MapBoards Pro
Descrição
Note: This is the Windows release of MapBoards Pro. For the Mac OS release, click Mac OS near the top of the page (under our logo, where it says OS).
MapBoards Pro is a utility to arrange copies of the bodies in a model optimally on one or more boards leaving your model untouched. You can then conveniently use Autodesk® Fusion® additive manufacturing to create toolpaths to produce your model. Alternatively, the arrangement can be output as an arranged flat panel in SVG or DXF format for use with laser or CNC cutting.
What does MapBoards Pro do for you?
Map your entire model to the appropriate material type/thickness in a customizable size in an optimized way
Provide grain alignment of the model parts with the material board being mapped to
Extract accurate dimensions of length, width and thickness of all parts in the model and export as a cut list
Generates a report (HTML or PDF) including a map image, cut list, required materials and options selected
Exports the created map in SVG or DXF which includes color coding & named layers for perimeter, cutouts, insets & labels
Customizable - many settings for the format of the map and all exports persisted for each model or saved as global settings
All-In-One - the main app performs mapping & export at once & many post-mapping context menu tasks on the created map
Material management is achieved by providing an optimized layout by specifying the dimensions of one or more material types found in your model. A cutlist of components with dimensions and a required material list can be produced to match the arranged boards for labeling or reference. A report can be produced in HTML format of the resulting arrangement, cutlist table required material list and the options used of which there are many. This report file can be viewed on any device with a browser including a mobile device. The report has a new print option which will allow saving as a PDF or hardcopy of the arrangement, cutlist, required materials and options used.
Selection support is available allowing you to include only specific components or subassemblies. Options for the selected components include replication count and grain direction.
The option for Automatic Grain Alignment has been added which will detect 3D texture changes and align parts accordingly in the created map.
Exporting the arrangements as a top-view flat panel identifies the unique features of the individual components. These features are highlighted in color with the SVG output and layers for the DXF output. Features include perimeter, inset (pockets, holes, etc), cutouts and labels. Additionally, DXF includes a Tabs option as a named layer with parameters for width, distance and height useful for both CNC and laser manufacturing. You may also wish to use the laser kerf option matching a laser cutter kerf or CNC router bit diameter.
Labeling provides a complete set of fonts including single-line fonts and any combination of dimensions, component name,s and the sequential part number with adjustable sizes.
Fractional labeling on Map and all exports including Report is now available when units are in inches.
See detailed product description here MapBoards Pro
See App Store Installs for help with new or updated installs.
Note: MapBoards Pro can be launched using the toolbar icon or from the Create dropdown menu of the design workspace.
Exactly what I need and with good support.
All my work in Fusion would be useless without this add-on! It is exactly the thing that I need. Although, as a furniture manufacturer, it would be so much better if it would have some kind of edge banding boxes to tick, or being able to place parts inside other parts that are just like a window frame and empty inside in order to further optimise the space. "Can rotate components" doesn't really seem to do much thing. Even if I don't have a grain it does't actually rotate components to maximise the use of space. I usually can get in there, rotate some parts around and get some more free space.
It used to work great but the latest update only exports corrept svg files with no actual data. My custom settings that used to work no longer work. Tried multiple files same results. DXF export works but I need SVG and now my whole project has to be paused until this issue is resolved.
EDIT: Updated from 2 star to 5 star. Developer responded quickly and and worked with me to fix it immediately. Hopefully the issue was not widespread. I'm not sure what was causing the issue, but SVG export is working fine for me after he pushed out an update. EXCELLENT SUPPORT.
I've been trying to find the best way to manage layout on boards, and this software is great at it!
This tool makes it super easy to convert my drawings into cut lists, it's almost embarassing that I used to do this by hand!
I haven't encountered an issue with mapping out my objects yet, so I'm really happy about that.
