Recommended test
Use a 100 × 60 mm rectangle, 20 mm stock, a 6 mm cutter, and the existing outside contour.
- Open CAM in 2D and use Select mode.
- With tabs Off, confirm the cyan start marker appears on the middle of the lower straight contour edge. The Start Point panel should report Auto.
- Turn four holding tabs On. Confirm the automatic start moves into a clear gap rather than overlapping the lower gold tab.
- Hover or focus the question mark beside Start point. Confirm its tooltip explains how to drag each contour's cyan marker in 2D Select mode.
- Hover the cyan marker, drag it along a straight edge, and release. The panel should report Manual with updated X, Y, edge, and path percentage.
- Drag around a corner. The marker should transfer to the nearest eligible straight edge without entering the rounded corner.
- Drag toward a gold tab. The marker should stop outside the protected tab-clearance region.
- Test undo and redo, then choose Reset in the dashed-leader start-placement row.
- Under Cutting Parameters, switch between Climb and Conventional. The white caret inside the cyan cutter marker should reverse immediately.
- Open 3D and confirm the cyan start marker and its arrow match the 2D location and direction.
- After setting a manual start, move a tab onto its protected area. The operation should report that the start is blocked until you reposition it or reset it.
01 · DETERMINISTIC DEFAULT
The largest clear straight segment
Cadivari examines every straight portion of the compensated rectangle path. It removes tool-radius corner margins and tab intervals expanded by one tool diameter, then selects the longest remaining interval. Equal choices use a stable South, East, North, West priority.
Contour straight edges − rounded-corner clearance − holding-tab width − one tool diameter around each tab = eligible start intervals
The automatic start sits at the center of the best interval. Changing tab placement or cutter diameter recalculates this default immediately.
02 · DIRECT PLACEMENT
Drag the cyan marker in 2D
The compact Start point row keeps its instruction in the adjacent question-mark tooltip instead of displaying persistent helper text. Use Select mode and drag the cyan cutter marker. Pointer movement is projected onto the nearest eligible interval, allowing the marker to move between edges while remaining on the exact cutter-centre path. The read-only X, Y, Edge, Path, and placement rows use the same compact dashed-leader list throughout the operation editor.
03 · TRAVEL DIRECTION
A quiet caret inside the cutter marker
A small high-contrast caret sits inside the cyan cutter marker and points in the planned XY travel direction. For an outside rectangle contour with the assumed clockwise router spindle, Climb follows the canonical counter-clockwise path and Conventional reverses it. The same contained marker appears in 2D and 3D without adding labels over the toolpath.
It describes the direction in which the cutter centre moves around the contour. Rectangle Motion Plan v3 uses this exact direction for entry and every depth pass, and reverses tab-boundary transitions with it.
04 · SHARED CAM STATE
Tabs stay synchronized in 2D and 3D
A manual position stores its edge and normalized location on that edge. The resolver converts it back to exact millimetre coordinates and path distance. If later tab edits block that position, the operation turns red and explains the conflict instead of silently moving the user's chosen start.
The marker supplies the intended XY start. Ramped Entry uses the clear path after that point; Plunge remains an explicit alternative.
CURRENT SCOPE
A verified point in a constrained program
- Outside rectangle contours and freeform closed contours
- Rectangle starts stay on straight segments; curved starts project to the full compensated loop
- Automatic placement stays clear of tabs; Manual placement is directly draggable in 2D
- Ramp or plunge entry is available; no separate lead-in or lead-out yet
- CAM Animation begins from the resolved point
- Local NC Export preserves this start after preflight
- No progressive material removal or collision proof