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Cutlist and Layout from Sketchup

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286K views 319 replies 81 participants last post by  danielsheppard  
#1 ·
Cutlist and Layout from Sketchup

If you're a fan of Sketchup for creating woodworking models, then the next obvious step is to use Sketchup to help you create cutlists and layouts. Sketchup plugin Cutlist 4.1 does just that. CutList 4.1 sketchup plugin helps you determine how much of each material you need to produce your design, taking into account nominal sized lumber with allowances for finishing to final size. Then it goes one further and lays out all of the pieces on boards or sheet good sizes of your choosing. Then you should be all set to head for the lumber yard to get all of the materials that you will need with no return trips.

CutList 4.1 was beta tested by our very own Lumberjocks and is now ready for download.

It's being released exclusively to Lumberjocks first. You can download v4.1.10 here . This is a completely free plugin. This plugin has been around since about 2005 but continues to be maintained and enhanced. It's got the look and feel of old Woodsmith magazine cutlists and layouts. A very early version v3.3 was reviewed in the Fine Woodworking blog 'Design.Click.Build.' by Dave Richards and a later follow up.

Note that there is now a forum on Lumberjocks for further discussion.

Cutlist 4.1 has been tested with both Skletchup 7, Sketchup 8, SU2013 and SU2014 on both Macs and on Windows PCs.

Installing. There are now 3 ways to install this.

Method 1 (easiest) Get and install it from Sketchup Extension Warehouse
  • Start up Sketchup
  • from Sketchup choose: Window->Extension Warehouse
  • Search for and select 'CutList'
  • click on install ( big red bar on top right)

Method 2 (easy) Download and install it using the Sketchup extension installer
A relative foolproof way to install is now available with the latest versions (from v4.1.6 and up).
  • Download it from link above
  • Start up Sketchup
  • from Sketchup choose: Window->Preferences
  • click on 'Extensions'
  • click on 'Install Extension', hen navigate to and select the .rbz file you just downloaded

Method 3 (if all else fails) This is a two step process and more error prone

  • The file is a .rbz (a zipped ruby source) file. Extract the entire contents into your sketchup plugin directory not just the startup ruby script (srcutlist.rb). There is also a folder called srcutlistui which contains everything else it needs to work properly. The exact locations of the directories required for Sketchup plugins for Windows or Mac are found documented further down in the blog.

Running on a Mac. This is functional. Only the html output window for the layout does not work because of issues with the Safari browser, however, there is a workaround using the SVG export.

Someone in the forum asked a great question which I will repeat here:

Q. What is the point of the cutting diagram?

A. Why indeed would you want a cutting diagram? There are a few reasons:
  1. Regardless of whether or not you have a cutting diagram, eventually you are going to have to cut some wood to get a project built. How many boards do you need to buy? If you go by the board feet measured ( or calculated by something like the cutlist plugin) you're going to find that it falls short. Why? because when you to to cut the pieces out of the board, you'll find that you will inevitable have waste. By having the cutting diagram, you can see how much waste there is going to be and you know how much to get when you to the lumber yard.
  2. You've got a lot of parts to cut and you want your parts to be as accurate as possible before you even do anything else to the pieces. Ideally you want one setup for each size of part, so that you can cut each of the parts which are the same size at the same time. The cutting diagram lets you visualize how parts may be laid out to minimize on the cuts and the number of setups.
  3. Ok, you've decided to build your project out of sustainably harvested plantation teak. It's selling for $50/square foot(!) for 3/4". You might be interested in using those $200 boards as efficiently as possible. A cutting diagram may also be used to minimize waste. Even if you have waste if you could have a larger part left over which you could reuse for another project vs having a lot of offcuts, you've saved yourself some money and you are using the planet's resources efficiently and responsibly.

So, to sum up, it gives you more accurate project requirements, it minimizes setup time and shop time spent cutting the boards while increasing accuracy and finally it helps to use the resources as efficiently as possible.

Finally here are some screen shots in case you still can't quite figure out what it does or why you would want it or can't imagine what it looks like.

Starting up cutlist. Highlight your project and select CutList from the plugin menu. Make sure all of the parts in your project are named and are either a component or a group. ( Nested components or groups are handled ok as well)

Image


The screen that comes up allows you to select your cutlist options from the type of output you want, what you want to have included in your parts list, which parts are solid wood parts, which are sheet goods parts and which are hardware

Image


and the next page allows you to select the layout options. There is a general options section, a tab for board options and a tab for sheet options.

Image


Here is a sample of cutlist output. This is the cutting list in html format. This page can be printed.

Image


If you scroll down, then there is a summary of the board feet and the materials and sheet parts and hardware are broken down to their own lists with their own summaries

Image


If you selected the layout output, then another window will open and place all of the selected parts on boards of your choosing in a layout which minimizes waste.

Image


Sheet parts layout is placed on the sheet sizes you specified.

