Saturday 3 January 2015

Printer.com : Does font choice make a difference?

Printing Costs: Does Font Choice Make a Difference?








Did you realize you can actually cut printing costs just by choosing another font? Even with everyone looking for new ways to save money, it’s doubtful most people have considered the font they use for letters, reports, and notices, but you can actually save 31% on your ink cartridge costs just by picking the right font.

Printer.com recently put this notion to the test using two popular printers. The Canon Pixma MP 210 was picked to simulate the printing of private users while the Brother HL-2140 laser printer was used to test business use. Both printers were left at their default settings (600 by 600 dpi). Changing only the font resulted in saving between $20 and $80 per year.

Arial, reigning as the most popular font, was used as the “zero” measurement, against which nine other fonts were tested. The clear winner was Century Gothic, which returned 31% savings in both printers. For the average private user, printing approximately 25 pages per week, this will easily generate a net reduction of $20 in a year. A business-user, printing approximately 250 pages per week, could save $80. If your organization uses multiple printers, you can save hundreds of dollars per year doing nothing more than picking a more economical font.
Century Gothic is a modern font that comes standard with MS Windows. Surprisingly, it even beat Ecofont which was specifically designed with efficiency and cost in mind. For those who require a more “traditional” look, Times New Roman provides a good balance between style and savings.

Details of the research:
• 10 frequently used fonts were selected.
• The font size (10 or 11) is relative. Font size was chosen in such a way that the page filling for all fonts in the model letter was virtually the same.
• To determine the coverage, the model letter is saved as PDF file. This PDF is calculated by the software pfill, which calculates the coverage of the specific font.
• To determine the cost of a private user per year, the inkjet printer “Canon Pixma MP 210” was used with 25 printed pages per week.
• To determine the cost of a small-business user per year, the laser printer “Brother HL-2140” was used with 250 printed pages per week.
• Both Canon and Brother publish the number of printed pages with a coverage of 5%. Through interpolation, the costs have been calculated for other coverage rates if the sample letter would be printed with other fonts.
• For the Canon printer, calculations are based upon a black cartridge PG-40 with a retail value of roughly $17 In case of the Brother printer calculations are based upon a black cartridge with a retail value of $30.
Photo credit: borman818
>> Listen to an NPR report about the U of Wisconsin’s switch to Century Schoolbook (2 minutes)
Disclaimer.
The values of the Printer.com research are approximate values that are based on the model letter. Actual situations can be different. Printer.com makes no warranties or representations whatsoever with regard to any product, information or calculation provided or offered by any manufacturer, e-store or merchant; and you hereby expressly acknowledge that any reliance on any representations and warranties, whether provided in writing or otherwise, provided by any e-Store, merchant, vendor or manufacturer will be at your own risk.




A similar test was done using apfill here:
http://www.emerginginvestigators.org/2014/03/the-effect-of-font-type-on-a-schools-ink-cost/
The table of results is more complex than needed, but does quote more fonts than Printer.com:


The test covered a few other points than coverage.
Apfill software gave different result on a mac or a pc, and about 8% higher than a manual estimage.
Test documents can be done for a specific purpose. The school test document had a lot of underlines in it because teachers use them in handouts: the character quoted after "z" is underline or underscore.


Printer.com's “ Printing Costs: Does Font Choice Make a Difference? ” :
responses

