FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Longer guides live in the help centre. Billing questions are on the pricing page — billing is not switched on yet, so nothing on this page costs anything today.
Do I need Illustrator?
No. That's the point. Upload the artwork you were sent and download production PDFs. If you want to adjust something afterwards the files open in Illustrator normally, with layers named.
Which cutters does this work with?
Any cutter that reads a spot-colour cut path from a PDF — Summa, Zünd, Esko, Graphtec, Mimaki and the rest. The separation is standard CutContour, and it is fixed: your RIP matches on that exact word, and a file whose spot colour says anything else prints as magenta ink instead of driving the cutter. It is deliberately not offered as a setting. The Illustrator layer that shares the name is cosmetic and can be renamed at the command line; the separation cannot.
What blade offset should I use?
That depends on your cutter, your blade and your substrate, so nothing can tell you from the file alone. Run a test cut, find the number where you get neither a white sliver nor a clipped edge, and save it under Settings → Print defaults so every new job starts there. Zero is almost never right in production.
Why is my cut path so close to the artwork?
Because the offset is zero and it's tracing exactly. Set a negative offset to pull the cut into the printed area, which is usually what you want when the artwork has no bleed.
The gap between the arm and the body wasn't cut. Why?
Because the web app traces the outer silhouette only. Anything the artwork encloses is background, and it comes off the cutter still made of vinyl. Cutting those gaps is a separate command-line pass over the finished file — there is no button for it. It also needs the original artwork rather than the cut file, because the tracer flattens the transparency away. Cutting the gaps inside a shape has the whole of it.
Should interior holes always be cut?
No, and this is a production call rather than a software one. Cutting a hole can leave a thin section that tears in handling. The hole tool measures the band of material around each one and refuses any thinner than 3 mm by default; its report mode prints what it would cut and what it would refuse, before anything is written. Deciding when a hole shouldn't be cut goes into it.
My file is 6000 pixels. Why was it flagged?
Because pixel count alone doesn't decide it — the finished size does. 6000px across 3 metres is about 50 dpi. Across 30cm it's 500. The screen reports the effective figure before you commit, and again off the finished PDF afterwards. It is a warning rather than a block: the number describes the printed raster, and the cut path beside it is vector and just as accurate either way.
Can it handle artwork wider than my press?
Yes, but at the command line rather than on a screen. The panelling tool takes the finished width and your press limit and writes one page per panel — butting without a gap, seam bleed on the joins, and an assembly CSV saying where each one sits. Nothing in the web app reaches it yet. Splitting across panels has the commands.
What is seam bleed?
Artwork printed past the seam cut, which you trim off. Without it, two panels butted together leave a white line where the blade tolerance falls. One centimetre is the default and covers most trimming. Like the panelling itself, it is set from the command line.
Does it add registration marks?
Not currently. Most RIPs add these at output, and the mark style depends on the cutter. If your workflow needs them in the file, tell us which system — it's on the list.
Can I fold and cut in the same file?
Yes, on the shape screen. Folds go on their own separation, CutcontourScore, and their own layer, so the cutter scores them rather than cutting through and an operator can show the blade path without them. Place them by count, by spacing, or by the panel widths you quoted; exact positions in centimetres is a fourth way and is command line only.
What about kiss-cut stickers?
Not yet. Kiss-cut uses a different separation and different geometry rules, so it's being built as its own thing rather than bolted on.
Do you store my clients' artwork?
Files are held so you can re-download them without re-uploading, and a nightly job deletes each one seven days after it was created — the artwork, the output PDFs and any proof link with them. That window is not adjustable per account yet, so keep anything you need. Nothing is used to train anything. See the privacy policy.
Can more than one person use the account?
Not yet. An account is one person today — there is no way to invite a colleague, and each account sees only the work it created. If you need two people cutting, take two accounts. Shared logins are asked against in the acceptable use policy, and multi-seat accounts are on the list rather than in the product.