Christian Lawson-PerfectFeb 4
I have a few complicated shapes that I want to #LaserCut. Is there an open source tool that will pack them in as small an area as possible?
Show threadisolFeb 4

@christianp

https://deepnest.io/

I had a play with this when I first got a laser cutter, if I recall correctly, it was better than the other nesting softwares I tried at the time. It was a few years ago, so this isn't a robust and current recommendation.

Deepnest - open source nesting software

Open source nesting for laser cutters, plasma cutters and other CNC machines.

Show threadChristian Lawson-Perfect
@isol super, thanks!
Feb 4 at 12:46pmWeb
Show threadBathsheba GrossmanFeb 4
@christianp
@isol
I tried deepnest last year for a big project with many parts, and found it slower than nesting by hand. I have the impression that the general case of this problem is 'hard' in the strong sense -- but of course it may work well for your case.
Show threadChristian Lawson-PerfectFeb 5
@bathsheba @isol I've just given it a go, and it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere near a good packing. Oh well!
Show threadJesse Louis-RosenbergFeb 5
@christianp @bathsheba @isol we're also still packing all our parts by hand, with hundreds of complex parts that need to be packed onto dozens of sheets. I've never come across a suitable automated solution. If you can fit all your parts on a single sheet, a physical simulation with something like Box2D is reasonable, but it takes some tweaking to get things to settle well
Show threadChristian Lawson-PerfectFeb 5
@nervous_jesse @bathsheba @isol thanks.
I did have the thought that I should just physically make these parts inefficiently, and then pack them by squishing with my hands and taking a top-down photo when they stop moving!