Foundation
What CutOps Helps You Do#
Understand what CutOps improves before you configure a job, whether you plan cuts for a business, a small workshop, or your own projects.
CutOps is browser-based cut optimization software for rectangular sheets and panels. You enter available stock and required parts, then generate optimized layouts, utilization metrics, cut instructions, and exports you can use for planning, quoting, production, or record-keeping.
It is useful for cabinet shops, millwork teams, workshops, fabrication businesses, and independent makers who want a faster and more reliable way to plan cuts before material reaches the saw.
For feature-specific workflows, review compare optimization strategies, grain direction cutting optimizer, and kerf-aware cut list optimizer guidance. For machine-oriented handoff, use the CNC panel nesting workflow. For deeper articles, browse the panel cutting optimization resources hub. For how CutOps searches and evaluates candidate layouts, read the optimization methodology.
Open the app, add a few part rows, set your stock size, and run optimization. Review the first layout before deciding whether the job needs advanced settings.
Key concepts
- Parts: each required piece with length, width, quantity, and optional grain lock.
- Stock sheets: available material dimensions with fixed or unlimited quantity.
- Runs: one optimization execution of your current parts, stock, and settings.
Workflow
Core Workflow: From Inputs to a Ready Plan#
Use one repeatable flow to move from stock and part requirements to a review-ready or production-ready cut package.
Use this sequence on every job for predictable results and cleaner handoff.
- 1
Add parts. Enter dimensions and quantities for every piece you need to cut.
- 2
Set stock. Define the sheet sizes you actually have, with fixed or unlimited availability.
- 3
Apply constraints. Configure kerf (saw blade thickness), grain, orientation, and optimization depth to match floor reality.
- 4
Review and compare. Validate utilization, cut complexity, and any unplaced parts before release.
- 5
Export. Send PDF/PNG for visual handoff, CSV/JSON for structured downstream use, or a machine-neutral DXF package for downstream CAD/CAM validation.
For the same effective inputs and settings, CutOps produces deterministic optimization output, which makes planning easier to review and repeat.
Deterministic output is especially useful when teams need repeatable quoting, internal review, and audit-friendly production records.
Setup
Build Clean Job Inputs#
Clean input data improves optimization quality, reduces mistakes, and makes result review much faster.
Define the job in the two main data areas before you run optimization.
Parts
Each part row should include length, width, and quantity. Add material tags and grain locks only where they are really needed.
Stock sheets
Stock rows describe available raw material. Use unlimited quantity only when it matches your planning scenario, otherwise enter fixed inventory counts.
Keep units, naming, and material labels consistent across rows. This is useful whether you are planning a full production batch or a one-off personal build.
Configuration
Settings That Affect Real Results#
These settings directly affect waste, fit, cut complexity, and whether the plan matches real workshop constraints.
Choose what the plan should favor, how broadly CutOps should search, and which stock and part rules it must follow. Settings are applied to the next optimization after you select Apply settings.
Choose an optimization priority
| Option | What it favors and when to use it |
|---|---|
| Least wasted area | Minimizes total stock area for the parts placed, then considers waste and useful offcuts. Several smaller sheets can use less material than one large sheet. Use this when material consumption matters most; it may require more cuts. |
| Least cuts | Prioritizes fewer cuts, then a shorter total cutting distance when cut counts tie. Use it when cutting effort matters more than material savings. It can consume more stock. |
| Balanced | Weighs material consumption, waste, cut count, cutting distance, layout variety and offcut fragmentation together. A useful starting point when no single objective dominates. |
| Production fast | Prioritizes fewer cuts, then fewer distinct layouts and fewer sheets, before cutting distance and material consumption. Useful for repeated production with simpler setup. It does not measure actual machine or operator time. |
| Smaller stock first | Favors smaller stock sizes alongside overall material consumption. Useful when smaller sheets are easier to handle. It can use more sheets and does not guarantee that the smallest size will always win. |
All priorities first consider cut-plan validity and how much of the required work is covered: placed part area, then the number of parts. With comparable allocation, Production fast and Least cuts can accept much more waste to save even a small number of cuts. Compare stock area and utilization as well as cut count before choosing a result.
