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Usage

The NORMCUT nesting system consists of two components: The rhino plug-in for creating nestings and the demand portal allowing the creation of custom filler parts. Based on the entered material configuration these filler parts will be used by the filler part nesting.

Rhino#

Update Mandatory: Due to internal changes starting from 2022/09/01 only versions 0.2.0 and above will continue to work. Update using this link (Rhino 7), for more information click here.

Nesting Flow#

  1. Run NormcutNest command
  2. Select the part geometries you want to nest, click enter
  3. Select the sheet curve you want to nest the parts into, click enter
  4. Configure nesting parameters like minimum distances, when ready press „Start nesting“ button (see below for detailed explanation of settings)
  5. Nesting will be created within the selected sheet, parts that could not be nested will stay selected after nesting run
  6. (after running the command a couple of times you will be prompted to create a (free) account, takes only one minute and is necessary for our system to work properly, read why)

Part Selection#

The plug-in is reading trying to interpret selected curves as what we call parts: A part is a well defined geometrical shape with a single outer curve and (optionally) an unlimited number of inner curves, so called holes. Parts will be nested so that they do not overlap or intersect, within holes other parts or filler parts will be placed.

When reading your selected curves the plug-in is trying the following:

  1. Check whether the selection contains groups.
    • If so, read each group as a separate part and search among it's curve members for an enclosing outline and holes.
    • Every other curve which is part of the group (e.g. single lines, 2nd level holes, etc.) won't be considered by the nesting algorithm but will be placed along with the rest of the group.
  2. For every selected curves not belonging to any group the plug-in is trying to group them as parts by searching for closed curves
group 1curves selectedas parts:parts beingparsed:group 2group 3invalid

Figure: Reading parts from groups explained

In order to produce best results make sure to:

  • provide clear parts using closed curves, every part being represented by a single outline
  • have different parts not intersecting / overlapping each other
  • group your parts before running the nesting command if your parts contain curves which do not represent the geometry (e.g. annotations)

Nesting Settings#

Brief explanation of settings:

Part Selection Settings#

Copy Parts: Whether part curves should be copied to the sheet instead of moving them.

Parts from active layer only: Whether parts should only be parsed from active layer.

Sheet Selection#

Export parts list csv: If set to yes a csv containing ids for all placed filler parts will be saved next to the current rhino file.

Export stats csv: If set to yes a csv containing waste stats for the nesting will be saved next to the current rhino file.

Filler parts on new layer: Whether placed filler parts should be placed on a new layer or the active one.

Nesting Parameter Settings#

Cutter Buyer Schema Minimum distance between parts: The minimum distance between parts the nesting algorithm should use.

Minimum distance between parts and sheet: The minimum distance between parts and the sheet the nesting algorithm should use.

Rotation steps: Defines which rotations of parts the nesting algorithm should consider.

Sheet shrinking: Whether the sheet should be shrinked before placing filler parts (see FAQ).

Material Settings: Specify the material the nesting will be cut from. It is important to match these settings with material settings of filler parts you created.

Tool Settings: Specify the tool that is used to produce this nesting. Will have implications on nesting settings (e.g. minimum parts distance) in the future.

Connect With Another Buyer#

In order to make the algorithm nest filler parts created by other known buyers, you can let them create an invite code and send it to you.

  • execute NormcutConnectBuyer command
  • within the opening popup, enter the invite code received by your partner
  • hit enter, you're now receiving filler parts created by your partner
The generated code can only be redeemed once and is valid for three days.
Currently only a single buyer can be connected, new connections will overwrite existing ones.

Demand Portal#

Create Filler Parts for Own Usage#

  1. Go to demand.normcut.com, allow popups if asked
  2. Log in with your Normcut account (or click sign up to create new one)
  3. You are now seeing your active filler parts (empty on first visit)
  4. Press "Create new filler part" in order to create a new part
  5. Either upload your own geometry or use one of our default (rectangular) ones
  6. Choose a material (type is mandatory, thickness and color can be left out if part should be used for all possible configurations) this part should be made of
  7. Enter a name and an amount and press save
  8. You should now see the created part as active filler part, as soon as it got nested the amount counter will be updated

Connect With Another Cutter#

  1. Go to Connected Cutters section
  2. Press Connect new Cutter
  3. Copy and send invite code to your partnering cutter to which you want to connect to
  4. As soon as your partner entered the code within Rhino, a new entry will pop up in your Connected Cutters overview together with how many parts were nested via this link