  1. You can also just change the font size or the line spacing, or the margins.
    Or if you’re really concerned about saving ink/toner, just stop printing.
  2. [...] reminder that we all should do what we can to conserve. Saving ink by choosing a more efficient font is a good start, but it’s only the beginning. Here are five more ways you can green your [...]
  3. Using those tiny little sans serif fonts are great for people with great vision, but perhaps not so great for older readers, and by older I mean anyone over forty.
    Sanserif fonts like Arial are grand for headlines, not so good for the body of the text. Sure you’ll save some money, but you’ll wear out the reader. Those little tails, the serifs, on fonts like Garamond help lead the eye along.
    If you’ve just printing tons of crap and you don’t think it matters if anyone reads it, then hey, use Helvetica. But if you are writing something important or worthwhile, OR, if other people are compelled to read it, then don’t make them suffer to save yourself a couple of cents.
    For the body of text, Arial sucks.
  4. Ellen,
    If you want to use a serif font, you’ll notice from the chart that Times New Roman (a serif font) handily beats out Arial in efficiency.
    Arial sees such widespread use primarily because it’s the default in programs like MS’s Word and Internet Explorer. But Century Gothic is far more efficient in terms of ink usage.
    I myself prefer Garamond as well. It’s just a friendlier font that invites the reader’s eye to peruse the page. But when efficiency counts, like for drafts and things, I think I’ll probably switch to Century Gothic. Buying all those ink cartridges really bites you in the wallet!
  5. Umm.. if you’re *really* thinking about saving cash, and don’t need serifs, check out http://www.ecofont.eu/
    They’ve taken a very plain font and punched tiny holes in all the glyphs in such a manner that it doesn’t detract from readability.
  6. Unbelievable!!!! Do you mean tell me, that smaller type uses less ink and is therefore less costly to print? I’m stunned, and I’m one of those older readers who’s looked at a lot words, and was earlier so rudely referred to by another contributor to as being “older readers”. A designer friend of mine would often tell me that, “… and printing with larger type uses more ink Michael, ergo it cost’s more to print….” I would laugh and call him a fool, telling him he had been over educated at his fancy education place and lost all common sense. But according to your test the joke’s on me. Now I owe somebody one rather large apology. Please excuse me.
    Also for your information, those little tails, stressed lines, sagging umlauts and dots at the ends of the letterforms, all mean that you’re printing in the German.
  7. I select all and change the color of my text to dark gray before printing drafts. It makes my ink go a lot further.
  8. Is there additional data available for more font/font sizes? I would like to see more comparisons at the same font size. Specifically Century Gothic & Ecofont at 11 against the Arial and Time Roman at 11.
    Thanks, Gary
  9. There is reasonable doubt in the testing done.
    I too would like to see the comparisons at the same font size. Changing the font size would change the amount of ink used Until the font sizes are the same this test does not prove Century Gothic is cheaper than Arial because the fonts sizes are different.
    The reason for changing the fonts to 10 point vs 11 point was for filling the page. The test should be done so all words fit on one page with the exact same words for each font. This would be an accurate test to prove which font saves money.
    By using Arial at 10 point I might save more money than with Century Gothic, but this test doesn’t give me those numbers.
    With my preliminary testing I found using the same point size for Arial and Century Gothic and having lengthy text. I would use more paper with Century Gothic. The exact same text at the same point size fitting on a page with Arial would flow onto a second page with Century Gothic.
  10. Brian,
    Do you ever use EcoFont? I am curious as to how this compares.
  11. Kimm,
    I don’t myself, but if you check on our table, you’ll see that even EcoFont came in second to Century Gothic.
  12. I printed the same sentence in six different fonts to get a subjective look:
    Consolas 10.5, Century Gothic 10, Calibri 11, Times Roman 11, Arial 11, and Ecofont 10. Consolas 10.5 is the default plain text email font at our college. Our default html font is Calibri 11 which according to test results in the article is about 9% more wasteful than Century Gothic 10. I think the point size differences are understandable since some fonts run small or large. Subjectively I liked Time Roman 11 for the combination of clarity and ink efficiency (in the top three along with Century Gothic and Ecofont). I am surprised it is that good in ink efficiency. I’m looking into it and considering changing to this as the default font for our college to give the best bang for the buck with the least ink.
  13. Brian,
    "The test should be done so all words fit on one page with the exact same words for each font"
    That is exactly what they did by changing the font. I agree that it is not entirely scientific though. What they should have probably done is figured out a way to "shrink to fit" everything on one page and done the test that way.
    Its tough but I’m sure there is a way to make an exact comparison. Basically you want the same word count per page regardless of the font size. They were closer than just using the same font size across all fonts in this experiment but it seems to be a bit more of an "eye-ball" measurement than some kind of math calculation.
    This is a great start though. I brought this up in our stuff meeting this morning and everyone got really excited about it.