I had a small issue with my license, but it was resolved super quickly. Absolutely worth the 5 stars :)
I've used this countless times when working on projects in the garage. Saves me a ton of time knowing how much material I need and setting up cutlists. Couldn't be happier.
Works out of the box. Streamlines my workflow to a T for both CNC routing setups and Laser cutting in particular. Perfect. No issues.
I use MBP on a near daily basis to quickly produce DXF files for use by my production team.
The develeoper is incredibly responsive when/if there is a rare issue.
have used this for a few years now. absolutely great product with constant updates and the developer is so responsive and helpful!
Mapboards Pro is probably one of the best purchases I've ever made for laser cutting, waterjet cutting, and more. If you only need SVG exports, maybe check out the other program (SVG Export) by the same developer. And speaking of the developer - Icarus is incredibly helpful, and has made multiple updates to the app after requests and active troubleshooting steps. If you have ANY issues just contact them and they will help you out.
The exports are always accurate, especially after the new update that fixed Glowforge support. With the new "Greyscale" mode, every different inset depth is exported as a different color to make step separation trivial. You can add tabs, tool kerfs, just about anything you want. If you're trying to save on materials it can also export to Deepnest!
I cannot recommend it enough and have encouraged my university to purchase copies for engineering students where applicable. I mainly use it with a Glowforge, but the DXF exports also work great for waterjet cutting on the ProtoMax with Omax Layout/Make.
This tool is the absolute greatest Fusion 360 plugin for users who need to generate cut paths for CNC or Laser Cutting.
I use it with my Glowforge and Shaper Origin. It is a total game changer.
Cannot say enough great things about it's capabilities, and top notch support from the developer who is incredibly responsive and clearly passionate about making the perfect addition to your CNC/Lasercutting workflow.
As a furniture designer and builder this add-in for Fusion 360 has saved me thousands of dollars by creating cut lists arranged and optimized to reduce waste. It also helps me calculate how much wood stock I have to purchase for each project, which allows me to create an accurate proposal for my clients.
I have been using Cut List Optimizer (CLO) for quite some time now, but I had to enter each piece and dimensions manually, which is extremely time consuming. And if I make changes to the project I have to manually adjust CLO. MapBoards Pro takes the information directly from Fusion 360, and if I make any changes to the project, with the push of a button, I can generate updated reports. CLO has six options that I can adjust, and MapBoards Pro has over 20! Customer support for CLO is non existent, no one answers the emails, but the developer for MapBoards answers my emails, most of the time, the same day. CLO has a limit of 5 calculations per day and if you want more you have to pay $15 a month for the Silver Plan and $25 a month for the Gold. MapBoards Pro is a one time fee of $24.99. I wouldn’t mind paying an annual subscription to keep this developer motivated, but he continues to make revisions and updates anyway.
It is so wonderful to be able to communicate directly with the developer that is proactive with his client base, adding constant updates based on user feedback. This add-in is a MUST for anyone looking to maximize profits, and you will make the price back on your first project just in materials saved.
I use it to automate CNC woodorking. I had an issue with the svg file export. The support answerd via email in no time and explained what caused it and how to fix it. Easy!
Actually I would give only four stars considering that the GUI is only ok and not perfect yet, buuuut thinking about how much money it saves me I give it 5 stars.
Alexander, Thanks for your feedback. The GUI issue you referred to, the saving of default board sizes entered, has been corrected. In addition, from your feedback, the selection support has been enhanced along with other GUI improvements. Thanks again!
I'd give this more then 5/5 if I could. We are a paid tier F360 user, and the nesting features this plugin provides is miles better then the Autodesk official offering. Rapid nesting, automatic grain allignment based on the appearnaces you set in your model, the use of offcuts in a library automatically, pdf cutlist for the workshop floor and much much more.
The support is probably the best I've ever seen for any software, extremely quick responses to any queries, and almost immediate fixing of any bugs when they arise due to changes in F360s API.
So grateful! Worth every penny!
