Nesting/CNC plugin for illustrator? 1

[DingusMcFeild]

I have 3 or so hundred different shapes I designed in illustrator that I'm using a CNC machine to cut out of 4x8 sheets of plastic. Does anyone know of a plugin for illustrator that allows you to automatically layout and nest shapes to optimize space within a given area?

 

[apepp]

...not come across a plugin before...

...have you looked into the align/distribute palette?

...i think what your asking will always be a manual process to some degree, in that you will have to make the decision as to what shapes go up with what on a given sheet...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

...to add...

...i work in prepress, i know of ganging software available, never used it however...

...this is the only solution i can think of...

...this is probably the closest thing out there you are asking for, not cheap, though not surprising with the amount of programming required for such a task...

http://www.lithotechnics.com/metrix.html

Andrew