Image


There's lots more. There is built in help on each option. Just click on the blue ? next to the option.

Feel free to pass along any comments, questions, enhancement requests or bug reports. I'm committed to maintaining the plugin and make it as useful as possible.
 
#77 ·
Hi Moshe,

Yes, I understood what you meant as it was in the context of the question I asked ( though I guess my question was ambiguous too). Now that I've had a chance to dig into the guts of Sketchup it no longer seems that complex and so I know that it can be done! All in good time, however…
 
#78 ·
Subjetivo - Welcome to Lumberjocks!

There may be a way of getting it to do something close to what you want with the current version. If you assign the non wood parts a different material and then lay out using the 'Layout by Material' option, then it will optimize each material separately. It will use the 'board size' options selected in terms of width and length. If you also deselect any of the nominal size options, then it will also respect the thickness of the part. So all materials with the same thickness will be optimized together but if there is another part with the same thickness but a different material, then it will be laid out separately. Similarly if there are parts with the same material but different thicknesses then they will be laid out separately.

Does this achieve what you want for now?

I hadn't really thought of optimizing other materials besides wood. The size and thickness options etc are biased for wood and I don't have as much knowledge with other materials but it's something I might consider ie: layout of a generic material where you select the sizes available ( length, width, thickness) and select the parts by other key words. Then you can use it for anything - fabric, fibreglass, glass, sheet metal…

Thanks for the interesting idea.
 
B
#79 ·
Steve, I've got an odd little bug. I've simplified it as much as I could, I believe. If one has a component made up entirely of parts, CutList (v4.0.5) generates a ghost listed in the Components, and, of course, concomitantly in the component materials and layout.

If one explodes the component, the ghost goes away.

I can send a demo file to you, but it's pretty simple, I think.

One of these days I'll have to run through the code. I'm a perl person rather than ruby, and all of those flying objects make me nervous :)
 
#80 ·
B2P - Welcome to Lumberjocks!

Thanks so much for your comments. I recreated something which is what I think you are describing. Perhaps it would be best if you provided a way of me getting your model. It is true that for parts we do not 'drill down' into the component or group if it is nested. As soon as the top level component is determined to be part, then the entire component is marked as a part and nothing further is done. On the other hand if the top level component is NOT recognized as a part ( perhaps if it was not given a name) then it ends up as a solid part while the sub-components are recognized as parts ( assuming that the name matches a part word) - and this isn't correct.

Is this what you mean?

I can certainly improve this so that parts are also properly handled when they are nested. I hadn't thought about this, so this is a very valid comment.
 
B
#81 ·
Steve, I think you're close (I'll send you an email via your blog to hand off a file).

I've got a component (called a Rail Adjuster Assembly) that contains a 1-3/4 Machine Screw, and a Hex Nut. I've got Nut, Screw, Bolt and Washer on my part words list. The Machine Screw is actually made up of two components (head and shank)

Cutlist sees both of the parts, but it also sees the rail adjuster component, and puts that on the component list and cutting diagram.
 
#86 ·
Hi Jocks,

I just updated the intro to the blog a little and provided a bit more detail about installing the files in case it wasn't clear that it's a 2-step process to download the files and then 1 more to install in your plugins directory.

Wouldn't want anyone to get stuck/discouraged at an early stage and keep from having a play with the plugin.
 
#87 ·
Hi Dave,

Thanks for that. Huge compliment coming from you!

I was aware of inkscape but hadn't given it a go yet. Sounds good about being able to create a pdf doc with the multiple pages. Automate? Hmmm, possible but will have to look into it to see if it can somehow be strung together via the ruby api assuming inkscape has a suitable interface.

Skype? Are you asking if I am on skype?
 
#89 ·
Steve,

Think I have bumped into a bug. I am build a cabinet for my RAS. I am planning on using a torsion box. The torsion box is made out of 3/4" thick MDF for the edge's and 1/2" thick MDF for the ribs. The cabinet itself is made out of 3/4 birch ply.

Your handy dandy most awesome add-in laid out the 3/4" MDF and Birch pieces on the same sheet. Is this a known issue?
 
#90 ·
Hi DerekL

Welcome to Lumberjocks!

The best way to force it to lay out your designs on 2×4's is to select the following options on the board layout options tab:

Nominal size = 6/4
Nominal board width = 4"
Use Dressed Board Widths for Layout - Yes
Board Length - Set according to your 2×4 length ( sorry, stud length isn't an option just yet )

This will force everything on to these board sizes.

If this isn't quite what you're after, give me a shout back.
 
#91 ·
sIKE Thanks for your comments and your question.

You're in luck because there is a way of handling what you are trying to do,

Setting the "Layout by Material" option on the main layout option tab should do what you want. I'm pretty sure I've checked to make sure this works for sheets as well as boards (they're actually handled the same internally).