I am pretty sure I saved the money already it cost me :) only got it this morning.
My only gripe (and it is probably me) is if I create a model and say flat pack it, the Stock size is the height of the model BEFORE flatpacking it. But I just offset the top to compensate..
Seriously worth every penny if you use a CNC or Laser.
Coming from Sketchup and Maxcut I was looking for a similar function in Fusion. Ended up with MBP. Works like it should and when I had a problem the maker was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction.
It's a great timesaver and well worth the money.
I've been using this for around 2 years now and could not give a stronger recommendation. If you use a CNC router this is a ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE GIFT FROM HEAVEN.
Works beautifully and saves a HUGE amount of time. Here is a good example of why it's brilliant. Say you've designed a kitchen cabinet and are cutting the pieces out on a router. When done you hit the mapboards button, tell it what size sheets you're using and poof, it lays it all out ready for CAM.
Now say something changed and your cabinet depth just went from 12" to 14". No problem! Just hit the button again and it will automatically clear the last solution and arrange everything for you again.
Another incredible way I use this is if I'm designing something where the dimensions aren't critical but I want to make sure it fits it on one sheet of material. I just keep tweak dimensions and re-run mapboards until it fits my material. This happens a lot when I'm using expensive stuff and is very time consuming to do manually.
Since I was an early user and it was less refined when it first came out I did have an issue that required me to contact the developer. I got a reply back almost immediately saying I had discovered a bug and that he'd work on fixing it right away. To my immense suprise he sent me a custom beta patch for the issue like 2 hours later so that I could do what I needed to do without waiting for the next official update to come out. That just doesn't happen in the software industry!
Overall this plugin is simply brilliant and it greatly enhances my Fusion experience.
I purchased the pro version for help with parts layout and prep for manufacturing. The functionality is very good and truly a substantial time saver that makes this amazing value. I had a few issues with my set-up that the developer fixed and supported until fully resolved. Never had such incredible support. I would highly suggest this to anyone working with sheet goods. It will pay for itself in a single use!
This Fusion app is packed full of featues and parameters which should save anyone a ton of time. One would mostly use the cut sheet layout feature as a starting point for CNC milling or exporting outlines for laser engraving. I decided to push this beyond its intended porpose and use the tool for getting logos created in Fusion convereted into SVG code to embed on a webpage and manipulate with Javascript. Developers was super speedy to point out a few things here I missed in the interface that we very helpful.
I use this plug-in almost daily to layout custom parts for CNC machining. A few weeks ago I was having major issues that prevented the program from working properly. I reached out to the developer and they responded almost immediately. They then worked with me daily over the next two weeks to troubleshoot the issue. Eventually they were able to pinpoint the issue and we got things working again. I'm simply blown away by how responsive and supportive the develper has been -- truly amazing customer service.
The plug-in itself is awesome, such a time saver! It's also being updated constantly with new features. It's worth many times its price and with the support that comes with it I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The power, intuitive and cleanliness of this add-in is one thing, but when you couple that with product support that not only replies within moments, but also implements a feature request (tabs!!) in a weekend is outstanding. I couldn't be more greatful to Icarus and his Mapboards Pro add-in. Don't question it, just buy it!
In step with Fusion 360's clean and easy to use UI, Mapboards delivers the magic of turning your designs into reality. We could not use Fusion 360 without this add-in. The developer is very responsive and updates regularly.
Bar none, this is simply the best at what it does. It's deceptively simple, easy to use, and saves a tonne of time. The best part though is the support is completely top notch. Your hard earned money will not be wasted here.
Without this plugin, we might have abandoned F360. It's a great plugin, easy to use. We had a bug once generating a board map. The developer got back to us the next day with an updated version. Really happy with the performance and customer service.
We use this plugin in our machine shop to export plywood components to DXF and it works great. The customer service from the creator was top notch too!
Using this for generating laser cutting files, and it works very well. If you need this kind of capability, you will not regret getting this tool :).
