Shapes and folds
Placing fold lines four ways
A count, a spacing, a list of positions or a list of panel widths. Four ways to say where a crease goes, and which one to use is which one the job sheet was written in.
6 min read
Fold lines are score lines: the cutter creases them rather than cutting through. They live on the shape screen, alongside the outline, because a folded banner's panels are part of the same decision as its edge.
The four ways
| Way | You give | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Even folds | Number of folds N | The panels between them should come out equal and you do not care what they measure. |
| Spacing | Fold spacing | A crease every so many centimetres. As many as the cut holds are fitted and the run is centred. |
| Panel widths | Panel widths | You quoted the finished panels. A fold goes at each boundary between them. |
| Exact positions | Fold positions | Centimetres from the left or bottom cut edge. Command line only. |
The screen offers the first three, plus no folds at all. Exact positions is set from the command line: three ways of saying where a crease goes is already two more than most job sheets need, and the other three are how they are actually written.
Panel widths do not have to add up
Type 40,40,40,50 for a banner and the folds go at each boundary. If the run does not match the width of the cut, the last panel absorbs whatever is left rather than the job failing.
When that happens the result says so in centimetres — what was asked for, and what was cut. The second list is the one that matters, because that is the file going to the cutter.
Which way they run
Upright creases fold a banner into vertical panels; across runs them horizontally. It is one control, and it applies to whichever of the three placements you used.
Pulling the line back from the edge
A score that runs edge to edge cuts the piece into separate panels held together by nothing. The inset, in millimetres, is how far short of the cut each line stops — so the piece stays in one sheet until somebody folds it.
The score weight is separate from the cut's and defaults to 10 pt. Score lines end square rather than rounded, so a heavy score stops where it is told to: a rounded end at 10 pt would have run 1.76 mm past the cut at each end.
Folds get their own everything
Score lines go in their own separation, CutcontourScore, and on their own layer — never shared with the cut path. An operator has to be able to show the blade path without the creases, and a fold is a different tool at a different depth.
That is also why a folded file comes out with three layers and not two: artwork, cut, and folds. They are siblings rather than one nested inside another, so switching one off leaves the others where they are.
Every cut path closes; only a fold line is open. An open cut is a blade that starts somewhere and stops somewhere, leaving the piece attached — so the outline, a scalloped outline and any hole all close, and the score separation is where the open lines live.
Reading it back
The bar under the preview states the paths, the number of folds, the panel widths on the file, the stroke and the layer names. Everything in it is measured off the finished PDF rather than off the numbers used to write it, so it cannot agree with a file it does not match.
Try it on your own artwork
Upload a file and read the preflight before you quote.