Our own nesting engine
Sheet placement in AllTerra Calculator runs on AllTerra's own nesting. The landing animation is a verified demo with synthetic parts. Live orders nest after sign-in. This page sticks to options and metrics you can check in the product, with no third-party benchmark charts.
Why ship our own engine
Quoting laser work needs nesting that knows shop clearances, holes and the same numbers costing will bill. Nesting inside the AllTerra workflow keeps cut length, pierces and sheet count the same from preview to PDF. You do not re-enter geometry anywhere else.
Shops get automatic nesting: you do not pick a nesting method on each order. The idea is a managed path, not a desktop nesting pack whose results you retype into a spreadsheet. This site describes the integrated nesting you use after sign-in.
What it optimises and which options you set
The engine places true-shape parts on the sheet format of the order. You steer packing with the Nesting parameters on the order:
- Geometry from your DXF: outer contours and holes.
- Part spacing (gap) between parts — 2 mm by default.
- Edge margin, or edge-as-part mode, so clamps and trimmed edges are respected.
- Part rotation lock: free, grain or fixed. It sets the allowed angles and mirroring.
- Shared cut, for cutting along a common line where enabled.
- Small-part handling with unload modes (maximum utilisation, lamellae, bridges), using the thresholds set for your shop.
Nest priority can favour saving metal or shorter idle travel. Pair up L-shaped parts is available only with some nesting setups. These are working switches, not marketing multipliers. You find them under Nesting parameters in the order form.
How utilisation and cut length are reported
After nesting, the results show Sheet utilisation and Cut length, with Pierces and the sheet count. History keeps the same numbers for later. Costing uses cut length and pierces to build machine time. Utilisation helps you judge remnants and material waste before you lock the quote.
| Output | Used for |
|---|---|
| Sheet utilisation | Shown in results and history, on a same-sheet area basis. |
| Cut length | Input to machine time and gas (cut time). |
| Pierces | Outer starts plus holes. Used for pierce time and gas per pierce. |
| Sheets | Material quantity for materials priced by the sheet. |
Public synthetic demo on the home page
The animation on the site is not a live nest. It replays a precomputed, verified layout of an open set of synthetic DXF parts. Visitors can see the packing without uploading files or signing in.
Verified synthetic demo figures: 12 parts, 22 holes, sheet 480×300 mm, sheet utilisation 25.06% on the same-sheet basis published with the demo. Gap and edge margin in the demo are 2 mm.
These numbers describe this public demo only. They are not average shop utilisation and not a promise for your parts. Sign in to nest your own DXF files with your sheet formats and clearances. Costing then uses the resulting cut length and pierces.
Engineers often ask if the landing animation is the same as production nesting. It is not. It is a fixed, verified demo published with the site, so anyone can watch packing without signing in. Production nests run after sign-in, on your sheet sizes, gaps and rotation locks.
When you evaluate nesting for a shop, ask three practical questions. Does the preview show the holes you expect from the DXF? Do sheet utilisation and cut length change when you change the gap or rotation lock? Do those numbers go into costing without retyping? AllTerra is built so the third answer is yes.
Shared cut, Pair up L-shaped parts and small-part unload modes exist because job shops cut mixed nests, not only rectangular blanks. Use them when your process needs them. Leave them off when a material rule does not suit them. Some options, such as pairing L-shaped parts, can be unavailable depending on the nesting setup. The interface shows this and does not pretend every switch always works.
Reporting is deliberately plain. Sheet utilisation, cut length, pierces and sheets are the same numbers you see again in the PDF summary. That consistency matters more than a flashy packing score. If a number is not in the result, do not invent it for a customer conversation.
Everything stays with your company account. Nests and costs belong to the company that uploaded the DXF. The public demo uses only synthetic geometry. Never paste real customer DXF into public screenshots. Use the calculator sign-in for production files.
Nesting is chosen for you automatically. That is on purpose: shops get a managed nest and do not pick a method on every quote. Some options, such as Pair up L-shaped parts, may be unavailable depending on the nesting setup.
Cut length and pierces are the bridge to money. A nest that looks neat but undercounts holes will underprice pierces. Spot-check a part with known openings against the pierce total before you trust the first quote from a new DXF source.