After setting up nesting properties, you can create a nesting study. A nesting study contains a series of suggested nests for manufacturing your object. Each nest is a set of shapes arranged on a sheet of material for cutting. A nest can only have one type of material. Before creating a nesting study, make sure that your shapes and their materials have packaging associated with them, otherwise they will not be included in the nesting study.
Set up the Nest and Quantities
- Click Create
on theInventor Nestingribbon.The Create Nest Study dialog box opens. It contains tabs listing shapes, packaging, and materials referenced in the Nesting Properties dialog box. Also shown are any other packagings you have available, even if they are not currently referenced by the materials used in nesting properties.
- In the Study tab, enter a name and comment (optional) for the study.
- SetJob QTYfor the nest; there are two ways to do this.
- Single Value: Represents the number of complete assemblies you want to produce. For example, if you are creating a table that has four legs and one top, a single value of 1 will produce exactly four legs and one top, a single value of 2 will produce eight legs and two tops, and so on.
- Multi-Value: If you have added multiple assemblies to the nest, this enables you to control the quantity of each individual shape within the nest. ClickDetailsto open the Job QTY dialog box so you can enter quantities for each shape.
The multi-value feature applies to 2019.2 Update and later.
- Enter aStack Size:
This is the number of duplicate material sheets that will be stacked together for cutting; cuts will be made vertically down through the stack. Stack size is taken into account for the Job QTY value. So if you need eight legs and two tops to make two tables, and each sheet can fit four legs and one top, a stack size of 2 will give you the Job QTY you need.
- Optional: EnableAutomatically Manage Nests.
This enablesInventor Nestingto modify, create, or delete nests if sources change.
- Whenever new sources are created, they are added to the nests in the nesting study.
- New nests are created if a new source is created with a new material that wasn't used before, or if an existing source is changed to a material that wasn't used before.
- Nests get deleted if there are no more sources in the nest, which can happen if the sources were deleted or if their material was changed to a different material.
Automatically Manage Nests applies to version 2021 and later.
on the
The multi-value feature applies to 2019.2 Update and later.Set Up Shapes
- Click the Shapes tab in the Create Nest Study dialog.
- SelectBind All Shapes To Sourcesif you would like shapes in the nest to automatically be updated if their material or nesting properties are changed.
- In the Selected column, select which shapes you want to include in the nest.
Set Up Packaging
- Click the Packaging tab in the Create Nest Study dialog.
The Used panel under Packaging is populated with all default packagings for the materials being used; these defaults are set in the Process Material Library dialog box.
- To remove a packaging from the Used list, right-click it and select删除.
- To add an available package to the list, select it in the Available panel and click Add
. - To set a limit to the number of sheets of a certain packaging type that should be used, enter it in the Inventor QTY column in the Used list; otherwise, leave it set to Infinite (
).
For example, imagine that you have two packagings listed in the Used panel for the same material. You could enter an amount such as 2 for the first packaging. For the second packaging, you could enter Infinite, so that all remaining inventory for that material is created using the second packaging.
- To change how packaging is used for the nest, select an option from theMaterial Usage Methodbox.
- As Listed:Inventor Nestinguses packaging in the order listed. All available quantities for the first packaging listed are used before proceeding to the next packaging.
- Best Mix:Inventor Nestinguses the most cost-efficient mix of packaging sizes. This is also the most efficient method for material use.
- Best Size:Inventor Nestingpicks an optimal packaging size to use. If multiple sheets are needed, they are all of this size.
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).
Adjust Parameters and Performance
- Click the Packaging tab in the Create Nest Study dialog.
- Under Global Nest Parameters, select aCorner Position.This is the primary corner where nesting should take place; for example if you selectLower Left,Inventor Nestingwill attempt to nest the shapes in the lower left corner of the sheet as much as possible.
- Adjust Performance values.
- Minimum and Maximum run times: The minimum and maximum number of seconds to spend trying to arrange shapes on a sheet of material.
- Desired yield: If the nest uses this percentage of the sheet, it is acceptable.Inventor Nestingmoves on to the next step, even if the maximum run time has not been reached.
- Remnant Optimization: Enables you to nest along either the longer or the wider side of the sheet for better management of material remnants. For example, if you select Minimize Width, priority will be given to nesting shapes lengthwise on the sheet, keeping width use to a minimum. Minimize Length X Width builds the nest out from a corner while trying to keep both length and width to a minimum.
Minimize Width Minimize Length Minimize Length X Width 
ForInventor Nesting更新2019.3和以后,如果剩余长度是瞧nger than ten times the sheet length, the remnant area on a sheet will contain a break area (zig zag lines) indicating that the remnant is actually longer than what is displayed.
Create the Nesting Study
- If you want the nests to be calculated as soon as you clickOK, selectAutomatically Calculate Nestin the Study tab.
Autodesk recommends using this method. If not, the nests will be added to theInventor Nestingbrowser, and each can be calculated later when you choose to.
A nesting study node is created in theInventor Nestingbrowser. It contains a sub-node for each type of material used in the study. Each sub-node represents a nest using a specific material. If one sheet of material is not big enough to nest all shapes being produced for that material, then multiple nests (sub-nodes) using that material are created.
- After the study is created, you need to:
- Calculate the nests ifAutomatically Calculate Nestwas not selected in the Create Nesting Study dialog box.
- Save the nests if Auto-Save is not enabled in Options. This is so you can see the nests in the application window.
You cannot directly edit a nesting study, but you can edit the nests within that study. (Right-click a nest and selectProperties.)