Cadivari 0.3.0 adds CAM → 3D Model and Setup → Model setup for body selection, machining orientation, stock placement, linked outside contours, flat-bottom pockets, layered model roughing and ball-nose surface finishing. Follow 3D model setup and contours, then pockets from model floors plus model roughing before 3D model surface finishing. The automatic drawing-stock rules below apply when Machine is set to Sketch geometry; fitting or resizing model stock leaves the CAD geometry unchanged.
Recommended test
Use geometry away from document zero to check automatic stock placement.
- In CAD, draw a rectangle and enter X 50, Y 50, W 100, H 60 mm in Properties.
- Leave Stock sizing on Auto, then switch to CAM. The stock should run from X20 to X180 and Y20 to Y140: exactly 30 mm beyond every geometry edge.
- Confirm the stock reads 160 × 120 mm. Its thickness is retained from Setup.
- In Setup → Job zero, confirm Lower-left is selected initially and the gold marker reads X0 Y0 at that corner.
- Select each of the nine points in the 3 × 3 origin control. The 2D marker and 3D axes should move to the matching stock corner, edge centre, or centre.
- Switch to 3D and confirm the same geometry remains correctly positioned inside the stock.
- Confirm the machine is Shapeoko / GRBL, the tool is a 6 mm Flat End Mill, ordinary links use Safe Z +10 mm, and Service / park Z is +30 mm.
- Select Upper-right, preview G-code, and confirm geometry left/below that anchor receives negative X/Y coordinates without moving on the stock.
- Save and reopen the project. The selected origin anchor should be restored.
- Import an SVG with no CAM operation, return to CAM, and confirm it contributes to the same fitted stock bounds.
- Change Fit margin and confirm all four sides update equally. The stock label sits above the boundary and reports the live equal margin. Drag the top-right handle in 2D Select mode; the stock should switch to Manual while the exact same millimetre margin remains on every side. Set Margins to Free to size width and height independently.
01 · MATERIAL
One stock rule for CAD and SVG geometry
With Stock sizing · Auto, each time CAD opens CAM Cadivari measures every visible machinable object and fits one stock rectangle around it. Ordinary lines, rectangles, circles, arcs, splines, text, and every imported SVG contribute before any CAM operation is created. The default 30 mm Fit margin is added uniformly on all four sides, and the drawing itself is never moved.
Reference images, dimensions, mirror construction guides, hidden objects, and presentation-only installations do not enlarge the material; a placed rosette artwork is one specialist example. Associatively mirrored spline geometry does contribute, because the reflected half is part of the machinable outline. Editing Fit margin refits immediately and returns sizing to Auto.
Typing Width or Height, or dragging the square top-right stock handle in 2D Select mode, changes sizing to Manual. With Margins · Equal, the complete drawing translates as one group to remain centred while one physical margin is maintained on all four sides. The drawing is never scaled or distorted. Choose Free when width and height must change independently. Selecting Auto again restores the configured Fit margin.
New jobs start at Safe Z +10 mm for ordinary links and Service / park Z +30 mm for the higher clearance after a Shapeoko BitSetter/tool change and before program completion. Both are measured above stock-top Z0. Saved projects keep their stored values. Safe Z must clear the cutter, holder, clamps, and fixtures; Service/Park Z must be higher than Safe Z while remaining inside the machine's available Z travel. It is a work-coordinate height, not an assumed machine-home position.
Fit marginUniform editable space around visible geometryWidth / HeightAuto result or deliberate manual stock sizeThicknessMaterial thickness along ZSafe ZOrdinary linking retract above stock topService / park ZHigher tool-change and program-end clearanceThe drawing margin is not a clamp model. Both programmed clearance heights must suit the real clamps, fixtures, cutter stick-out, and available machine travel.
02 · COORDINATES
Nine predictable XY anchors with Z0 at the stock top
The 3 × 3 selector offers all four corners, all four edge centres, and the stock centre. Lower-left remains the default. The gold crosshair in 2D and the XYZ axes in 3D identify the active job zero, while Z0 remains fixed to the material’s top surface.
CAD geometry stays in document coordinates. Motion planning, animation readouts, individual and combined G-code, and export preflight all translate it from the selected stock anchor. Choosing a right or upper anchor therefore produces negative machine coordinates for geometry to its left or below; axes are never flipped.
This job zero is separate from the CNC machine’s homing position. The selected anchor is undoable, saved in the project, and stated explicitly in generated output so preview and the real setup can be compared.
03 · TARGET
Shapeoko and the active cutter
The initial machine profile is Shapeoko / GRBL. New operations use the active cutter selected in Setup. The built-in flat-end-mill presets are 6.000 mm, 6.350 mm (1/4 in), and 3.175 mm (1/8 in); custom diameters remain millimetre-first.
04 · FEEDBACK
Stock checks and reversible edits
Cadivari checks machinable drawing geometry and physical cutter sweeps against the placed stock boundary. Entering CAM in Auto mode commits a refit only when the calculated origin or size changed, so the result remains reversible through document history.
Manual width, height, and canvas-handle edits are preserved when switching workspaces. Choose Auto when the stock should follow later geometry changes again. Sizing mode, margin, and the Equal/Free margin constraint are stored with the project.
CURRENT SCOPE
Still deliberately constrained
- Inside/outside contours, open paths, and simple rectangle/circle pockets
- Configurable path-ramp entry on supported closed operations; no separate lead-in or lead-out
- Material-removal simulation or collision checking
- Local NC Export supports all nine stock anchors with stock-top Z0
- No arbitrary picked point, geometry-derived datum, stock-bottom Z0, or clamp/fixture geometry yet
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