Sheet Cutting Optimizer

Free 2-D panel cutting and nesting calculator for plywood, MDF, melamine, glass, acrylic and sheet metal. Enter your stock sheets and the panels you need. A genetic algorithm tries many piece orderings over successive generations, opening a new sheet only when no open sheet can fit the next piece, and keeps the layout with the fewest sheets, fewest unplaced pieces and least waste.

FREEYou're using the free optimizer. Limited to 2 stock sizes and 15 cuts per layout. Register to create a free account for 6 sizes, 40 cuts and saved projects — or go Pro for $14.95/mo.

Settings

Units

Enter dimensions as plain millimeters (for example 2440).

Saw kerf

Width of the saw cut, reserved between adjacent pieces. Set to 0 to ignore.

Default rotation Allow 90° rotation by default

Per-cut overrides are in the cuts table. Disable when grain direction matters.

Cutting diagrams Show SVG diagram per sheet

Piece numbers in each diagram match the # column of its table.

Advanced (GA tuning) — Pro pop 20 · gen 40 · auto · 10s max

Manual population / generation tuning and a longer 30-second search are Pro features. See plans.

Auto-sized from the cut list. Tournament selection, order crossover, swap mutation and elitism. The first individual is the deterministic longest-side-first sort, so the GA never does worse than the classic heuristic. Search stops after 20 generations without improvement or 10 seconds.

Available Sheet Stock1 / 2 used

Label	Length	Width	Qty

Required Cuts4 / 15 used

Label	Length	Width	Qty	Allow rotation

Sheet cutting optimizer: how it works

What is a sheet cutting optimizer?

A sheet cutting optimizer (also called a 2-D nesting or panel cutting calculator) lays out the rectangular panels you need on your stock sheets so you use as few sheets and as little material as possible.

Which materials can I plan?

Any rectangular sheet stock: plywood, MDF, particleboard, melamine, glass, acrylic, polycarbonate and sheet metal. Enter sizes in millimeters or in imperial FFIISS format.

Can pieces be rotated? What about grain direction?

Each panel can be rotated 90° to fit better. Turn rotation off by default, or for individual panels in the cuts table, when grain direction or a pattern matters.

Is saw kerf included?

Yes. Enter your blade's kerf and the optimizer leaves that gap between panels, so the layout matches what you can actually cut.

How does the optimizer work?

A genetic algorithm evolves the order in which panels are placed. Each ordering is packed onto sheets with the MaxRects method, opening a new sheet only when nothing fits on an open one. The best layouts survive to the next generation, and the search stops when it stops improving or reaches the time limit.

Is the sheet cutting optimizer free?

Yes. You can use it free without an account. A free registration raises the limits and saves a project in each optimizer, and Pro ($14.95/mo) adds the largest layouts, advanced tuning, 20 saved projects, CSV import and export and unbranded print reports.

Can I print the cutting layouts?

Every plan can print a report with a diagram of each sheet and a piece list with positions. Pro subscribers can also export results as CSV.