Core nesting engines

Three engines, tuned for different jobs

Switch between them in one click. Use Quick Nest for estimates, Contour Nest for complex shapes, and the Genetic Optimiser when every percent of material saved is money.

Quick Nest

Bounding-box-based placement that produces a usable layout in seconds, even for jobs with hundreds of parts. Best for rectangular and near-rectangular parts.

Contour Nest PRO

True NFP-based contour packing with Minkowski-sum NFP computation. Concave shapes pack flush against each other - not just bounding boxes.

Genetic Optimiser PRO

Runs Contour Nest hundreds of times with different orderings and rotations, evolving toward the highest-utilisation layout within your chosen time budget.

Hole Nesting PRO

When a placed part has a closed interior contour, small parts are placed inside it. Increases utilisation 5-30% on jobs with holey parts.

Multi-sheet layouts

When a job has more parts than fit on one sheet, GB Nest auto-fans across sheet 2, 3, and beyond. Total job cost calculated automatically across every sheet.

Customisable rotation steps

Choose from 1°, 5°, 15°, 30°, 45°, or 90° rotation increments. Finer steps unlock more efficient packing for triangles and skewed shapes.

File formats

Works with the files you already have

DXF read & write

Full DXF parser handling LINE, CIRCLE, ARC, POLYLINE, LWPOLYLINE, ELLIPSE, SPLINE, and INSERT blocks. Writes nest output as transformed DXF preserving layers.

DWG

DWG read PRO

Native AutoCAD .dwg support built in. Load .dwg files directly without round-tripping through AutoCAD or a separate converter.

PDF reports PRO

One-click production-ready PDF with sheet visualisation, parts list, material utilisation, and cost calculations.

Project save / load

Full job state - loaded parts, sheet settings, nest result, optimiser configuration - saved to a single project file. Reopen exactly where you left off.

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Material cost calculation

Configurable price per m². Every nest result displays linear metres, square-metre area, and total job cost.

Material library

Save your stock sheets once with a default sheet size and price per m². Drop them into any project from a dropdown - no retyping dimensions or costs job after job.

Auto-grouping

Loaded DXF entities are automatically clustered into discrete parts based on geometric containment and connectivity. No manual group selection.

User experience

Built so the software gets out of your way

Live optimiser progress

Live mini-preview that repaints on every improvement, per-worker thread status, time elapsed / remaining, and browsable list of best-so-far snapshots.

Sliver detection

Identifies parts whose contour collapses to a line or near-zero area (common DXF artifact) and lets you skip or fix them before nesting.

Per-part status tracking

Real-time per-part status: Placed (N), Unplaced, Skipped, Hidden, or Sliver - so the operator immediately sees what made it and what needs attention.

Quantity multipliers

Set a quantity per part; GB Nest clones it N times for nesting without duplicating it in your source DXF.

Hide / skip parts

Temporarily exclude parts from the nest without removing them from the project. Useful when juggling priorities or running material-specific subsets.

Per-part gap & sheet borders

Set spacing between parts and minimum offsets from sheet edges. Configurable globally or per part.

Automatic part-name extraction

GB Nest reads any text entity inside a part outline and uses it as the part name - no manual renaming. An exclusion list lets you ignore drawing-template text (revision blocks, title boxes, scale notes) so only the real part identifier comes through.

Architecture & performance

Native, fast, lightweight

Native Windows application

True native Win32. No Electron, no browser dependency, no runtime to install. Starts in under a second.

Multi-threaded throughout

Quick Nest, Contour Nest, the Genetic Optimiser, and disk persistence all run on dedicated threads. UI stays responsive even during long jobs.

Unicode-first

Full UTF-16 support throughout. Works with non-ASCII filenames and CAD content out of the box.

Single EXE deployment

Download, unzip, run. No service to register, no MSI complexity, no admin rights needed. Lightweight enough for shop-floor PCs.

See the deep tech →

Stop wasting sheet material. Start nesting smarter.

The 7-day trial includes every feature in the tier you choose. Import your real DXFs and judge for yourself.