Has anyone tried a program called AI Nesting? It seems to work A LOT BETTER than SVG Nest. I just do a quick outline of the material I need to nest into and then select it and the items I want to nest and export as an .ai file then open in AI Nesting. works great, my only problem is it “breaks apart” each of my letters and nests everything separately. I have tried different methods of grouping/welding each letter, but it still breaks them up. Does anyone have any thoughts??? Thanks, Wes
Thank you for this information. Willing to share a link? 
Sure, here ya go. I think you can download a demo/trial version. I believe it is just $49 to purchase. For that price i am very impressed, an is fairly easy to use with lightburn. Now if i could just figure out the letter thing.
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http://ain.e-cut.ru/
Hey Rick, did you ever get a chance to look at this nesting software? If so, thoughts???
Thanks,
Wes
This isn’t particularly AI, but it’s open source https://deepnest.io
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On the list, but I have not played with as yet.
I’ve played with Deepnest and really enjoyed it. I believe Fusion also has some nesting abilities now that I have yet to play with.
I currently use the nesting in my Signlab, it is pretty robust. I was just looking for an easier import/export route. I would be willing to take start a collection to fund more research on getting some nesting incorporated into Lightburn. I know it is on the table and just takes time and money. Maybe they could talk to the guy who came up with this program and somehow incorporate it into Lightburn.
But that is way over my pay grade. Even as is, I think Lightburn is hands down the best laser software out there!
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I am surprised this has not been higher up the development priorities. Nesting within Lightburn would be a hell of a reason to buy/upgrade. Given the high cost of raw materials, this functionality is important & applies across all CNC disciplines.
The free online versions either don’t cut the mustard or just flat out don’t work. At best an external resource makes for slow/cumbersome workflow, so would love to see this come natively within Lightburn!
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Manual nesting is fairly easy if you know how to do it. No auto nesting program will ever be 100%.
Actually, a nesting feature can be VERY efficient and VERY time/material-saving. I have been running CNC machines for over 20 years. When you have 200 pieces to nest on a 48" x 96" sheet of stock, it can be very time-consuming and wasteful to do it by “hand”. I currently import my items into an 18yo Cadlink Signlab program, nest the items in it, and then have to export to Lightburn. I guarantee you that a nearly 20yo program can nest way quicker and way more efficiently than by hand. The nesting program that Lightburn is linked to is absolutely horrible. If you are using that as your point of reference, you need a new point of reference. 
It depends on the shapes you are nesting. My background is also CNC machines, and I have over 40 years experience, but am retired.
I do like the e-Cut software, but you need CorelDraw or Illustrator. I didn’t know that they have a standalone nesting program (AI Nest), but it only works with AI files.
I know that nesting is one of the most suggested features. From my point of reference, I would rather see other enhancements to Lightburn. I used to have to nest a lot of “L” shapes and rectangular shapes. We used 0.125" spacing, so you create a 0.0625" offset on each part (on a layer that does not output), and then move/rotate the parts so they touch.
What might be a better option would be to have AI Nest as an add on to Lightburn. Not every user needs nesting, but for $50, LB could export an AI file in the background, dump it into AI Nest, do your nesting, and then import the results back into LB.
It’s important to state just how difficult fast, good nesting is to code. There are commercial options out there that cost many, many times the price of LightBurn for just nesting.
We know, because we’ve been developing the framework of code required to even approach nesting for well over a year. It’s coming, eventually, when it is ready.
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