So excited to fine tune my use of this addition. I can now use parametric modeling to creat a cabinet and then export the csv file to my cutlist plus fx software.
I would love to see an option for including all of the machining options. Such as shelf pins and dowels to be copied over.
I purchase the PRO version and I love it
I purchased this as a quick way to visually lay out a ton of cabinet panels to optimize the number of wood sheets I would need for rip cuts. Also, I wanted to use this to create a printout for a visual checklist list of all my cabinet pieces during construction.
I ran into some problems at first where when executing the layout it would give me an error which was due to something wrong with the way I built some parts in Fusion360. I emailed the developer for support and got a crazy fast response with many ways I could go about fixing it on my end.
The next day I emailed to ask if this plug-in had a feature to include dimensions in an .svg export. Turned out he didn't have that feature but a few hours later he added it for me and sent me a new install pkg! Amazing support I would highly recommend you getting this if it would help you!
ps. I got the Pro version
Overall absolutely worth it. Purchased the pro version. I used it on a project to create layout and cutlist that used 6 sheets of plywood. Even saving 1 sheet of plywood is worth more than the cost of the plugin. More so than that i prefer having a detailed cut layout to make table saw work less error prone and it generally would take me alot of time(at least a couple hours) to create a layout by hand.
Functionality wise I noticed that I seemed to have issues saving default options. Other than that seemed to work as advertised. I did not use the export features, so cant comment on that.
feedback
There are several features i would love to see added potentially.
1. Ability to label using fractional dimensions instead of decimal(accuracy to 1/64 in preferred).
2. Ability to create simple drawing with bounded dimensions
I just need a reference to look at when working in the shop, right now i am creating a drawing of each board then manually adding dimensions, unfortunately i dont see an automated way to get the outer dimensions from the labels into the drawing.
3. Ability to more easily compare layout options to determine the best solution to use.
For example i might prefer a bit more spacing between cuts as long as it does not cost me an entire new sheet of plywood. I ended up just redoing the map about 5 times before deciding which options to go with.
Makes my life a lot easier for only 25 Bucks!!
Excellent software with great support from a very responsive developer. Now have no real reason to leave Fusion for CAM.
This works flawlessly. Was worth every penny. The developer responds to questions super fast.
Another thing I figured out how to use it for, room layouts. For my shop, find the size of the area a tool uses and create a rectangle of the same size. Make your stock the size of your shop. Make the kerf the size you want your walking paths between tools. Have this plugin generate the layout and then modify offsets to find your favorite layout. The dev also links to another tool that will generate layouts from SVG files exported. Then you can quickly iterate.
Having layout ideas generated saves time planning the first placement. I keep finding this tool to be highly needed in my workflow.
Thank you for this gread Fusion addition
Solved all my immediate frustrations with nesting flat-panel components in Fusion. Great value and works well! Paid for itself within an hour.
I've done this manually in the past and it's a pain. Had a fairly complicated model that layed out flawlessly! Money well spent.
This tool is awesome. Thanks for creating this, it makes things so much easier. The dfx export is usually a nightmare and that tool makes it super easy
Fantastic addition to F360! I had been using the standard version of MB, and recently upgraded. Are you looking to layout or "Nest" some cabinet parts? do you have a multi-part component assembly to layout on sheetgoods, lumber, or a sheet to layout for laser or waterjet? This is for you.
We purchased the Pro version due its advanced exporting functionality of DXF files for solid bodies (not only dxf export of drawings as build into fusion).
Despite some edge cases that the app has trouble handling it really is a big time saver for us .The developer is very responsive and he seems to be in active development of the app.
Thank you and keep up the great work.
I purchased the pro version of MapBoards because I have CNC router designs with inset pockets. I am still working out the kinks in my workflow but it's dangerously close to being exactly what I need. The developer was quick to respond and address my confusion. Worth every penny.