Deepnest

Deepnest Software

Deepnest is a free, open source nesting application for laser cutters, plasma cutters and other CNC machines. It arranges the parts of a job on sheets of material as compactly as possible, so that less material is wasted and the machine spends less time cutting. The desktop program is built on Electron, is based on the author's earlier SVGNest project and is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Deepnest packs parts tightly on material sheets and merges common cutting lines, saving material and machine time on laser and CNC cutters.

Features

1. File Import: Deepnest reads SVG, DXF and Corel CDR files. DXF files are supported via conversion, and the import settings let you set the SVG scale, endpoint tolerance and DXF import units.

2. Simple Workflow: You import your file, mark the largest part as the sheet, set the quantity of each part and press Start nest. Deepnest keeps searching for better solutions until you press Stop, and shows the number of sheets used and parts placed. Several parts can be marked as sheets, so different sheet sizes can be used in one job.

3. Nesting Engine: The layout engine, with speed critical code written in C, supports part-in-part placement, so small parts can be placed inside the holes of larger ones. It can also nest bitmap images for laser engraving.

4. Line Merging: Deepnest automatically merges common lines, so the laser does not cut the same path twice. This saves time and improves part quality by avoiding heat warping from multiple laser passes; the program also estimates the laser time saved.

5. Nesting Configuration: Users can choose inches or millimetres, the space between parts, curve tolerance, the number of part rotations, the optimization type and the number of CPU cores used. A rough approximation option and path approximation help with highly complex parts.

6. Fine Tuning: The search is driven by a genetic algorithm, and advanced users can adjust the population size, the mutation rate and the optimization ratio for merged lines, or reset all settings to their defaults.

7. Export: Finished nests can be exported to SVG or DXF files with the selected DXF export units and passed on to the cutting software of the machine. While the search is running, the results screen lists the best nests found so far, so you can stop at any moment and export the layout that suits you.

Conclusion

Deepnest is a practical tool for anyone who cuts parts from sheet material, from hobby laser owners to small workshops. It is completely free, both free of charge and open source, and its source code is published on GitHub. The latest release is version 1.0.5, and the original project has not received updates for several years, but the program still works for everyday nesting tasks. Because the whole calculation runs locally, the speed of the search depends on the processor and the number of CPU cores assigned to it.