computer gives better results in less time.

The app has three steps; switch between them at any time with the step buttons in the top bar:

1. Define — add the parts to cut.
2. Nest — choose sheets and cutting settings and start the optimisation.
3. Cut — review the result and download it as DXF and PDF.

Step 1: Defining parts

There are three ways to add parts; you can combine them in the same job.

DXF import. Drag DXF files onto the drop area or click «Import DXF». You can select several files at once. Supported entities: LINE, ARC, CIRCLE, LWPOLYLINE, POLYLINE and SPLINE (approximated by its control points). Blocks (INSERT) are not read; explode them in your CAD program before saving.

• Every closed outer contour becomes a part; contours inside it are its holes.
• Contours with ends open by less than 1 mm are closed automatically and you are told about it.
• With «Merge overlapping shapes» on, overlapping shapes count as one part (e.g. a star drawn as two triangles). Turn it off if your shapes are intentionally nested.
• Text on parts (TEXT, MTEXT — part code, name) is read and attached to that part; in the result view, the PDF report and the exported DXF it rotates and moves with the part. Text that is not inside any part (title block, notes) is skipped.
• With «Name parts from drawing text» on, the text on the part becomes its name; parts without text keep the file name.

Add by dimensions. Create rectangles (optionally with corner radius), circles, regular polygons and rings (flanges) by typing their dimensions.

Spreadsheet import. Choose a CSV, XLSX, ODS or XLS file, or copy and paste from Excel. The first row is the header; column order doesn't matter and Turkish or English headers are accepted:

Parts table. Change each part's quantity with the −1, +1, +10, +100 buttons or by typing. The «Rotation» column allows per-part rotation limits (for patterned or grained material); «Default» uses the general setting from step 2.

Step 2: Sheets and cutting settings

Sheets. Add a sheet with «Add sheet»: name, width, height and quantity. An empty quantity means unlimited. You can add several sheet types — sheets are used in list order, the top one first. Put your remnant sheets at the top to use them up first.

• Spreadsheet import: a sheet list with name, width, height, quantity columns.
• Import DXF sheet: the largest closed contour in the drawing becomes the sheet. A rectangle becomes a plain sheet; anything else becomes a remnant sheet.

Remnant (irregular) sheets. L-shaped, corner-cut or round sheets, and sheets with old cut-outs. Parts are placed only inside the drawn boundary; closed contours inside the boundary are treated as cut-outs and never used. The margin applies to every edge and around the cut-outs. They appear in the list with a «Remnant» tag; their size comes from the drawing and cannot be edited, and their quantity defaults to 1.

Cutting settings:

Placing parts inside holes is automatic: small parts that fit into the holes of rings, flanges and similar parts are placed there. The material inside a hole is scrap anyway, so this is pure gain.

How the optimisation works

When you press «Optimize cutting» the app switches to step 3 and you watch the sheets fill up live.

1. Placement: sheets are filled one by one, largest parts first, packed against each other. When space runs out, neighbouring parts are shifted to make room for the next one.
2. Improvement: in the remaining time sheets are compacted to the left and parts from the emptiest sheet are moved to other sheets. If that succeeds, one sheet fewer is used; if not, the last sheet still keeps a larger usable remnant strip.
3. Finish: when the time is up, the result on screen is the best valid plan found within that time.

“Best” is decided in this order: number of parts placed, then number of sheets used, then how empty the emptiest sheet is (remnant).

The Stop button ends the search immediately and shows the best plan so far. The progress bar shows elapsed time.

Step 3: Reviewing and exporting

The summary bar at the top shows efficiency, number of sheets, parts placed and time. If a part did not fit, you get a separate warning — a plan with missing parts is useless in the workshop.

Click a sheet for an enlarged view: zoom with the wheel, pan by dragging, switch sheets with the arrow keys.

Manual editing: in the enlarged view press Edit manually. Click and drag a part; rotate 90° with R / Shift+R or type an angle; nudge 1 mm with the arrow keys (10 mm with Shift); Ctrl+Z undoes. Every drop is collision-checked: a part that hits another part, sits closer than the kerf or crosses the sheet margin goes back where it was. DXF, SVG, G-code and the report use the edited plan.

