Nesting from AutoCAD
Step 1: Draw each part as a closed outline
Section titled “Step 1: Draw each part as a closed outline”The one thing that matters is that each part is a closed shape. An outline with a gap in it is not a boundary, so it cannot be nested against or cut from.
Work in a single layer per part where you can, keep construction lines and dimension text off the geometry you are exporting, and join segments into polylines rather than leaving them as separate lines. Holes you want cut are closed shapes too, drawn inside the outline.
Step 2: Export as DXF, one part per file
Section titled “Step 2: Export as DXF, one part per file”AutoCAD writes DXF natively. Export each part, or select the parts you want and export the selection.
DXF is a drawing rather than a model, so it carries the contour and nothing else. That is exactly what a nest needs. It is also why the format is worth preferring here over a 3D export: there is no solid to interpret, no thickness to infer, and no unit ambiguity in the geometry itself.
Step 3: Import and choose the cutting mode
Section titled “Step 3: Import and choose the cutting mode”Drop the DXF files into Cutlist Evolution. This is the step where the decision gets made, and it is worth understanding because it changes what you get.
In nesting mode the true contour is kept, and each part is packed as its own shape. A curved bracket nests as a curved bracket, and parts tuck inside each other’s concavities. This is what you want for laser, plasma, waterjet or a router.
In rectangular cutting a shaped part cannot be cut as drawn, so each contour becomes its bounding box. That is the right answer for a panel saw, which can only make edge-to-edge cuts, and the wrong one for a CNC, because you pay for the corners you did not need.
Set the mode before you import and you get the layout you were expecting.
Step 4: Set kerf, spacing and stock
Section titled “Step 4: Set kerf, spacing and stock”A nest is only correct if it knows the width of the cut. Set the kerf to your tool’s actual cut width, add part-to-part spacing if your process needs it, and enter the plate or sheet sizes you can buy.
Then let it run. The optimizer packs the parts, and the result is a layout you can read, a material figure you can quote from, and a DXF you can send to the machine.
What this replaces
Section titled “What this replaces”The comparison worth making is not against drawing the nest by hand, which nobody does past about ten parts. It is against buying a nesting module for AutoCAD.
A nesting add-on is an annual licence tied to a seat. This route is a browser tab, and the DXF you already produce is the interface between them. If nesting is a thing you do occasionally rather than all day, that is a large difference in cost for the same output.
There is a real tradeoff: an add-on lives inside AutoCAD and this does not. You export, nest, and bring the result back. On a job of any size that is a few seconds against the hours a bad nest costs in material.
Before you commit a real job to it, run one part through. Draw a shape you know the area of, export it, import it, and check the dimensions come back as you expect. Once you trust that, the rest is the same three clicks each time.