This option will split your parts list by material and lay them out on separate boards or sheets, whatever is appropriate.

Let me know if this doesn't work for you or if I've missed something about your question.

I see you've started a RAS cabinet blog on this - that's cool - I'll be following with interest.
 
#93 ·
Congratulations, sIKE, you've now reached expert level status! and now you get to play with the two layout rules options : "Minimize waste" and "Line up parts to cut lines". I warned in the help that these are not exactly what these are but that setting these makes the layout behave in more or less the way in which they are labeled.

Anyway, have a go at all the combinations and pick the one you like best. There will be slight variations of how it lays it but it largely depends on the parts which you have ( in some cases you may not notice much difference). As I said in the help , YMMV but worth a play in case you get something more favorable. You can have both off, one of them on or both on. They layout will still work with them both off.

In general, the layout works by trying to fit the part into the smallest space possible to hold the part and well, what you see is the result. The 'layout engine' is the most interesting piece of this work and much has been written about different layout algorithms.

The other factor which may play a part is the lack of grain direction available in sketchup and so parts arbitrarily get aligned by length, where length is defined as the longest side of the part. With sheet goods, this doesn't always work out to be your true intention, but with your project, this assumption will be ok.
 
#94 ·
Thanks for all of the work. Getting the cutlist in the end makes it worth it for me to draw things out. I still find Sketchup persnickety especially getting things a certain distance from one point on a board ala the torsion box I drew up, in Sketchup it was more like a torture box….but for your great add-on i would be winging it ;)

Thanks!
 
#96 ·
Hi sIKE! Glad you're getting some use out of the plugin. You oughta check out Dave Richards's & Tim Killen's blog , Design. Click. Build on FineWoodworking. They've got some excellent tips on upping your skills with Sketchup. These guys are the masters! DaveR above is in fact Dave Richards, so he's a Lumberjock too!

Are you going to try landing a helicopter on your torsion box to see if it doesn't flex?
 
#97 ·
New release CutList 4.0.6 just released!

I've just updated the download link, so now you will get Cutlist v4.0.6. Here's a list of the changes included in this release, so you decide if you need to upgrade or not. Most of you will be fine with the current version.

  • Compatibility issues with CutList Plus have been corrected. The parts list file created with the Sketchup CutList plugin to be used to import to the CutList Plus program ( a 3rd party layout and costing program by Bridgewood Design ) has now been corrected and verified again CutList Plus. The two create a nice workflow possibility - designing in sketchup, producing a cutlist and then importing it into CutList Plus to produce more advanced layouts and job costing.

  • More accurate metric volume measurements. There were some rounding errors on the previous version leading to some obvious errors on simple cases. This has been corrected.

  • For metric users, the metric volume measurement has been changed from cu.cm. to cu.m. This is a more common volume measure in metric. If you're like me, you can turn on the "Force Board Feet" and get the hybrid version - measurements in metric, volume in board feet.

  • For non-English speakers, if your OS 'locale' is set to anything other than English, then the CSV files will now use the ";"delimiter character instead of a "," ( I guess that would make it a SSV file). This is because in most countries outside of English speaking ones, the "," is the decimal character instead of the ".". Sketchup honors these OS settings and so has made reading CSV files or the Cut List Plus files difficult or impossible in some locations because of the ambiguity of field delimeters and measurements. The fix is keyed off of your OS setting so no options need to be set in the plugin or in SKetchup.

Still a few suggestions in the works especially multi-language support, nested parts components - so stay tuned…

There have been ~1800 downloads since first released here in July! so, thanks for your continued interest, support, suggestions and help.
 
#98 ·
Steve,

I've just installed the plugin after reading this entire set of posts. I used it on a bookcase design I had been toying around with and I have a question:

If I had "Minimize waste" selected why would it not condense these parts to as little wasted space as possible. Something seems very wrong to me on the resulting layout.

Image
 
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#99 ·
Doh!!!!!! The middle image in my prior post is for the back of the case and is a different thickness. However, The top and bottom are the same.

Guess it would help a lot if I thought my question through. :eek:
 
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#100 ·
Ok… i went back and ensured that all the parts were of the same thickness sheet good. The case sides, Top/Bottom & Shelves are all the same thickness (3/4").

The resulting sheet layout…. Why would it not put them all on the same sheet? There is enough room even when you take into account the blade kerf.

Case Side: 12" x 72"

Top / Bottom / Sides: 28 1/2" x 11 1/2"

Sheet 1:
Image


Sheet 2:
Image
 
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#101 ·
That's a good question Chris! It certainly looks like it should fit and you've got everything the same material and the same thickness, so it should be laid out together.

I have a hunch but you may want to experiment first with the various combinations of the layout options ( "Minimize waste" and "Line up parts to cut lines" ) and see if you get something more favorable.

If you get no joy using the options let me know and I'll a look at your model and see if I can't figure out what's going on.
 
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