Nest Shapes and Fill Material pack your shapes onto your material automatically, so you use less material and spend less time arranging parts by hand.
- Fill Material: Select one shape, and Easel fills your material with copies of it.
- Nest Shapes: Select two or more shapes, and Easel arranges them to fit tightly on your material.
| Important: Nest Shapes & Fill Material is an Easel Pro feature. |
Filling your material with copies
- Select the shape you want to copy (1).
- Right-click the shape and choose Fill Material (2).
The Fill Material window opens. Choose your settings, then click Fill.
1. Maximum copies
The most copies to make, counting the shape you selected. Leave it blank to fit as many as possible. The note to the right of the field confirms how many copies you'll get.
2. Spacing
- Minimum distance between shapes: The smallest gap between shapes. It starts at the width of your bit.
- Minimum distance from edge of material: The smallest gap from the edge of your material. It starts at 1/4".
Spacing is measured between the cuts, not the shapes. Shapes cut on the outside of the line are moved further apart, so the bit stays clear of the next shape.
3. Rotation
- None: Keeps every copy in the original orientation.
- 180° only (respects grain direction): Lets copies flip end to end, so they still run with the wood grain.
- Any (quarter turns): Lets copies turn in quarter turns for the tightest fit.
4. Place shapes inside holes in other shapes
When this is on, a shape that's small enough can be cut from the middle of a larger shape, like a ring or a frame.
5. Fill
Click Fill to add the copies to your material.
Nesting more than one shape
- Select all the shapes you want to nest (1).
- Click the Nest icon (2) in the Alignment toolbar.
- Choose your spacing, rotation and hole settings. They work the same way as in Fill Material.
- Check the preview of your material. You can change the settings and run it again as many times as you like.
- Click Done to apply the layout.
Each run is only a proposal. Easel shows the layout on a preview of your material and leaves your design alone until you click Done.
When your shapes don't fit
- More than one sheet: If the shapes don't all fit on one sheet, Easel continues onto more sheets and offers to create a separate workpiece for each extra sheet.
- Shapes too big for the material: Any shape that's larger than your material stays where it is, and Easel lists it in a summary.
| Helpful Tip: Set your material size before you fill or nest. Easel packs your shapes onto the material in your project. Nesting and filling are each a single step, so one Undo puts everything back. |