Nest sign letters straight from a PDF
Customers, designers and print shops often send artwork as a PDF. NestSigns opens the PDF in your browser, reads the letter outlines at their real size and packs them onto as few sheets as it can.
Start free: 20 runs, no credit cardWhat NestSigns reads from a PDF
- Vector outlines only. Letters and shapes drawn as paths are read with every curve. A scanned or photographed sign is a picture with no cut lines, so it has to be traced first.
- Real size. A PDF stores its size in points (72 per inch), so the letters come in at the size they were drawn. There is no unit to choose.
- The first page. If the PDF has several pages, the first one is read and NestSigns tells you how many pages it found. Put each job on its own page or file.
- Several files at once. Open more than one PDF to nest several jobs on the same sheets.
A password-protected PDF cannot be opened. Save a copy without the password first.
How it works
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Open the PDF | Drag it into NestSigns. Each closed outline becomes a part, with its holes. |
| 2. Pick the sheet | A full sheet or a leftover piece from your stock list. |
| 3. Set the gap and rotation | Type the gap or your bit diameter, and choose the angles allowed. |
| 4. Nest and check | The smallest gap and edge distance are measured and shown. |
| 5. Download | PDF with one page per sheet, or DXF, AI, SVG and a LightBurn project for your cutting software. |
Tips for a PDF that nests well
- Ask for outlined text. If the letters are still live text, the PDF may carry the font instead of outlines. Ask for "text converted to outlines" or "curves".
- One outline per cut. A letter drawn as a stroke and a fill on top of each other can look like two parts. Keep only the cut line.
- Keep the real size. If the PDF was scaled to fit a page for a proof, scale it back before nesting, or the parts will be cut at the proof size.
What else it does for letter jobs
- True-shape nesting by the real letter outlines: any angle, 0/180° only, or no rotation.
- Exact spacing. Type the gap or your bit diameter; every layout is checked and shows the smallest gap measured.
- Parts inside letter holes. Small pieces go inside O, A, B and D, and holes stay with their letter.
- Leftovers first. Full sheets and leftover pieces per material, smallest leftovers used first, stock updated when the job is done.
- Oversize letters left out, divided, or divided with a 1 in joining strip, pieces labeled A1, A2…
- Every part numbered on the sheets and on the original artwork in the layout summary PDF.
Working in Illustrator? See nesting letters from Illustrator. Have the job as DXF or SVG instead? See online DXF nesting and online SVG nesting.
Questions
Does NestSigns change the size of the letters in my PDF?
No. Parts are nested at the size in the file. They are only rotated, if you allow it.
Can I download the nested layout as a PDF?
Yes. The PDF download has one page per sheet. There is also a layout summary PDF with every part numbered on the sheets and on the original artwork.
My PDF has several pages. What happens?
Only the first page is read, and NestSigns says how many pages the file has. Save each page you want to nest as its own PDF and open them together.
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