Pro: batches, nesting and rolls

Cut several jobs on one stretch of vinyl: Pro places the layers on your roll width in one SVG and keeps the remaining length of each roll.

Pro 1.1.0. Batches, nesting and rolls are part of Vinyl Lettering Designer Pro and arrived in version 1.1. They work on the jobs of the production board.

Create a batch

Select jobs on the board and create a batch. Batches live under WooCommerce → Batches. The layers of the selected jobs are placed on your roll width in one SVG, ready to download for your cutter. A new batch is a draft until you finish it.

How the nesting works

Nesting is simple shelf packing on the bounding boxes of the layers, with 0 and 90 degree rotation. It places layers in rows across the roll width. It is not an optimal packing: it does not fit a layer inside the empty space of another, so a very irregular shape wastes the corners of its box. You can re-nest a batch with another roll width or another gap between the layers.

One material and colour per batch

A batch holds one material and one foil colour. Layers of the selected jobs that have another colour or material are not placed; they are listed as left out, so you can put them in a batch of their own.

Download, finish and undo

1. Download the batch SVG and cut it.
2. Finish the batch when it has been cut.
3. While a batch is still a draft you can undo it.

Jobs with several layers

A job with several layers (for example several foil colours) moves to Cutting only when all of its layers are cut. Until then it stays where it is, so the board never says Cutting for a job that is half cut.

Rolls and stock

Under WooCommerce → Rolls you add your vinyl rolls with material, foil colour, width and remaining length. Choose a roll on a draft batch. Finishing the batch books the batch length plus a margin from that roll. The margin is a setting with a default of 50 mm, or you can give a roll a margin of its own.

Low-stock notice

When a roll falls under its threshold, a notice appears in the Pro screens. An e-mail to the shop admin is optional and off by default.

Usage report and waste

The usage report shows the material used per month, per material and foil colour, with a CSV export. A job that is cancelled or refunded after its layers were cut is marked as waste.

What it does not do

• No optimal or free-form nesting: bounding boxes, rows and 90 degree turns only.
• No ordering of vinyl from a supplier.
• No connection to a cutting machine: you download the SVG and open it in your own cutter software.

On update from Pro 1.0 the database tables for batches are added and the roll tables get extra columns automatically. Back up your site first, as with any update.