Cutting Optimization Software Library CutGLib

Version 5.0.1 (February 20, 2024)

Powerful and Reliable Optimization Engine for your Applications and ERP Systems.

Mathematical library CutGLib provides the linear (1D) and the rectangular (2D) cutting optimization functionality for software developers.
More ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) developers use our library as part of the systems to plan and control their inventories. Whenever you need to find a way to cut several parts from a stock you just need to create an instance of CutEngine class, invoke couple of its methods to specify parts and stocks. Also you can specify several additional parameters (saw kerf / thickness, trim sizes, etc.) and run the calculation.

During the calculation CutGLib finds such cutting layouts that minimize the material waste and/or operating time. Should any error happen the calculation method returns the detailed error message.

After successful calculation you'll get the list of cutting layouts. Each layout consists of one or more stocks with the same pattern. You'll get the list of parts cut (or placed) from a used stock and coordinates where top left corner of the part.

If you application is for CNC machine you can get a guillotine cut list for each used stock. Each cut is defined by begging and end point coordinates and the cuts order is crucial for a correct cutting.

We understand that the integration process is most critical and difficult part of using any third-party solution. Therefore Optimalon Software provides extensive source code examples for several programming languages (C#, VB, C++, Delphi) with the trial version of CutGLib.
You can download trial version CutGLib.zip on your computer, unzip and run the setup.exe and start testing our library free of charge.

You'll find all examples in "C:\Program Files\CutGLib\Examples" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\CutGLib\Examples" (for 64-bit Windows) folder. We also supply a precompiled executable application ExampleCutGLib.exe (with full C# source code) that you can run right way and test your own cutting examples.

Optimalon Software provides CutGLib as Microsoft .Net assembly for all Windows operating systems, including Windows CE, Windows Phone 7 and Silverlight. It's completely thread-safe assembly that can be used in multi-threaded application to solve several optimization tasks simultaneously.

The main features of CutGLib are:

  • Linear and sheet/panel stock types.
  • Guillotine cutting method.
    All cuts are done from one side of the sheet completely to another. The method is for cutting glass, wood, veneer, stones and other material.
  • Minimize panels rotation.
    Reduces rotation of the stock panels during the cutting operation.
  • Different level of cutting complexity.
    Some cutting machines require simple cutting operation with only one sheet rotation; other machines are more sophisticated and can cut complex layouts. CutGLib takes these restrictions in account during the optimization. There are five levels of the cutting complexity: 2 (XY), 3 (two-stage XY), 4 (XYZ), 5 (XYZW) and 6 (Standard).
  • First Cut Orientation.
    If the sheet is longer than the cutting tool can reach or there is a risk of breaking off the sheet with long cuts then one needs to make smaller cuts first.
  • Multiple sheet sizes.
    It's a very helpful feature to utilize cut-offs from previous cutting operations. Also it helps when sheets come in different sizes from different suppliers.
  • Cutting layouts minimization.
    This feature is very important for woodcutting industries. If all wood sheets have the same layout then they can be placed in a pile and cut simultaneously. That dramatically improves the productivity.
  • Maximum size of the layout.
    Defines the maximum number of stocks that can be cut at once from one layout.
  • Non-zero saw kerf.
    Cutting produces the gap between parts that shrinks the result part sizes by a saw thickness. This feature takes in account the saw kerf during the optimization and generates the layout accordingly.
  • Control cut-offs (waste parts) size.
    Some cutting machines are unable to make a cut on tiny pieces, because of the technical restriction, like cutting several millimetres from the glass sheet. This feature specifies what would be the minimal size of the cut-offs and therefore overcomes such problems.
  • Incomplete optimization.
    In some cases the supply of the stocks is limited and all parts cannot be cut from it.
  • Sheets trimming.
    It's not a rare case when the sheets have a rough edges that have to be cut before further processing. This feature provides the way to specify the trim sizes for the sheets and takes them into account during the cutting optimization.
  • Part rotation by 90 degrees.
    For some cutting tasks the orientation of the parts should be preserve, for others it's not important and part can be rotated by 90 degrees to get better utilization.
  • Different (not only 90°) Angle Cuts for linear optimization (for pipes and structural materials).
  • Maximum number different lengths that can be cut from one stock with flexible threshold value.
  • Unlimited parts and sheets number.
  • Support of text labels (part IDs).
  • Create image file (PNG format) with user-defined size.
  • Export all stocks and parts into AutoCAD DXF file (version R12).
  • Export all parts into CSV (comma-separated) file.
  • Export cutting instructions to Pattern Exchange (PTX) format suitable for some CNC saw machines.

Check the latest CutGLib license prices