Drawer menu
Knife lane Guillotine line Cut pieces
v0.1 Beta · Mac and PC
Apex Nest puts DTF artwork into columns that the Apex Cut Pro can cut, adds the registration bars, and exports the print-ready film.
ApexNest - Automatic Cutting Registration Bar Creator
Import, nest and preview are free forever. Only export needs a licence.
An optical sensor reads a black bar at the film edge. One stray pixel in that lane fires the guillotine in the wrong place.
Vertical knives cut down the whole roll. Artwork that sits under a knife comes off the machine shredded.
The guillotine cuts the full film width. A horizontal cut is legal only where every column is clear of artwork.
Apex Nest makes these mistakes impossible. The layout engine cannot make a sheet that breaks the rules.
Apex Nest works on Mac and on PC. Get the installer for your computer.
70B
Pixels on a full roll. Apex Nest renders the sheet strip by strip, so the roll never sits in memory.
13 to 60 in
Film width presets: 13, 24, 35.5 and 60 inches. You can set any width from 50 mm to 100 inches.
30
Days of export with no internet. A licence-server outage cannot stop a print run.
4
Languages. English, Spanish, 中文 and 한국어.
1.0
Drop PNG, TIFF, JPG and PDF files into the window. Trim is per design and the printed size never changes. Rotate Off stays off.
See how the nest worksImport list
2.0
Apex Nest builds a deterministic nest. Each lane holds one design per band. The preview re-nests while you type.
See the cut planRun 1
Run 2
3.0
Apex Nest derives the knife count and positions from the sheet it just built. It reports them from both film edges with a tolerance.
See the export formatsScorer positions
Left edge, then right edge. Tolerance is 0.020 in.
APEX NEST · CUT SETUP Film width 24.000 in 609.60 mm Resolution 600 DPI Bands 4 Knives 3 Knife 1 4.250 in from left 19.750 in from right +/- 0.020 in Knife 2 12.000 in from left 12.000 in from right +/- 0.020 in Knife 3 19.750 in from left 4.250 in from right +/- 0.020 in Reg bar 12.0 x 5.0 mm, centred in margin, 5.0 mm clear Export BigTIFF, CMYK + White spot
4.0
Write CMYK plus White as BigTIFF, or RGB plus White, or a PNG proof. Split by length or by file size. Splits land only on guillotine lines. PNG and plain TIFF proofs carry no screen.
See pricingExport formats
Point at a card to see the term on the film.
White ink under the color so the print reads on dark fabric.
The underbase is built from alpha. You set density, choke, edge falloff, and back off under black. The app replaces any white plate that arrived with the file.
Shrinking the white inward so it cannot peek out from under the color.
Choke pulls the white in from the edge of the artwork. The default choke is 0.2 millimetres.
Color conversion through Little-CMS. No profile ships with the app.
With none chosen, the app uses the CMYK profile macOS installs and says so.
A TIFF that can exceed 4 GB.
Production export is CMYK plus White, five channels.
A named extra ink. You type the name the RIP expects.
RIPs match the white plate on the literal string. Vendors differ.
The finished sheet with many designs on it.
Apex Nest packs them into columns and bands. One design per lane per band.
A solid black mark at the film edge. The cutter sensor reads it and fires the guillotine.
The default bar is 12 millimetres by 5 millimetres. You set corner, margin and cut offset. Optional white ink sits behind the bar for a reflected-light sensor.
A blade you mount by hand that slits the film lengthwise.
The default cap is 4. The app reports extra film if the cap binds.
An artwork effect that prints as dots so the transfer flexes.
It does not replace RIP screening. It uses four shapes from 10 to 100 LPI. Print the calibration swatch on your own line.
A 24 inch by 200 metre roll at 600 DPI is 70 billion pixels. Apex Nest renders the sheet strip by strip. The roll never sits in memory.
A customer wants a print that flexes, not a plastic patch. The halftone reduces ink coverage. It is an artwork effect, not RIP screening.
The person who nests is not the person who mounts the knives. Every export writes cut-setup.txt with positions from both edges.
Best value
Deliver every year
Deliver every month
Import, nest and preview are free forever. Only export needs a licence.
Yes. Apex Nest exports for 30 days with no internet connection. A licence-server outage cannot stop a print run.
The app shows a challenge code. MicroTec support sends a .mtlic file. Install that file.
Your access runs to the end of the paid period. Import, nest and preview stay free after that.
Apex Nest prepares film for the MicroTec Apex Cut Pro and the XC-25 automatic film cutters.
Apex Nest imports PNG, TIFF, JPG and PDF. Proofs are PNG or RGB TIFF. Production is CMYK plus White BigTIFF or RGB plus White.
No. It is an artwork effect. Screening in both places makes moire.
You get the seat count in your plan: 1, 3 or 10. Release a computer from inside the app to move a seat to another machine.
The store issues the key within minutes of purchase. The key arrives by email and appears on your order page. The download starts right away.
Yes. Apex Nest runs on macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel, and on Windows 10 or later.
Apex Nest is at version 0.1. Send feedback from the Help menu inside the app.