Point One. There is no programming involved when you use an automated cutting system!

Unlike working with conventional CNC machines, fabric cutting systems work either with rapid patterning software, or with simple drawings. Making drawings of your patterns is generally very easy to do and does not need to involve complicated software or extended training. So, no programming involved at all!

Why do I need any software?

Automated cutting is all about saving time and money. Saving time in cutting and fabricating, and saving materials which reduces waste… all of which means saving money and increasing profitability.

Automated cutters are driven by computers, and computers need software to run them! However, a lot of this software is not the pain-in-the-neck software you might expect if you have had experience with say CAD-CAM systems or web site design. In fact, we at Aeronaut work very hard to make sure that the software we develop is as easy to use as it can be, so automated cutting can be as easy as printing a page on your printer.

The first piece of software you need is something to drive the cutter. Normally this is bundled with a nesting program. Pretty much all automated cutters have this as the minimum specification…. A computer and the nesting and plotter driving software.

One difference between Aeronaut and many other companies in this field is that we use off-the-shelf computers to drive our cutters. The cutter has its own motion controller, and this is connected to an ordinary computer which runs the nesting and plotter driving software. We think that putting the motion controller inside the computer, or putting the computer inside the plotter is not a great idea since computers seem to change every few minutes and the service life of most of our cutters is measured in decades.

The most common software used to drive Aeronaut cutters is called Tangent. Tangent has been designed from the beginning to work with industrial and technical fabric patterns. This means you get the features you need for this sort of work, and you don't pay for all the garment based features you are never going to use.

In fact Tangent is a very powerful, modern, multi-window nesting program and is the most fully featured program in its class.

The next software you will need is something to develop your patterns. If you work in window furnishing, sailmaking, tension membranes and similar industries, you will probably use an industry specific program which can develop your patterns in a matter of seconds, fully detailed and ready to cut.

The turnaround time in many cases using this type of software can be under a minute from design to having something ready to cut. Compare that with most metal working CNC machines where set-up time is measured in hours! 

If you have no dedicated design software, then you will probably develop your patterns using either a digitiser or with CAD software, and possibly both.

A digitiser can be a simple traditional tablet where patterns are traced by hand. Slow, but quite accurate. It could be an overhead digital camera based rig. Fast, and accurate to around 1mm. Or it can be a 3D digitiser such as the Proliner. Accurate and in some cases, the only way of digitising 3D patterns.

You can of course, digitise your patterns using an Aeronaut cutter and joystick. This is not the fastest nor the most accurate way of working, but if you already own a plotter, then it is sort-of free.

Most of these patterns will need to be edited in some way before they can be cut. For that, we recommend the CAD software Vectorworks. 

Vectorworks is a well priced and very powerful 2D/3D cross platform CAD program. It is a market leader in segments such as architecture. The main reason why we use and recommend Vectorworks is that it has an excellent built-in programming language that can be used to create plug-in tools. These tools can give one-click design speed to many industries where there is no industry specific design software.

Since Tangent saves its files in Vectorworks format, and you can bounce patterns from one program to the other with no loss of data by selecting a single menu, there's little or no time wasted exporting files for cutting.

Have a look at the offerings in the software category, or browse the Applications category to see what software is recommended in each application.