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Cutlist Evolution

Cut lists from SketchUp

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Step 1: Install the extension

Section titled “Step 1: Install the extension”

You do this once.

  1. Download the Cutlist Evolution extension, an .rbz file.
  2. In SketchUp, choose Window → Extension Manager → Install Extension, and pick the .rbz.
  3. Accept the unsigned extension prompt if SketchUp shows one.
  4. The extension appears at Extensions → Cutlist Evolution → Send to Cutlist Evolution.

SketchUp 2021 or newer is required, on Windows or macOS.

Step 2: Draw in groups and components

Section titled “Step 2: Draw in groups and components”

Nothing here asks you to model differently, but one habit matters. The extension reads groups and components, so each panel you want on the cut list should be one. A component holding other components is walked into, contributing its sides, top and shelves rather than arriving as one large board.

Two details save trouble later. Dimensions are read from each component’s own axes, so a rotated part measures the same as an unrotated one. Hidden components are left out, which is a useful way to keep a jig or a reference block off the list.

Step 3: Send the model

Section titled “Step 3: Send the model”
  1. In Cutlist Evolution, open the Import panel and choose the SketchUp tab. It shows a connection code.
  2. In SketchUp, choose Extensions → Cutlist Evolution → Send to Cutlist Evolution.
  3. Paste the code into Connection code.
  4. Set Units to the unit the panel says you are working in.
  5. Choose Whole model or Selection only.
  6. Press Send.

Set the units carefully. The two ends exchange bare numbers, so a mismatch is a silent 25.4x error rather than an obvious failure.

Codes last about fifteen minutes and keep working until they expire, so you can send, adjust the model in SketchUp, and send again without pairing twice. There is no account and no sign-in. The pairing code is the whole connection.

Step 4: Check the parts, then import

Section titled “Step 4: Check the parts, then import”

The parts arrive as a table beside a 3D preview of the model as it stands in SketchUp, with the same explode slider and controls as the 3D Model tab. Edit any value, remove any row you do not want, then press Import, or Discard to throw the whole delivery away.

Two things are worth looking at before you commit.

Shaped parts. Anything that is not a rectangle is spotted for you, marked Shaped, drawn amber as its true outline, and the row states what squaring it off would cost, in the form Squares off to 600 x 400, +25% waste. This tab imports into rectangular cutting, so shaped parts are squared off to that enclosing rectangle. Untick Square off shaped parts and they are held back instead, staying in the table for you to edit or remove while everything else imports.

Assemblies. The extension reports which component or group each part came from, so parts you drew together can be cut together. Tick Group parts by assembly and each assembly becomes a group: a block of parts cut in the arrangement you drew them in, with grain and pattern running continuously across the joins. An assembly is only grouped when its parts share a material and a thickness, lie in one flat face, face the same way round, and do not overlap. Anything else imports loose, with a notice naming the assembly and the reason.

What the extension saves

Section titled “What the extension saves”

The obvious saving is the typing. A kitchen of thirty panels is thirty rows you do not transcribe, and thirty chances to mistype a number that you never take.

The larger saving is that there is no file in the middle. Exporting a model, finding it, and dragging it in is a step that goes stale the moment you nudge a shelf in SketchUp. Sending directly means the cut list always reflects the model as it is now, and re-sending after a change costs one menu click.

Accuracy comes from the same place. The extension measures the geometry rather than reading a dimension someone typed, so the cut list is exactly as precise as the model is.

Then Cutlist Evolution nests the parts onto your stock sheets to keep offcut waste down, so the material bill for the job falls. Design and cutting run as one sequence instead of two.

If you would rather use a file

Section titled “If you would rather use a file”

The extension is the shortest route, but it is not the only one. SketchUp exports Collada (DAE), which the 3D Model tab reads like any other model, and Collada states its own units so the sizes arrive exact.

There is one reason to prefer it. The SketchUp tab imports into rectangular cutting, so shaped parts arrive squared off. If you want shaped parts cut as their true outline on a CNC, use a Collada export with the 3D Model tab in nesting mode instead.

Before you commit a whole project to this route, send one carcass through it. Draw a single cabinet, send it, and check the parts come back with the dimensions you expect. Once you trust that, drawing in components from the outset costs you nothing.

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