CutContour is not the pretty black line on the preview.
A cutter does not read “that nice line around the sticker”. It reads a spot with an agreed name, width and layer. The RIP must pass that spot, not raster it. That is why a separate cut.pdf exists — and why so many shops cut the frame, because the contour died in CMYK.
Updated 28 August 2026. NestPrintCut editorial — the team that builds RolCut. Scores follow the public method. We do not run a 200-roll lab we have not run.
What a CutContour spot is
An extra colour channel, usually a named spot, that the printer must not lay down and the cut controller must lift as a path. The name may be CutContour, Thru-cut, Kiss-cut, PerfCutContour — table and recipe. One rule: it is not process 100% K.
- Kiss — face cut, liner stays (roll stickers).
- Thru — cut through (the piece drops off the table or the roll).
- Separate spots for kiss and thru when both live on one sheet.
Why cut.pdf, not “one PDF for everything”
A single file with print and spot can be correct — PrimeCenter, Griffin and Prep-it work that way. Shops with an old RIP or an operator who “flattens the PDF before send” lose the spot. A separate cut.pdf with a spot and OCG is boring and robust. A separate DXF is for tables that will not eat PDF.
Marks the camera will not find
OPOS, i-mark, table register — not decoration. Size, contrast, distance from the media edge and from the piece sit in the cutter manual, not in the designer’s taste. Software that “adds crop marks like Word” costs you one roll and half a shift.
Checklist before you hit print
- The spot name matches the controller.
- Overprint is on the contour (otherwise a hole in the print).
- The RIP does not convert spots to CMYK — check the preset.
- Marks sit on a layer the camera can see.
- Kerf does not eat the neighbour; the gutter is wider than the blade.
Questions
Does the spot have to be named CutContour?
No. It has to match what your table reads. You type that name once in the RolCut recipe or in PrimeCenter. Changing it “by eye” on a night shift is the classic fault.
Why DXF if we have cut.pdf?
Because some iEcho / tables / older Graphtecs prefer CAD vectors. Same contour, different container. Software that emits both ends the argument at the table.