Unlimited Downloads 15% off Marketplace Purchases Exclusive Software Access Unlimited Downloads
15% off Marketplace Purchases
Exclusive Software Access
Start your 7 Day Free Trial Start Plus Trial Maybe Later
Nesting Feature in Silhouette V4.1
  • By Design Bundles
  • 7 Mins
  • Beginner
  • Silhouette Tutorials

Nesting Feature in Silhouette V4.1

In this easy to follow guide you will learn how to use the Nesting feature in Silhouette Studio.

The Nesting feature in Silhouette Studio helps to minimize space and material wastage. It’s a great way to get the most out of your time and material. The Nesting feature is available in Designer Edition and higher. Even if you haven’t upgraded yet, this tutorial will show you how great this feature is.

We will be discussing the Nesting Feature in Version 4.1 of Silhouette Studio. We also have a visual guide showing other cool ways to use the Nesting Feature.

Step 1 - Open your Design or Create Shapes

Open Silhouette Studio. You can open your designs by dragging + dropping or going to File > Open. We chose to use heart Flexi Shapes in Silhouette Studio.

Once you have your designs ready, click on the Nesting icon on the right side toolbar.

Locate Nesting Feature in Silhouette

Step 2 - Nesting Window Options

In the Design Page Nesting window we have a few options. Let’s start with the settings that are automatically selected.

Nest Designs in Cut Area

The option for Use Cut Area will automatically be selected. When this is selected and Nest is clicked, all designs within the cut area will be nested.

Use Cut area in Nesting feature

Nesting Settings in Silhouette Studio

The box for Only Shapes on Media is currently ticked. This means that only the designs within the cut area are nested. If you untick this box, all designs, including outside the cut area, will be nested.

In the image below, the box is un-ticked.

Nest all shapes on media in Silhouette

The Align option tends to keep similar objects together as much as possible. This is to create a more efficient cut so tick this box if it benefits your project. You may find this useful when the Nesting feature overlaps designs.

Align nesting option in Silhouette

The Padding option is the distance between each design. If you don’t mind them being close, then a Padding of 0 or 1 is a good start.

Padding with nesting feature in Silhouette

Rotations is the number of times you tell the software it can rotate the design to fit. It won’t necessarily rotate that many times but that is an option if the software needs to.

Rotation nesting in Silhouette Studio

Step 3 - Use a Nesting Boundary

At the top of the window is Set Selected Shape as Boundary. This option allows you to use a shape as the boundary within which the designs are nested.

Nesting boundary in Silhouette Studio

Drag out a Flexi shape from the left side toolbar. We chose an Oval. Next, click on the Set Selected Shape as Boundary.

Set selected shape as boundary

The shape will now change to a blue color indicating a nesting boundary.

Nesting boundary created in Silhouette

You will also see that the option Use Cut Area changes to Use Selected.

Use selected nesting boundary area

When you click on Nest, the designs will be adjusted into the boundary shape you created.

Nest media in Silhouette Studio

Nest All Media Within Boundary

If you want to nest all media within the boundary, be sure to un-tick the box for Only Shapes On Media. Then click on Nest. Silhouette Studio will determine what shapes can fit into the boundary area.

Nest all media within boundary

Manually Nest Media Within Boundary

You can also manually select the shapes you would like to nest. Once selected, click on Nest. Only the selected shapes will be nested.

Manually nest designs within boundary

The options for Align, Padding and Rotations also apply here.

Align designs within nesting boundary

Adjust Padding as needed to fit within the boundary.

Add padding to space designs

By increasing the rotations, the images will fit better within the boundary.

Adjust rotations for boundary nesting

The Nesting feature in Silhouette Studio can be very beneficial for keeping cut time and costs down. It helps to create a more efficient workflow without the need to work spacing out yourself. We hope this tutorial has helped you to understand and use the Nesting feature with great success.


6 Related Silhouette Tutorials

The Tiling feature in Silhouette V4.1 is only available in the Business Edition. It is a specific feature that allows you to cut designs larger than your machine can usually cut. The process involves splitting the design up into tiles. Once these tiles have been cut they can be assembled ...

*Designer Edition and higher.1- Open Silhouette Studio.2- Insert or design the text you would like to add a drop shadow to. I used this Free SVG Bundle.3-  Click on the image effects icon to access the image effects panel. Next click on the drop shadow icon which ...

1- Open Silhouette Studio.2- Create your design.3-  On the top tool bar next to the undo redo icons, you now have a multi undo feature.4- Once you select the multi undo feature is selected a new panel will appear. It will show you every single action that ...

The Font Management feature in Silhouette Studio V4.1 is a great way to organize your fonts. This feature is available to all editions of Silhouette Studio. It should be noted that font sub-folders can only be used with purchased Silhouette Studio fonts. In this tutorial we will guide you on ...

The Segment Overcut feature in Silhouette V4.1 helps you get cleaner cuts on sharp corners. As the blade moves, it cuts past the point, lifts up and comes back to the point. It then carries on cutting from that point. This prevents ripping of material where the blade would be ...

1- To use an SVG file in Silhouette studio free edition we need to convert it from an SVG to a Jpeg.There are free converters online;however, if you have a Design Bundles Plus Membership, you can use the File Converter Tool!1- Open your converted file in Silhouette ...

silhouette studio nesting feature easy to follow silhouette studio tutorial

You may also like

Help Center
ol image