General and Table saw profiles
General uses the selected optimization priority. Table saw adds production alternatives based on estimated handling, direction changes and cutting sequence. Where distinct alternatives exist, you can review Material efficient, Recommended for table saw and Simplest to execute, then apply the one you want.
Table saw compares complete results within the lowest sheet count found. With mixed stock sizes, the fewest sheets need not mean the least material. Recommended limits extra waste in exchange for simpler execution; these are planning estimates, not measured production times.
When preset controls are available, choosing General applies least-waste priority and length-first cuts. Choosing Table saw applies least-waste priority and length-first cuts. Both use guillotine-first with automatic placement. Check the draft settings before applying them.
Fast, Standard and Thorough search
Fast checks fewer alternatives for a quicker calculation. Standard explores more options. Thorough allows a broader search and may improve the result, especially on mixed jobs, but can take longer. Large jobs have search limits to keep calculation manageable; no depth guarantees the global optimum.
Search effort controls calculation time. Production fast controls which cutting plan is preferred. You can combine Production fast with Thorough search, or Least wasted area with Fast search. Search variants and workload limits can change the effective settings recorded with the result.
Fixed and unlimited stock
Fixed stock respects the quantities entered for enabled stock rows. The one-sheet-per-row option can reduce each row to one available sheet. Parts that cannot be placed remain listed as unplaced.
Unlimited stock can add sheets of the enabled sizes as needed. It can combine sizes and ignores saved quantities. Selection depends on part fit, kerf, constraints and the chosen priority; fewer sheets and less material are different goals when sizes differ.
Stock mode applies to the whole job. In the stock table, clearing a quantity or entering 0 switches the job to unlimited stock. Entering a valid positive quantity switches it back to fixed stock. Review all row quantities when switching back.
What the goal buttons change
Choosing Balanced, Minimum waste or Minimum cuts changes only the optimization priority. Fast estimate also sets search effort to Fast. The other goals keep the current search effort.
| Optimization goal | Optimization priority | Stock mode | Search effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced | Balanced | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Minimum waste | Least wasted area | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Minimum cuts | Least cuts | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Fast estimate | Production fast | Unchanged | Fast |
All four goals preserve stock mode and quantities, kerf, rotation, material and grain rules, labels, solver, placement strategy, cut orientation and the one-sheet-per-row limit. Part and stock rows stay unchanged.
Furniture / cabinetry enables rotation, material matching, grain consideration and labels, with fixed stock, balanced priority, thorough search and shelf-first placement. Beam saw defaults use guillotine-first, automatic placement, least-cuts priority and width-first cuts. These bundles still need to match your actual job.
Guillotine-first and Efficiency mode
Guillotine-first builds around straight cuts across the current piece of material. Efficiency mode explores more flexible rectangular placements. A layout can fit geometrically without having a valid guillotine cut sequence; operational results still need a verified cut plan.
Placement strategy and cut orientation
Auto chooses a placement strategy from the priority. First Fit Decreasing favors the first suitable fit; Best Fit Decreasing compares fits more closely; Shelf-first favors rows of parts with the same length. They are search strategies, not guarantees of the best possible layout.
Optimal cut orientation lets CutOps choose automatically. Prefer width-first and Prefer length-first bias the cutting order. They can change the sequence or layout without changing the required part dimensions.
Keep the plan consistent with the material
Enter the real kerf: the width removed by the blade at each cut. A value of 0 means no blade-width allowance. Units control input and display; rounding precision affects dimensional fit calculations.
Allow rotation permits a 90-degree turn where the part rules allow it. A row rotation lock remains binding. Enable material matching to match tagged parts to the corresponding stock, and grain consideration when grain orientation must be preserved. Labels change the drawing, not the placement.
Analysis
Read Results With Practical Context#
Review results by actual usability, not just material utilization percentage.
Use all result views together before releasing the cut package.
| View | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Overview / Layout | Utilization, sheet count, and visual placement quality. | Catch obvious layout conflicts early. |
| Cuts | Sequence complexity and operator readability. | Reduces time and mistakes on the floor. |
| Unplaced | Missing parts due to stock limits or constraints. | Prevents silent under-fulfillment. |
| Alternatives / Compare | Tradeoffs between yield, cuts, and throughput. | Supports objective decision before material commitment. |
The best plan is not always the one with the absolute lowest waste. In many real jobs, the better plan is the one that balances yield, cut simplicity, repeatability, and confidence on the floor or in the workshop.