  14. Brian,
    Why change the fonts if you can optimize the amount of ink used to print all fonts, graphics, and images?
  15. That’s an incredible saving for just a simple font change. Interesting that the makers of Star Trek Enterprise used it as a “futuristic” font – did they know something we didn’t 
  16. CHADARIUS I agree with you.
    Print using GARAMOND. Try it out and you will experience savings on ink and paper.
  17. Since Century Gothic letters are wider than those of Arial, you will be using more paper as well as the text will have to flow onto additional pages. I don’t see that calculated into the cost.
    On a one-page document that won’t matter, but in a book, that can mean many additional octaves (pages of eight, which is the standard for books), which is more expensive.
    Has anyone priced that?
  18. Has anyone noticed the real cost savings has more to do with printer selection than font?
    I’m no math major and I hope I’ve calculated this correctly but:
    Based on the studies’ assumption of 25 pages/week home use and 250/week for business when using any of the fonts the Canon is roughly 260% more expensive than the Brother:
    For Century Gothic:
    Canon – $0.0356/page
    Brother – $0.0137/page
    Even using Franklin Gothic the Brother is only $0.022/page. If the target is to save money buy a printer with cheaper ink, then use the most efficient font for your document needs. For the life of me cannot understand why printer ink costs $5,200 / gal. (Canon – 11ml = $15) other than we have been conditioned to pay it. Color is over $8,400 / gal.!
    If you want to be green forget the ink, focus on the paper.
    Sometimes I think the printer companies picture us with a big sucker sign slapped to our backs. Maybe they\’re right.
  19. I assume that these tests were done with font that is BLACK. What about (also) changing the font color to a dark gray?
  20. The figures shown apply if the text doesn’t fill the page. For a longer document like a book or short story, at a common size such as 9pt (in which most non-large-print books are printed), a “wide” face such as Verdana or Garamond will take up the shown percent of the paper, but use more total paper, and probably more ink overall, compared to Arial or Times New Roman, respectively.
  21. What about Bookman Old Style 12 pt? A lot of US military offices use this as a standard. A cheaper font could save a lot of ink and money.
  22. Please, check Courier New! I love that font, very simple and precise which allows for crisp reading of forms / school papers. Takes up more space than Century Gothic (so also get me an axe…) but doesn’t seem any thicker in the lines.
  23. 1) It is different to use size 10 or size 11.
    2) Size matters but some fonts use more ink. Valhalla says "…but doesn’t seem any thicker in the lines", correct, and also says "Takes up more space than Century Gothic", but that is in the horizontal not in the vertical.
    Please, check Courier New.
  24. How about non-readily available fonts like Avenir, Futura, and Helvetica Neue?
    [Futura is a lot like Century Gothic, but slightly condensed]
  25. Very interesting article. Just curious though – as a desgner, I would like to know how the beloved Helvetica font stacked up to the top ink saving fonts listed?
  26. What would be the cost for Sans Serif 10 PT? This is our company default font, would Century Gothic really save much?
  27. so if i am reading the chart correctly, Century Gothic saves $80 per year given 250 pages, compared to Arial.
    What if I print 1000 pages per month, is that $320 per year?
  28. Mr. Griffith (April 7th, 2010 at 5:03 pm) makes a good point when he asks about the additional costs of using more pages.
    I am currently working on a 140 page document, which is in Arial font. When I switched to Century Gothic, the number of pages increase to 150.
    That’s a 7% increase in the number of pages, which is not negligible.
  29. Well, I have to say that I enjoyed reading all of the comments! I’m with Printer.com and I thought I’d comment on a few of the things raised here:
    1.
    The request to test additional fonts has been heard, loud and clear! Our original testing was done about a year ago, and since then the Ecofont has been redesigned, and I now know that people are in love with various
    2.
    To those discussing the fact that different font sizes can have an impact on readability and the length of a document– of course you are correct. I think the thing to keep in mind is that we conducted a controlled test, which has to make certain assumptions and must keep certain aspects of the test constant to get meaningful results. Our results should only be used as one piece of input into your decision about what font to choose for your particular document. Just as there are hundreds (thousands?) of fonts to choose from, there is no single answer to the question “what font should I use in this document?”
    3.
    To the person commenting on the fact that the choice of PRINTER is more important than font to save money while printing, you certainly have a good point. That’s one of the reasons we created http://printer.com, so that we can expose the true cost of ownership of a printer, taking into account usage and the cost of ink over several years. I personally have found that buying a “cheap” printer is not so cheap in the long run. These “cheaper” printers tend to have much smaller ink cartridges, therefore you have to change cartridges more often. Even if the smaller cartridges are marginally cheaper than bigger ones, over a several year period you can find yourself spending WAAAAY more for ink than if you had purchased a more expensive printer (with larger cartridges) to begin with.
    Bob Crum
    Printer.com
