RolCut
The only suite in the table that is roll nesting plus print.pdf + cut.pdf + cut.dxf on a bill under €500/year. It wins the shop board. On the prepress board it cedes automation to PrimeCenter.
Updated 1 September 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.
RolCut does one job: take JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, PDF, SVG or DXF, lay it on a roll or a board, and hand back three files a shop understands — print.pdf for the RIP, cut.pdf with a spot, cut.dxf for the cutter. PDF-in is a first-page raster (TrimBox), not a native gang and not true-shape. It does not pretend to be a suite. In a shop ranking that is the point.
When this is a decision, not a curiosity
A 2–30 person shop that already has a RIP (or refuses to add one) and pays for waste on vinyl, canvas, wallpaper, stickers. The operator nests every week, not once a quarter. The cutter is Summa, Graphtec, iEcho or a table that eats a spotted PDF or a DXF.
Not a student with a Cricut. Not a stand-in for CalderaRIP on heads and paper. Not steel CAM — that mix-up belongs to people who type “nest and cut”.
What a job actually emits
- print.pdf — DeviceRGB (the shop JPEG) or DeviceCMYK with the ICC you pick (PSO Coated v3 / FOGRA51 by default)
- cut.pdf — CutContour or Thru-cut spot, stroke in pt, registration marks, OCG layer
- cut.dxf — the same contour as vectors
- kiss and thru on separate spots, cutter presets not hard-coded
print.pdf: RGB or CMYK
On the shop recipe: RGB keeps the JPEG. CMYK goes through LittleCMS into a named ICC — PSO Coated v3 (FOGRA51) by default, also FOGRA39, FOGRA47, GRACoL, SWOP. Perceptual intent (Sharp does not expose a choice). The RIP still applies its machine profile. This is not a RIP and not a paper profile. In the ranking the feature scores 5/6; PrimeCenter gets 6/6 as prep with full ICC.
The nest: roll, shape, kerf
The packer counts kerf, rotation and a time budget. A 159 cm roll or a board — media width is the first dimension, not “A4 with a roll option”. PNG with alpha, SVG and DXF interlock on the silhouette. JPEG, PDF and files without transparency stay rectangles; the switch lives on the job.
Input and finish
PDF: first page, TrimBox, rastered onto the face. That is not a silhouette and not Griffin or PrimeCenter native PDF gang. Face border: empty, mirror or colour. Wrap and stretcher rail live on the SKU; when wrap > 0 the named bar (Gallery 30/38, Museum 40) lifts wrap. Export ceiling 180 dpi — downsample only. The operator picks Canvas, Poster or Paper instead of assembling wrap at the machine.
Price and time-to-first-nest
Seven days on the full plan, no card. Then €49 a month or €499 a year — API sits on the yearly plan. No dongle, no mandatory training, no sales call. That is why TCO is a 15 here and a 4 for PrimeCenter.
When not to take RolCut
When prepress already runs PrimeCenter or Griffin Auto and hot folders eat 200 files a day — a cheaper nester does not shorten that. When you need a preflight editor, backed-up duplex and desk-level reports. Then use the other board.
Pros and cons
- Roll and board, rectangle or silhouette
- print.pdf + cut.pdf (CutContour / kiss / thru) + cut.dxf
- 7-day full plan, no card; then €49/mo or €499/year
- Browser, upstream of any RIP
- Canvas / poster / paper SKUs: wrap, rail, face border, stretcher, 180 dpi, Code128
- RGB or CMYK in print.pdf, ICC picker (FOGRA51 by default)
- Not a RIP — it will not replace the machine or paper profile
- No PrimeCenter Max / Griffin Auto hot folders
- PDF-in is a first-page raster, not a native gang like Griffin / PrimeCenter
- One login per shop for now
- True-shape is solid, not “award-winning Griffin”
Questions
Best for?
Photo / vinyl / canvas shops that want nesting and cut.pdf without buying Caldera
Not for?
A prepress desk with hot folders on 200 jobs/day and a full Switch flow