Lock and re-nest the rest: press Lock sheet on a sheet you edited. Re-nest the rest in the cut bar keeps locked sheets exactly as they are and nests every other part again (also into the gaps of locked sheets). This is also how to place a part by hand before optimising: place it, lock the sheet, let the engine do the rest. Uses one optimisation credit.

DXF output (R12, mm) goes to your machine or CAM software:

• «All sheets (DXF)» puts every sheet side by side in one file; a single sheet can be downloaded from the enlarged view.
• Kerf is NOT applied to the DXF; parts are written at their true size. Tool compensation is done by your machine/CAM.
• PDF report: overall summary, settings, a drawing and part list for each sheet, cutting length and remnant size. Choose «Save as PDF» in the print dialog.
• Mirrored parts are already written flipped into the DXF; nothing else to do.

G-code (NC) is a generic program you can load straight onto the machine (laser/plasma). Before downloading you are asked for cutting feed, laser power (S), tool on/off commands (default M3/M5), pierce delay and a pause between sheets; your last choice is remembered.

• Units mm, absolute coordinates (G21, G90). Each contour: rapid move (G0), tool on, cut (G1), back to start, tool off.
• For every part holes are cut first, then the outer contour: inner cuts finish while the part is still attached, so it does not shift when it drops free.
• All sheets are in one file; with «Pause between sheets» an M0 is inserted so the operator can change the sheet and continue.
• Kerf is not applied and no lead-in/out is added; tool compensation (G41/G42) is done by your controller.
• A part placed inside another part's hole is cut before that hole; once the hole is cut, the material inside is free.
• With common cut, paths are written compensated by kerf/2 and shared edges are cut once. Do not use G41/G42 on the controller in that case (the program header says so too).

Projects and cut history

Click the project name in the top bar to open, save, rename or delete your projects. «Save» (Ctrl+S) writes to the open project, or asks for a name.

• A project stores parts, sheets and all cutting settings.
• Every cut you run while a project is open is added to its cut history (last 30 per project). Opening a plan from history draws it exactly as it was, and the DXF and report are identical — even if the project changed since.
• Saving requires a paid plan; if your licence ends you can still open and delete your old projects.

Licence, payment and invoices

Open «Subscription» from the account menu. Buy a monthly or yearly subscription or a 24-hour pass, use a discount code, and view and download your invoices. Payments are processed by Paddle; your card details never reach us.

• When you cancel, access continues until the end of the paid period.
• No second payment is taken while a licence is active.
• When a licence ends you can keep using any free optimisations you have left.

Units, language and notifications

• The mm / in switch in the top bar converts every size field, table and the report. Values are stored in millimetres internally, so switching units never alters sizes.
• The language (Türkçe / English) switches instantly.
• The bell shows announcements; the number of unread ones appears as a red badge.

Straight (guillotine) cuts — furniture and panel sizing

When every part is a rectangle the plan automatically uses straight (guillotine) cuts: every cut runs straight from one edge of the sheet to the other, so a panel saw can cut the plan directly.

• Part spacing is used as the blade thickness (saw kerf); the edge margin is trimmed from the sheet edges.
• The report lists a cut list for every sheet in cutting order: direction (vertical / horizontal), position and length.
• You can also switch Straight (guillotine) cuts on when some parts are not rectangles; those parts are then placed by their bounding boxes (waste may increase).
• Remnant (irregular) sheets do not use straight cuts; free nesting is used instead.

Settings and deleting your account

Settings in the account menu brings the unit, the language and your invoices together.

• Delete account permanently deletes your account and all of your data (projects, cut history). It cannot be undone; you confirm by typing your email address.
• If you have a monthly or yearly subscription that still renews, cancel it first.
• The remaining time of a cancelled subscription and any valid day pass are lost with the account.
• If you sign in again with the same account, the free trial is not granted again; your old subscription does not move to the new account and you will need to subscribe again.

Tips for better results

• If the number of sheets matters, increase the time limit (e.g. 60–120 s). Density improves with time.
• Don't restrict rotation unnecessarily: free rotation gives the tightest nesting.
• Check open contours in your drawing; the reported gap size tells you where to look.
• Put your remnant sheets at the top of the list; they are used first.

Privacy

The optimisation runs in your browser; your drawings are not sent to a server to be computed. The plan of each completed optimisation is stored in your account for support and quality improvement; you can delete saved projects at any time, and everything is deleted with your account. See the Privacy Policy for details.