  30. Hi all, to get things straight. Ecofont is not just ‘redesigned’ . Ecofont started 1,5 year ago with a proof of concept with which we put holes in Vera Sans by hand. As legibility was still very well we decided to develop Ecofont into software that shoots holes in EVERY font. By installing Ecofont software you add an Ecofont print button to your toolbar with which you can print directly with holes in the font you are working with at that moment. So with Ecofont software you will also be able to cut down on ink usage when using Century Gothic. We make the most saving font save much much more!
    Ecofont software will be available end of June.
    Kind regards,  The Ecofont Team
  31. I shall continue to use Microsoft comic sans no matter where it falls in the ink usage annals or tests or ………
  32. As Brian pointed out, Century Gothic uses more paper then Arial. A quick check on my PC shows that using the default 1″ margin settings in MS Word 2007 it would take about 10.1 pages in 10 pt CG for every 9 pages in 10 pt Arial. Using Open Office Writer with its default .79″ margins, the ratio is about 8.2 pages in CG for every 7 pages in Arial.
  33. This is a nice Windows-centric test. Nothing about other excellent fonts like DejaVu and Liberation.
  34. Times Roman is the best for reading on the paper!
    Arial and other serf fonts are on the other hand better for screen reading.
  35. Well, I really didn’t understand the second point (about the font size and the "virtual" page filling).
    Of course the space occupied is something defined by the font itself, and also by the font size. But if we compare different fonts, i think a better hypothesis should be the same font height (due to readability) and not the number of page occupied.
  36. Recent tests colleagues have done show quite clearly that ECO font compared to Times New Roman uses 47% per cent MORE ink (and more paper) and if the ECO-font is reduced to the same size as the TNR it still uses 25% per cent more. The guy who did the tests has contacted the ECO SPRANQ people for their comments and has received no reply. I would love to see the test results done by the ECO font people.
  37. Nobody mentioned COURIER, to my opinion, the most economical font because it it so thin. What do you think?
  38. I too would like to see Courier comparied. It seems if I take any document using any of the above named fonts and change the font to Courier 10 (10-spaces/inch) and print from WP60 (yes I'm a dinosaur) I use less paper, and the print color is lighter, and the lines seem thiner. I use both WP60 and WP12, when I open the document in WP12 it changes the font to Courier New and the document is typcially about a page longer.
  39. Would it be possible for me to get a copy of the study? With the detailed data/results? I’m looking to convince my company to change default font in all of our programs.
  40. Again, thanks to all of you for your great comments.
    I wanted to let all of you know that we at Printer.com have discussed an additional round of testing, Phase 2, and we believe that we will do this. We are looking at all of your suggestions of what fonts we should test. In addition, we want to wait for the new Ecofont, which apparently won’t be available until the end of June. So…stay tuned.
    Also, the test we did last year is not available in any form that we could make available for download. We didn’t anticipate that need, and didn’t prepare for it. However, we are looking at a brief we could create for this Phase 2 testing. Again…stay tuned.
    Bob Crum
    Printer.com
  41. Really nice topic i must say but the studies should have been more wider. It should have been not only about the "virtual" page filling but the same height with different fonts to see also the paper costs of increase by using another font. Like Pete W and Michael already said, the amount of paper on small documents might not increase that much but on really big documents like instruction manuals for machines it would be a great difference. And if you make the font too small on a printed document just to save paper it will just stress the reader of such a manual.
    So those studies should be extended to analyse also the font change in relation to the paper usage.
    With kind greetings
    Tobias
    P.S.: Sorry if my english might be a little bit difficult to read or wrong sometimes for native speakers. I’m from germany.
  42. For webmasters (and those who think they are) providing a way to either create a PDF of an article, or providing a "printer friendly" view option is a huge help. The other issue is to make sure those options readily evident. And, by the way, it would be nice if the printer friendly view can show comments or not at the users option. (Note this page does not provide it.)
  43. The comparison is good, but can you also do a price comparison b/w genuine and compatible ink cartridges? Surely one way to save money wold be to use a compatable or refilled cartridge too.
  44. Much more effective than changing fonts:
    Print less – The less you print the more you save.
    Write less – edit your documents. Most texts are too wordy.
  45. You should really check your source better bob.
    https://www.ecofont.com/en/products/green/printing/saving-printing-costs-and-eco-friendly/why-ecofont-saves-more-ink-than-century-gothic.html
  46. Just a couple more replies:
    To Preston:
    Yes, of course, printing with compatible or remanufactured cartridges is certainly a way to save money over the use of OEM cartridges. Some people even elect to refill their own cartridges with ink and toner, thus saving even more. It is up to individuals to determine if this is something they would like to try.
    To Yordan:
