Settings… in the run bar opens the settings of the method the run will use: N-up or Strips. True shape has none besides the job's spacing, bleed, rotation and time budget. Offset plates, overrun and makeready are on the Production tab's Press run card.
Lengths show in the job's display unit. Settings are saved with the job and checked when you save them and again when a run starts; a run only checks the settings of the method it uses.
N-up settings#
| Setting | API field | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Between pieces | guillotine.gutter_mode | Shared cuts (butt) | Shared cuts (butt) / Job spacing | Shared cuts butt the pieces, so one knife stroke separates two neighbours; Job spacing keeps the job's Spacing between them (two strokes). |
| Knife stages | guillotine.max_stages | 4 | 2 to 4 | How many times the pile may be turned and cut across. 2 is strip cutting (strips, then pieces); more stages allow more complex layouts. |
| Fewer cuts | guillotine.cut_weight | Off | Off, Balanced or Strong (API: 0 to 1) | Trades printed sheets for knife strokes. Off counts sheets only; Balanced and Strong accept a few more sheets for fewer strokes. |
| Fewer different layouts | guillotine.layout_penalty | Off | On or off (API: 0 to 5) | Prefers fewer distinct forms, each printed more times, over the fewest sheets. A digital run gets fewer make-ready changes. |
| Sheet thickness | guillotine.caliper | 0.012 in (0.3 mm) | 0.002 in (0.05 mm) to 0.1 in (2.5 mm) | The thickness of one printed sheet. With Knife lift it sets how many sheets are cut in one lift. |
| Knife lift | guillotine.max_lift | 3 in (76.2 mm) | 0.5 in (12.7 mm) to 6 in (152.4 mm) | The tallest pile the guillotine cuts at once. |
| Trim sheet edges | guillotine.edge_trim | When there is waste | When there is waste / Always | When there is waste trims the sheet edges only when pieces don't reach them; Always trims every edge. |
- With Shared cuts (butt), pieces touch, and bled pieces touch at their bleed edges. Job spacing keeps the job's Spacing between them instead.
- One lift holds Knife lift ÷ Sheet thickness sheets (at least one). The defaults, a 3 in lift and 0.012 in sheets, cut 250 sheets per lift.
- Fewer cuts Balanced and Strong can pick a layout with a few more sheets when it saves knife strokes across the whole job.
Strips settings#
| Setting | API field | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Items per strip | strips.content | One item | One item / Mixed (rectangles, sheets only) | One item keeps a single item per strip, in its true shape. Mixed puts different rectangles in one strip (sheets only) and cuts them in two knife stages. |
| Direction | strips.direction | Auto | Auto / Horizontal / Vertical / Lanes / Bands | Which way the strips run: across or down the sheet, or lanes down / bands across a roll. Auto tries both and keeps the better. |
| Gap between strips | strips.gutter | The job's Spacing | At least the job's Spacing | The gap at each slit. Empty uses the job's Spacing; it can't be smaller. |
| Rows per strip | strips.rows | Any | 1 to 20 | The most rows of its item one strip holds. Empty: any. |
| Max strip width | strips.max_width | Any | More than 0, up to the printable width | The widest a strip may be, for a slitter or a trimmer. Empty: any, up to the printable width. |
| Max strips per sheet | strips.max_strips | Any | 1 to 100 | The most strips on one sheet (on a roll: lanes across the roll). Empty: any. |
- On a roll, Max strips per sheet reads Max lanes, and the directions are lanes (down the roll) and bands (across it).
- Mixed strips hide the gap, rows, width and count fields: they take no strip limits yet and choose their own direction.
Messages you may see#
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Must be a whole number from 2 to 4." (or another range) | Enter a value inside the range shown. |
| "Must be at least the job spacing (…)." | The gap between strips can't be smaller than the job's Spacing. |
| "Must be at most the printable width (…)." | A strip can't be wider than the sheet or roll inside its margins. |
| "Mixed strips need sheets." | Mixed strips don't run on rolls: use One item. |
| "Mixed strips choose their own direction: use Auto." | Leave Direction on Auto for mixed strips. |
| "Mixed strips don't take this setting yet: leave it empty." | Clear the gap, rows, width and count for mixed strips. |
When a media or spacing change makes a saved setting invalid (a strip width wider than the new sheet, a gap below the new spacing, a direction the roll doesn't have), that setting goes back to its default, so the job never keeps settings no run accepts.
In the API#
The job's method_settings holds the non-default values as {"guillotine": {…}, "strips": {…}}, with lengths in
points. Unknown sections or keys are refused; missing keys take the defaults. The API field names are in the tables
above.