The ✨ GEN's → Characters tool turns up to 10 characters — letters, numbers, names, or symbols — into a single, ready-to-cut outline. It is the fastest way to make signage, names, logos and lettering in foam without drawing anything in CAD.
One continuous outline
A hot wire cuts a single closed path, so a row of separate characters has to be tied together. The generator leaves the characters loose — there is no platform under them — and joins them with a single thin horizontal line through their vertical middle. The whole row therefore cuts as one outline while still reading as separate glyphs; snap the line off afterwards to free each character. The text also floats ~10 mm above the 0-line so nothing sits on the very edge, and it is centred in the block on the depth (X) and thickness (Z) axes.
Auto-slit holes
Characters with enclosed counters — the holes in O, A, B, P, R, 0, 4, 6, 8, 9, #, &, @ — can't be cut by a continuous wire, which has no way to reach an island of waste in the middle. The generator automatically cuts a hairline slit from each hole out to the nearest edge, exactly like you would do by hand in Inkscape, so the wire can slit in, trace the hole, and slit back out.
What you can make
- Loose letters — single initials or a set of letters to assemble however you like.
- Words & names — a name, a brand, a room sign, a price.
- Numbers & symbols — table numbers, %, &, #, +, arrows and punctuation.
2-wire (flat) mode
By default the text loads as a flat 2-axis cut: the wire traces the outline straight through the foam, giving you constant-thickness letters — the classic foam sign. It switches your machine to 2-axis automatically and fits the text to about 85% of your cutter; rescale anytime in the OBJECT bar. Choose a thickness to match your foam sheet.
4-wire (slanted / tapered) mode
On a 4-axis (X/Y + U/V) machine the two ends of the wire move independently, so the same lettering can be slanted (an italic lean), tapered (front face larger than the back — great for raised, perspective or keystone signs), or given a draft angle for moulds. Generate the characters, then use the OBJECT bar to rotate or scale the U/V (right-tower) side relative to the X/Y (left-tower) side. The left face stays as drawn while the right face is transformed, and the wire rules a straight surface between them. See the Object bar and machine types for how the two wire ends relate.
Tips
- Bold faces cut cleanest. Heavy fonts keep their strokes; thin or script faces can get fragile, especially at small sizes.
- Mind the strip. The connection strip sits along the baseline — characters that float (a lone hyphen, asterisk or degree sign) may need it raised; if one comes out detached, pad the text or pick a glyph that reaches the baseline.
- Kerf matters on small text. Set the kerf so thin strokes and counters don't close up.