    Our original testing was done in early 2009, and this blog entry was posted on April 13, 2009. At that point in time, the only Ecofont was the “original” one, which is explained in the last paragraph of the link you provided. Since that time, the Ecofont people “…decided to develop Ecofont into software that shoots holes in EVERY font.” The entry you reference was posted by the Ecofont people recently, after the story about the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay broke, so I don’t think it’s a matter of “checking sources” better, but rather taking into account the timeline of what has happened. The new Ecofont software will be availble in June, and we are contemplating how it could be included in our “Phase 2″ testing that we are considering.
  47. How do you change the font on the printer. I got a new computer, but I need help.
  48. It’s a “Kodak Moment”, to steal the tag line from an old TV ad. Not only are their printers competitive price wise, their ink is excellent and their replacement ink cartridge prices are significantly lower than anyone else and they aren’t much more than refill prices at your local drugstore to boot.
  49. Interesting study, lots of great comments, can’t wait for the new study! As for Ecofont…anyone have any idea how shooting holes in fonts will affect documents that have to be machine read or 2d barcodes?
  50. Please be sure to look at the cost of ink on the extra pages that will print for some fonts in Phase 2 of your testing.
    I’m not sure it was clearly stated in the comments above. Let’s take the example of 140 pages of Arial being 150 pages in Century Gothic. If I read it right, 140 pages of Century Gothic at 3.45% coverage is cheaper than 140 pages of Arial at 5%. But I had to print an extra 10 pages. That is 10/140 more pages/ink. The percentage to use for cost savings, if I’m doing this right, is 3.45 + 3.45 * 10 / 140, or 3.45 + .25 or 3.7%. That makes it more like $49.68 for the year.
    Thus I don’t think you can ignore this in order to get accurate meaningful results.
    thanks,
    chris
  51. I don’t think people or businesses have the mind set to start changing fonts around.
    the simplest solution is to use toner / ink saving software like Inksaver.com or PretonSaver.
    it will save up to 70% of your toner and ink usage, i use Pretonsaver.
    I don’t know about ink saver, but pretonsaver has a free trial.
  52. Has anyone bothered to do a test with ALL fonts in a uniform point size?
    I would, specifically, like to know how Arial 10 is vs. Century Gothic 10… Not 11 vs 10 like in the chart.
  53. Does it save on disk space too?
  54. Century Gothic is a nice font–clean and easy to read. If it is going to help save on printing, then I am going to go for this tip. Thanks for sharing!
  55. The free Ecofont vera sans has evolved into software that shoots holes in your fonts.
    It works with your current fonts, so no need to change your docs or house style. You can also print Century Gothic in Ecofont style for the ultimate saving.
    It doesn’t matter if you have a HP, Ricoh, Xerox, Canon, Lexmark, Oki, Lexmark, Samsung, Sharp or any other printer/copier. You can save more than 25% toner on all devices.
  56. Have you considered printing with a lowered alpha value? That is, slightly transparent rather then 100% black?
  57. Century Gothic hurts my head. It’s spaced too widely apart. Courier New is even worse to read IMO. I do a lot of proofreading / editing. My eyes prefer a denser font. I have preferred Calibri, and like Helvetica too, but now will check out the eco-font thing. I just discovered affordable home-use b/w laser printers, and will start relying on it. My inkjet multi-machine tanks dry out and require replacement even if not used to print. 90 percent of my printing is text anyway.I intend to go to thinner paper as well. In the rare instances where I must submit in a specific font, I will write / proofread in my chosen font, then convert to the required font prior to submission / printing.
  58. I’ve been using inksquirrel from http://www.inksquirrelfonts.com for a while now. It looks like Arial, but save about 30% of the ink or toner and doesn’t use as much paper as Century Gothic. [ no record survives of this site or anything called inksquirrelfonts on archive.org - January 2015 ]
  59. You can also turn the printer to draft this uses a lot less ink, and the cartridges last almost twice as long. The print quality is not as good but it’s fine for internal work.
  60. Fantastic advice Bob. I hate arial, it’s so boring. Century Gothic is a favourite of mine but only really for headings. My favourite for nomal text is calibri so it’s great to know how much money I’m saving.
  61. I have done some updated research and identified Garamond as a superior font.
    To learn more, check out my post.
    http://ebeeler.blogspot.com/2012/06/comparing-apples-oranges-and-fonts-how.html
  62. Garmond12pt can reduce consumption 27% compared to Calibri 11pt.
    http://ebeeler.blogspot.com/2012/06/comparing-apples-oranges-and-fonts-how.html
  63. Century Gothic is the clear winner of your test its little brother Century Schoolbook is reputed to be still more efficient. Nevertheless, if I look at the result given by the calulator of What-the-Font, Arial is more efficient than Century Gothic and a little bit less efficient than Century Schoolbook. This is contrasting with the results of your test (The curious thing is that for the other fonts mentionned by Printer.com the results are more or less consistent with the ones of the calculator). Is there a logical explanation to these really different results? Thank you in advance for your explanations
  64. We use Xerox WorkCentre (model 5638, 4150, 5655, 7345) PCL 6 printers in our offices and I would like to know how font style and size VS paper compares on these printers.
    It there a way to know the results or has there been a study done on this?
    Thanks

