Where the drawing comes from

Insert one of the five furniture templates — wardrobe, TV stand, base cabinet, bookshelf or box — in 2D mode, and CutOptim keeps, next to the parts rows, a model of the piece: every part as a board in its place. The model is saved with the cut and comes back when you reopen the project. A SketchUp file you import gives the same kind of model.

In the template window a Live preview shows the exploded piece while you change the sizes. The option Back panel and drawer material too, as separate material gives the back panel and the drawer boards their own materials, one per board thickness, so they are cut from their own sheets.

The Assembly view

After a run, the switch above the results — Cutting plan | Assembly — changes what you see. It appears only for a 2D job that has a model. The Assembly view has:

• Group tabs — Carcass, Shelves, Drawer 1…n, Fronts, Plinth, Back panel (a box has one Box group).
• Pull apart — a slider that separates the parts of the group along the direction they are assembled; a dashed line leads back to where each part belongs.
• A small front view that shows where the group sits in the piece.
• A parts table — click a row to highlight the part in the drawing.
• Find a piece — type a number, a number with a place letter, or a place, for example 14b. The part is highlighted in the drawing and on the cutting plan, and a chip says what is highlighted.

Numbers and place letters

Every part carries its number from the cut list; the same number is on the cutting plan, on the labels and in the Build Pack. Where several parts share a number — four identical shelves are all part 3 — a letter tells them apart: 3a, 3b and so on. Letters run group by group, from the bottom up, then from left to right. The numbers follow the parts table: delete a row and the numbers below it move up, and Find always looks for the number you see now.

Sizes in the table and in the drawing

The drawing shows the sizes the template inserted. The table shows the current sizes of the parts-table rows. If you edit a row afterwards, its size is starred and a note says that the drawing still shows the inserted size.

Build Pack (PDF)

Build Pack (PDF) in the Export menu makes a document to build from. It needs a signed-in account — a free one works — and it is not a run. A guest is asked to create a free account.

• a cover with the assembled drawing, and an overview with the front view and the groups;
• the Model check page (Model check and assembly steps) and a page called How to read this pack;
• one page per group: the exploded drawing, the front-view locator and the group’s parts;
• a hole sheet for every marked part (Hole and hardware marks);
• the assembly steps;
• the material list (board, back panel, drawer board and bottom, edge-banding length) and a parts table with number and place.

The material list shows net part areas without waste — the number of sheets comes from the cutting plan — and the edge banding is the length of the visible edges, without overhang allowance. Sizes are finished cut sizes, width × height, in the job’s unit (mm, cm, or inches in sixteenths); the thickness is its own column. The text is in the app’s language. Check the sizes against your own cutting plan and hardware before you cut.