A considerable amount of my work I prove in 3d printing prior to making. I have a Stratsys Dimension. The software that comes with this machine appears to nest the stl files to use as much support material as possible in the most uneconomic way (for me, both in time and money!). Therefore I have started nesting in MoI and then exporting as a single stl file as opposed to the individual components. This is very easy if your components are straight and square but very different if the forms are organic.

What I was wondering was if there is either anyway to make a script so that the pieces to be nested can miss each other by a specified amount. Almost like forming a box the size of the print window and dropping the components in, giving it a bit of a shake and hey presto economic use of material with my printer!

Also with different shape forms it is very annoying that all overhangs are filled with support material when another form you want nest perfectly underneath this saving a large amount of time, money and support material!

James Elliott