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Sunday 28 December 2014

Nesting software for next to nothing to do 2d CNC cutting optimisation

Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive

These are notes-to-self by somone who wants to download cheap 2d nesting software and promote a vegan shoe shop. One way of keeping notes is to write a kind of guide to what nesting software is, then a list of discovered nesting software prices and sources, so here goes. I don't claim to have tried all this software or made it work - in fact I am still quite stuck but offer the notes anyway.

Scroll-down if you just want the links.

Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is

People who have cut material out of sheet for know the advantage of nesting cut-out shapes into the tightest possible pattern on least material. Some people are better or worse than others at doing it by hand, but those who do it for a living are probably good. Those who cut from irregular and blemished products like hydes have to work manually or use even more specialised software. The idea of a computer program to give a second opinion on how to lay-out the parts is good too - particularly if you don't have years of experience, or you don't like the job, or else you are a machine and need vector graphic code to cut from, or if you have discovered that microfiber can be as good as leather with a more regular shape and less blemishes.

The flavours are
  • one dimensional nesting software, for cutting lengths - sometimes free,
  • two dimensional nesting software, for cutting rectangles - sometimes free, and
  • two dimensional nesting software, for nesting other shapes - true shape nesting software - nearly always expensive.
Nesting software for curved shapes is seldom bought or sold, so publishers are coy about prices in the hundreds or even thousands if part of a CAD CAM package for some niche market like igloo-building, ship building, which is the same but the other way up, or footwear, clothing and apparel which is often the same way-up as igloos but has a range of sizes. The machines for making a shape on a screen, or converting to make a shape on a welder or wood carver or lazer are different too. You can see I'm bluffing a little here and will have a look at this discovered link some time about machines for making.

The simplest case,  I think, is to use nesting software to draw a pattern on a screen and then use that as a rough guide for how to cut by hand, maybe using a blade to cut round templates or positioning knives under a hydraulic press and pressing the button before moving them along a bit. Firms like Cricut are warming-up the market for cutter-plotters the size of computer printers which will cut anything less than a foot wide, if you can think of such a thing that needs cutting. Cricut Explore is their latest offering as I write. Two of the programs below are split in two to suit simple cases: you buy a section that shows you how to nest shapes; your buy another section to instruct your cutting machine if you ever save-up for one.

I don't know anything about 3D software nor the overlaps with CAD CAM software that can make searching difficult: a product can be described as free 2d Cad Cam software but not do nesting. When searching, you find a few pages of software and then a lot of references to Viking-invader style attempts to get software by any means.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software

  • Nestlibonline.com charge between $2 a nest and $59 a month for an online cutting optimistaion service to .dxf or .pdf
  • Mynesting charge between $7.50 a nest & $150 a month for an online cutting optimisation service
  • E-nesting.com/faq.aspx tried to offer a free online cutting optimisation nesting service for beta testing, but offer a "busy" message instead when I try to use their test samples.
    Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software

$25 pays for ain.e-Cut.ru of Novosibirsk which the first of the author's youtube help videos shows to be in Siberia. The 1st link is to Pavel Mishakov's A1Nesting page - ain.e-cut.ru - which is a program that nests .ai files. It does nothing else but nest in an attempt to be so simple that it needs no instruction. It works with early versions of the .ai file format described in the introduction to this Wiki page. I haven't yet managed to trace a curved shape in another program and import it as a curve - it's imported as a rectangle with a pattern on it - so ideas as comments below are welcome.

