Every nested material group can be downloaded as a cut file for your cutting table or plotter. The file holds the cut line of every piece exactly where the nest placed it, on a page the size of the roll the nest uses.
Downloading#
On the Production tab, open Export on a group's card and pick a format. The menu is only available while the
nest is up to date; if the parts changed, nest again first. The file name is made from the estimate, the material and
the spot colour, for example menu-11x17-gloss-vinyl-Thru-cut.pdf.
File types#
| Format | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Each cut line is an unfilled 0.25 pt stroke with overprint, in a spot colour, and on a PDF layer with the same name. Cutting software that maps cut methods by spot colour or by layer name reads it either way. The menu shows the spot name the file uses. | |
| PDF, one page per bed | The same, split into one page per cutter bed. Only offered when the nest keeps parts within beds; see Rolls, beds and lanes. |
| DXF (mm) | DXF R12 in millimetres, one layer per cut method with its own colour, each cut line a closed polyline. R12 has no unit setting, so choose millimetres when you import it. |
| CF2 | The Common File Format 2 used by die-making software and many cutting tables, in millimetres, with straight line segments. Through cuts are line type 1 and kiss cuts line type 4. |
Spot colour names#
The spot colour (and the PDF layer name) comes from the group's cutter:
- through cuts use the cutter's Thru-cut spot colour, Thru-cut by default;
- kiss cuts use its Kiss-cut spot colour, Kiss-cut by default.
The material's Cut method picks which one. Cutters added from a Roland, Mimaki or Graphtec preset start with CutContour, the name their RIPs look for. If your software expects another name, change it on the cutter's settings page. See Cutting machines.
In CF2 files, not every cutter reads line type 4 as a kiss cut. If kiss cuts come in as through cuts, map line type 4 to your kiss-cut tool when you import.
Long rolls#
A PDF page can be at most 200 in long. Longer layouts are written with a PDF user unit, which not every cutter's software reads, and support in Zünd Cut Center hasn't been verified. The Export menu warns you when a layout is longer than 200 in: use DXF or CF2 for those, or keep parts within beds and download one page per bed.
Sheet and offset groups#
A sheet or offset group cut on a cutting table downloads the same way, with one page per form, each the size of the sheet (print each page as many times as its form is printed). Groups cut on a guillotine have no cut file: their cuts are straight knife strokes, set on the guillotine.
Which file for which cutter#
| Your software | Try |
|---|---|
| Reads PDF cut files by spot colour or layer name | PDF with the spot name your software expects |
| Feeds a conveyor page by page | PDF, one page per bed |
| Imports DXF | DXF (mm), imported as millimetres |
| Reads CF2 | CF2 |
When in doubt, cut a small test file first and check the cut method your software assigns to each line.
Through the API#
The same files are available from the estimating API. Without a format, you get the cutter's Cut file format.
/a/{team_slug}/estimating/api/v1/estimates/{estimate_pk}/production/{key}/cutfile/
Cut file of the current (fresh) nest.
estimating_production_cutfile ·
View in API reference