Autodesk Inventor Nesting is a CAD-embedded sheet metal nesting software designed for manufacturers, fabrication shops, and mechanical engineers. Working directly inside the Autodesk Inventor interface, it automatically optimizes the layout of 3D parts onto flat raw sheets of material to maximize material yield and reduce waste before flat patterns are sent to CNC cutting machines (laser, plasma, waterjet, or routers).

Key Features of Inventor Nesting

Instead of using disjointed external nesting tools, Inventor Nesting allows you to bridge the gap between 3D engineering designs and CNC sheet fabrication smoothly.

1. True Shape Nesting Algorithm

• Geometry Optimization: Unlike simple bounding-box nesting, the software calculates the actual, complex geometry of parts to pack them as tightly as possible.

• Part-in-Part Nesting: Automatically places smaller components inside the vacant internal cutouts or holes of larger parts, dramatically reducing material scrap.

2. Fully Associative CAD Integration

• Automatic Updating: Because it is completely integrated into Inventor, if you modify the dimensions or features of a 3D part file, the nested layout automatically reflects those changes.

• Multi-Source Support: Seamlessly handles multi-body sheet metal parts, sheet metal sheet assemblies, standard sheet solids, and even imported, flat 2D .dxf or .dwg profiles.

3. Comprehensive Material & Sheet Management

• Material Grouping: Automatically reads the thickness and material properties from your Inventor models and correctly separates them onto separate sheets (e.g., separating 2mm Aluminum from 5mm Steel).

• Grain Direction Controls: Restricts part orientation (e.g., allowing 90°, 180°, or free rotation) to match the grain direction of materials like brushed stainless steel, wood, or composites.

4. Downstream CNC Integration & Reporting

• Direct CAM Toolpathing: Easily outputs nested layouts to Inventor CAM (formerly HSM) to generate localized G-code toolpaths, or exports clean .dxf profiles for third-party CNC software.

• Efficiency Reporting: Generates detailed nesting summaries mapping out the exact material efficiency percentage, total sheet count, remnant areas, and job cost estimates.

System Requirements

Because Inventor Nesting functions as an add-on utility operating directly inside the native CAD canvas, its hardware configurations scale relative to the size of your assemblies.

No Return/Refund