Other Mishakov software on the e-cut site - http://eng.e-cut.ru/ http://ecut5.e-cut.ru/index.php?lng=EN and htp://illustrator.e-cut.ru - works as a plugin to recent versions of CoralDraw full edition from version X3 or Adobe Illustrator Creative Suite 5+ and does other things as well, but A1nesting is ultra-simple and cheap. There is no dongle but you have to buy a code, confusingly starting with "ain" in small letters before the number-plate-like key that activates the program allowing it to open and save files in .ai format from Adobe Illustrator 8. I've bought a copy with some vague idea of making vegan shoe uppers for a vegan shoe shop and some of the experiments with it have worked.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more 

Nobody knows why a lot of people in the US buy desktop plotters for cutting card, except them. Lots of them do it. Their vast mental hospitals in the 1940s and 50s used to teach leather embossing as a theraputic job.  A comparison of the cutters and their default software shows Silhouetteamerica.com/software claims to do advanced nesting for $99 - the only desktop cutter software on the list that mentions nesting at all, and only in its paid-for upgraded versions. The difference between $49 "nesting" and $99 "advanced nesting" is best understood from their $49 designer faq page and their $99 business faq page, they tell me. The programs are crippled to save in native .studio format rather than .svg so you have to search for work-arounds if this is important. For example if a machine with 210g pressure and 0.5mm clearance for material thickness is too little for your ship-building project. (Ship-building is the application that's like fashion design but the other way up, less sizes but more internal parts. Ship builders also use heaver material than fashion designers).
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only

I have searched a great deal for cheap or free nesting software and found multiple un-answered threads with one reference to UCanNest. It's from a Beijing Chinese firm at Ucancam.com, known for providing bundled software to go with Chinese cutter plotters. I haven't worked-out the difference between the $145 and $270 versions, but there are some youtube videos and .pdf manuals that might explain. You have to buy a dongle before the software even lets you run a trial, but if $145 is affordable that might be worth it. I guess that people who have bought cutter-plotters have also somehow bought this software, and might have a copy if they're leaving the trade.

$380 Nestprofessor.com and $480 Cutleader are a pair of programs from a Shanghai Chinese company, according to prices from C|net and a coupon code for cutleader on another site. The nestprofessor site gives a range of US dollar prices for extra features such as nesting a part within a part.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

free vector graphics software to use with nesting software
free illustrator downloads

Adobe CS2 products are now available to download for free, as far as anyone can tell from Adobe's publishing of download links and free universal serial numbers, even if they state that this is a service for people who have lost old details. (The question to ask a lawyer is whether Adobe would prosecute and win a case for use of an old program that they give away free; the question to ask yourself is whether this is like picking something out of a skip.) I don't know of an e-cut plugin for Adobe Illustrator CS2, but it can save and open files in illustrator 8 format if you tick the right box after "save as". The files end .ai just like different more recent adobe illustrator native files.

This older version of the .ai format is very similar to encapsulated postscript .eps files, and if these are renamed .ai there is a good chance that A1Nesting from u-cut.ru will open those as well, and the .ai files it saves can be re-named .eps and read by other software, whether or not it has a setting for .ai.
There's also a chance that the files will open as a .pdf if renamed .pdf - I haven't tested this yet.
Newer .ai files are a different thing.

Viking shop prow decoration possibly made with looted CAD CAM software. (not really)Once saved as .ai files, the files saved by A1cut open in Adobe Illustrator CS2 although the document size doesn't get recognised, reverts to a default, and needs to be re-set and the nested images selected with control+A and one of the lower arrow selectors to be slid back into their frame. A1Nesting also has trouble with overlapping images and probably all sorts of other limitations as well, but for $25 software I find it pretty good.

I hope u-cut develop a plugin for open source vector graphics editors like Inkscape.org or Open Office Draw or even the free-ish Adobe Illustrator CS2 or free older editions of Serif Draw Plus, to save work-arounds for those who prefer open source, free or cheap software. Something for open source software would be great.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.
Viking prow possibly made with looted CAD CAM software

a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software 

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cad_pad_or_tukatech/ shows prices for clothes CAD software at $5,000 or $7,000. These CAD CAM footwear softwear companies don't show prices and probably charge the same or more. Clicking-about on google I saw an "economical" plugin at $500 so the mainstream probably charges more than $500. Some companies split the industry-specific or plotter-specific cutting parts of their software from the nesting parts, so a combined program might be double the cost of a halved one. If I were selling a product that only sells a few downloads a year, I might quote or hint-at a high price and leave it to my commission sales person to haggle if they want, taking other offers into account.

