SVGnest is a free and open-source alternative that solves this problem with a geometric approach, using a genetic algorithm for global optimization. It works for arbitrary containers and concave edge cases, and performs on-par with existing commercial software.
I think there will be a lot of cross posting with hackaday once we get our glowforges.
There already is a lot of cross-posting Fortunately I was smart enough to check if it was already posted here before I did a thread of my own (made that mistake once already…).
I am hoping that @dan and @tony will make sure that this is built in to the software somewhere as a simple button click option.
Oh, it’s open source. I am going to have to look at it. I wonder if the genetics algorithm used is similar to the backpack packing algorithm I modified to pack the fewest amount of DVDs possibly when given a list of files to backup. That was complex enough working in 2 dimensions.
Hmm… well, I’d really only need it to optimize for the points touching the surface. But, if you were printing with supports and just had to pack the entire build area with parts that would definitely be true!
It looks like it is sharing cut edges on vertical and horizontal lines. Is anyone using this to cut? Does it reduce thos lines to a single cut or does it cut twice?