A fast manual pass on Sheet 1 often catches configuration mistakes before you commit the entire job.
Decision
Compare Strategies Before You Commit Material#
Use comparison mode when you need to choose between efficiency, simplicity, and throughput.
Comparison mode helps with jobs where one answer is not enough. Evaluate multiple candidates and rank them by material efficiency, production simplicity, or a balanced score.
This is valuable both for businesses protecting margin and for individual users trying to decide whether a plan is worth cutting with the material they already have.
- Start with a balanced strategy as baseline.
- Run a waste-focused variant and compare whether savings justify added cut complexity.
- Run a simplicity-focused variant and compare handling time reduction versus extra material use.
Release
Choose the Right Export for the Next Step#
Use visual and structured exports together when you need a clearer handoff, documentation, or backup.
Export the result as JSON, CSV, PNG, PDF, or a machine-neutral DXF package. Import JSON to reopen a project or CSV to load structured job data.
| Format | Contents | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Layouts, cut list, KPIs, and materials summary. | Team/client sharing and printable production packets. | |
| CSV | Structured cut list rows and dimensions. | Spreadsheets, ERP, CNC prep, and costing workflows. |
| PNG | Per-sheet visual layout snapshots. | Fast shop-floor reference. |
| DXF package | One ASCII DXF R12 file per unique pattern, plus manifests and placement data. | Geometry handoff for validation in compatible downstream CAD/CAM software; CutOps does not generate G-code, toolpaths, controller files, or manufacturer-specific postprocessors. |
| Project JSON | Full project snapshot including settings and solver metadata. | Backup, transfer, and reproducible re-runs. |
Best practice: keep one visual export and one structured export so you can review the plan later or share it with the right person without losing context.
Quality
Quality Checks Before You Cut#
Use this quick checklist before release or before starting a real cut run.
- Confirm stock and part quantities before calculation.
- Verify kerf (saw blade thickness) and orientation settings against real machine conditions.
- Review unplaced items and decide whether to resize, split, or restock.
- Spot-check first-sheet cuts before committing the full run.
- Save or export the final cut package for traceability and reuse.
Account
Accounts, Saving, and Project Storage#
Understand what stays local, what can sync to your account, and how this affects day-to-day use.
CutOps is designed around a local-first workflow. Core calculation happens in the browser, and many actions can be completed without sending job content to a server by default.
Local drafts and workspace preferences remain in the browser on every plan. Registered Free and Pro accounts can also save named projects locally. Signed-in Pro accounts can additionally use cloud backup when authentication, network access, and synchronization succeed. Keep an export of critical jobs rather than treating unsynchronized local state as cloud-backed.
Project JSON export uses the same runtime schema used by the app import flow, so exported files can be re-imported without field remapping.
{
"id": "proj_abc123",
"name": "Kitchen Batch A",
"createdAt": "2026-03-22T08:30:00.000Z",
"updatedAt": "2026-03-22T08:45:00.000Z",
"parts": [
{
"id": "part_1",
"label": "Side Panel",
"width": 600,
"length": 720,
"quantity": 2,
"allowRotation": true,
"enabled": true
}
],
"stockSheets": [
{
"id": "sheet_1",
"width": 2440,
"length": 1220,
"quantity": 1,
"enabled": true
}
],
"options": {
"kerf": 3.2,
"solverMode": "guillotine",
"placementHeuristic": "auto",
"optimizationPriority": "balanced",
"stockMode": "fixed",
"optimizationDepth": "standard",
"roundingPrecisionMm": 0.1,
"cutOrientation": "optimal",
"labelsOnPanels": true,
"useOnlyOneSheetFromStock": false,
"considerMaterial": false,
"considerGrainDirection": false
},
"patterns": [],
"unallocatedPartIds": []
}Support
Support and Contact#
Reach the right path quickly for product support, privacy questions, or accessibility help.
For product and policy questions:
- Product support: Contact support
- Privacy: Privacy requests
- Accessibility: Accessibility help