This is a comment from a ship-builder or someone using software for welding with a robot plasma blow lamp: "Trouble with using a 'generic' nesting package is that it will only output a full sheet as a DXF file, so the plasma package will then machine the sheet how it likes, instead of cutting the individual parts out. You can programme sheetcam to cut the individual parts out, but it is a pain if you have to do a lot. With plasma software that has nesting built in, it will be optimised to cut each part out separately". I have no idea what that means, but shipbuilders probably know.

A lot of people also try to raid software instead of paying for it - rather like ancient Vikings. It's claimed that one of the sellers on the fashion incubator list managed to forge the dongles from another software company and sell a re-labelled copy as his own. From a safe distance, you have to admire Vikings for their cheek as well as their designs, which were possibly made with looted CAD CAM software too. Oh and I have a post about Viking office copier paper, which is not so testosterone-fuelled as viking raids.

As for other glimpses...

Plus2D from Nirvanatec has some free versions on download sites, but I guess they're trials because http://www.nirvanatec.com/order.html quotes €650 or €800 for a working core module. Money transfer to their bank is cheap via Transferwise but  €650 or €800 are a lot in any currency - euros are worth about the same as US dollars.

http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/softwaretable.htm lists a few programs for "advanced nesting".
The site is about wood carving software so it may leave out some programs that just do nesting
Shopbot Partworks $795 on their site
Vectric Aspire $1,995 / £1,295 / €1,650 while their Vcarve Pro is $599 / £395 / €500 - I don't know the difference between these but if you are into wood carving they might be worth more research.
Delcam Artcam Express with nesting plugin £99 €125 $149 plus the plugin @ £299 €399 $499
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

Nesting software open source

I searched and found none, just some code waiting for someone to make-up into a program if they want and if it works. Wikipedia lists open source embroidery programs for free, which used to be a similar expensive niche. There are open source Computer Aided Design programs listed on the sortable table here with a sort-column for "licence". Some of them look usable for new users, but none has anything like nesting mentioned in their wiki descriptions. There are open source vector graphics programs including Inkscape, with requests on its message boards for someone to write a nesting module.

https://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Open_source_textiles came-up when I searched for "Computer Aided Drafting" after reading some posts on http://www.fashion-incubator.com.
There's no program on the list that offers nesting, as far as I can guess. One of them called Valentia Project is a recognisable piece of software with an installer; others like Sodacad are less familiar so maybe someone better at understanding obscure softare packages should have a look, but I don't think there is a free nesting function in any of the programs on the list.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

There are a few firms that bend sharp steel strip into any shape you want and braze it to re-enforcements to keep it in shape when pressed. One firm I contacted quoted a pound an inch plus plus VAT and delivery. Long slits called crew-punches are I think £30 and round punches £10. I asked about belt strap dies - the price may be different for more curved shapes - you can see pictures of someone making them here. The workshop is on Lea Bridge Road, London. The company now has other branches - email one of them to egt the mobile number for the workshop. Other firms may charge a little more and some can cast a die for a longer-lasting and more accurate tool. I don't have any links to post, but the cost of dies is hard to guess till you ask so I thought it best to put a quote online. Oh here's another press-knife manufacturer from Google.

Templates for cutting-around with a knife can be simpler, but tend to get smaller each time if made of cardboard. Years ago there was a special brass re-enforcement available to prevent this. Nowadays people tend to order dies made of metal sheet, or trace round the board with a pencil and then try to cut along the line.
Nesting software for cutting optimisation of curved shapes is expensive - What nesting software for sheet cutting optimisation is - Download cheap true-shape nesting or sheet cutting optimization software - e-cut.ru: $25 for nesting only- downloadable licensed software - Silhouetteamerica.com : $99 for nesting software & more - Ucancam.com: $145 or $270 for nesting only - free vector graphics software to use with nesting software - a glimpse of what other people pay for CAD nesting software - Nesting software open source - Cutting dies made from Swedish steel strip.

I got interested in nesting software while running a vegan footwear company called Veganline.com that sells vegan shoes boots and belts - the connection  is a need to make vegan footwear uppers or bags out of microfibre. So far I haven't had help from software but these are notes in progress