xTool just dropped a big xTool Studio update. There are some proper new features in it, like Smart Nesting and Atomm AI, and a load of smaller improvements that will speed up your workflow.
I go through every one step by step in the video above. If you'd rather read, or you just want to find one thing quickly, it's all below with screenshots from my own setup. Tap any feature to jump straight to it.
Jump to: Smart Nesting · Auto Fill · Atomm AI · Batch Resize · Box selection · Switch origin · Community materials · Material settings · Test grids · Passthrough · 1,024 layer depth maps · Elements sidebar · HEIC and DXF · Mockups
Before you start: check your version
Go to the Home screen, click the cog in the top right, then scroll all the way down to About xTool Studio. You need V1.10 or newer to see everything here. If you're on an older version, update first.
1. Smart Nesting
If you've got a load of designs and you want to fit them onto a sheet of material, sticker paper or an object, you used to have to drag every one into place yourself. Smart Nesting does that job for you.
- Select your designs.
- On the left, go to Useful tools and generators and pick Smart nesting.
- Draw the area you want to fill. I picked the rectangle and drew around my piece of wood. You can also use Extract outline.
- Choose a nesting mode: Standard, Compact or Matrix. I kept it on Standard.
- Set your minimum spacing (I went for 3 mm) and hit Start nesting.
Auto Fill
This is my favorite part of the update. If you've got one design and want as many as possible out of a sheet, select it, open Smart Nesting, tick Auto fill and choose Full. I set my spacing to 1 mm, hit start, and it filled the board with as many as it could fit. You could get close before with a grid array, but you had to work out the numbers yourself. This is a much more efficient use of material.
2. Home screen and Atomm AI
Everything now lives in one place on the Home tab. Down the left you've got Home, Atomm AI and Atomm Discover. Discover has all the generators and all the arts and crafts bits people have added, so it's a good place to start when you need inspiration.
Atomm AI turns a description into an image. Drag in a style (I went with Knitted Texture Deco), type what you want, and it does the rest. I asked for a Labrador with sunglasses, and that's what came out. Even if you don't use the result as it is, it's a quick way to get an idea moving when you're stuck.
3. Batch Resize
If you've got lots of designs at different sizes and you want them all the same, select them (it works with shapes and images) and click the new Batch resize button in the top toolbar.
- Lock aspect ratio is on by default. Type 25 mm into the width and every design becomes 25 mm wide. It works the same way with height.
- Fit within box lets you enter a width and a height, and every design is scaled to fit inside that box. Handy when your designs have to fit a set blank or a jig pocket.
4. Directional box selection
I've always had this in the CAD software I use, and I'm really glad it's here now. The direction you drag changes what gets selected:
- Drag left to right and it only selects what you fully cover. Anything the box just clips is left alone.
- Drag right to left and it selects anything the box touches, even slightly.
On a busy page it's a much more controlled way to grab exactly what you want.
5. Switch origin
Any design you put in used to take its position from the top left corner. Now you can choose. Select your design, click the Switch origin grid in the top toolbar, and pick the point you want it measured from. It's useful for placing designs in jigs, and for framing or starting the laser from a specific spot.
6. Community material settings
The material library now has a Community tab, so you can see settings other people have shared. I searched for wood and got four results, including one for wooden keychain embossing. Click Apply and the settings load straight in. Click View details to see the full write-up on Atomm.
Treat any shared setting as a starting point and run a quick test on a scrap first, because machines and materials vary. If you'd like settings I've tested myself, my free Laser Settings Library has nearly 300 of them for xTool machines.
7. Material settings on the Home screen
From the Home screen you can now pick Material setting on the left. You get two tabs: your own settings (I've got 311, so you can tell I've been busy) and Atomm Community. You can create materials before you've even started a project, and export them. Back yours up every now and then. It's a lot of work to lose.
8. Better material test grids
Test grids are my bread and butter, and they've just got better. You'll find Material test array in the same Useful tools list as Smart Nesting. You still set speed and power across the two axes, but you can now also:
- set the number of passes;
- set lines per cm when you switch it to engrave;
- choose a predefined material, like wood, and start from xTool's recommended parameters.
The one thing I'd still love is to be able to edit a grid after it's made. Hopefully that comes in a future update.
9. Passthrough for prepared photos
If you prep photos in other software, this one's for you. Tools like ImagR turn a photo into a pattern of tiny dots ready to engrave (that's my dog Ted above). The trouble was that xTool Studio then processed it again, and you lost some of that work.
Now, import your prepared image, open Bitmap mode and pick Passthrough. Studio leaves the image alone and engraves the dots exactly as you prepared them.
10. Up to 1,024 layers for depth maps
Great for anyone doing 3D embossing. When you import a depth map, Number of layers on the right used to top out at 256, which means 256 steps of depth. You can now go up to 1,024. That's four times as many steps, so in theory four times the detail. There are new advanced options too, like noise reduction and cleanup, to help you refine the result.
11. Full-screen elements sidebar
I always found it annoying having to click See all in the elements library, then losing my place when I went back. Now there's a little arrow that expands the library so you can see everything at once, scroll through, find what you want and drop it in. Little things like this go a long way.
12. HEIC and DXF import
Two new file types. You can now import HEIC photos (the format iPhones save in) straight into Studio, and open DXF files too. My elephant DXF came in ready to edit like anything else, then engrave or cut.
13. Product mockup upgrade
This one is for DTF and apparel printers, and sticker makers. Click the Mockup button at the bottom right and your design appears on a t-shirt, or one of lots of other products, at its actual size. You can change the shirt color, move it, resize it, and even add your own products. It's a quick way to see how something will look before you make it.
Want every change in detail?
xTool's official release notes list everything. There are also machine-specific changes, for things like the O1 Omni and X1, that I haven't covered here.
Which one will you use most?
For me it's Auto Fill, with the material settings and test grids close behind. Let me know in the comments on the video which ones you'll use, and if you'd like a video on the machine-specific updates, tell me which machine.
