Program Options
The options fall into four categories:
Note: Many of the choices in this dialog will not take effect until
the software has been exited and restarted.
Window Layout
| Save Tab Layout | Save the layout and the 'pinned' state of the command and toolpath fly out tabs. |
| Save Dialog Layout | Save the size, position and visibility for dialogs such as the Layer control and Toolpath Control dialogs. |
| Save View Layout | Save the layout of the 2D and 3D view windows. |
| Display Splash Screen | Display the program Splash Screen, while the program is loading. |
| Top Side Ruler Color | The colour of the ruler on the top side in a two-sided project. |
| Bottom Side Ruler Color | The colour of the ruler on the bottom side in a two-sided project. |
Toolpath Settings
| Show Toolpath Operations with Preview | When the toolpath Preview form is visible, keep the 'Toolpath Operations' section visible (requires more screen space). |
| Auto Open 3D view | Automatically swap to 3D view after calculating a toolpath. |
| 2D Solid Preview Color | Color used to draw the solid 2D toolpath preview with. |
| Create 2D Previews | Create 2D previews of toolpaths in 2D view. |
| Select Sheet When Edit Toolpaths | If a toolpath is associated with a sheet, select sheet when edit toolpath |
| Toolpath Geometry Fixing Timeout | Number of seconds the program will spend trying to fix problems with geometry when calculating toolpaths. |
| Drop Tool | When projecting a toolpath onto the model, drop the tool on surface rather than project. If this is set, the toolpath will follow the surface of the model better, but could be slower to calculate. |
| 2D Toolpath Tolerance | Tolerance to apply to 2D toolpaths after calculating to reduce file size. |
| 3D Toolpath Tolerance | Tolerance to apply to 3D toolpaths after calculating to reduce file size. |
| VCarve Toolpath Tolerance |
Tolerance to apply to VCarve toolpaths after calculating to reduce file size.
Note: We strongly recommend that the Toolpath Tolerance should be
left at their default settings unless different values are recommended by your machine tool manufacturer.
If you do have a machine which struggles with the default settings, try doubling the values and cutting
a test-piece to assess the tradeoff between machining times, file size and final machined quality.
We have done some limited testing and on a sample complex 3D model, increasing the '3D Toolpath Tolerance'
to 0.001 inches gave a 40% decrease in file size and no noticeable difference in quality on the test machine
and job. In the test case there was no measurable difference in machining time on the CNC machine
the test was carried out on.
|
| Maximum Toolpath Undo Stack Size (MB) | Maximum size in MB of Toolpath data undo stack for storing toolpath delete state. |
General Settings
| Use Graphics tablet | Switch on support for graphics tablet drivers, if installed - for use with the sculpting tool. |
| Process User Files | Enable/disable processing of files in the 'Vectric Files' folder in your common user document folder. |
| Recent File List Size | This sets the maximum number of items that will be displayed in the Recently opened files... list in left hand side bar of the interface when there is no file currently loaded. The list will not increase in size until the software has been re-started and more files have been opened and/or saved. |
| Show the clipart Subfolder Contents | If set to Yes then this will show the contents within the selected Folder in the Clip Art browser along with up to 3 sub-folders if they exist and contain appropriate file types. If set to No it will only display the contents of the selected folder, not sub-folders. |
| Always open local documentation | Force open the local copy of the documentation when accessed through the Help menu. Cut2D Laser Desktop automatically opens the local documentation if you have no internet connection or if the server is taking too long to respond. |