Problem

Design files often include specialised stroke objects, such as spot-colour outlines for kiss-cutting or router contours, that need to reside on a dedicated layer for downstream tooling.

Manually hunting these strokes by colour or type and moving them is time-consuming and error-prone, risking missed cuts or misaligned workflows.

Proposed Solution

Introduce an “Extract Cutting Guides” feature that:

1. Scans the document for strokes matching user-defined criteria (e.g. specific spot colours, stroke weights or named swatches).

2. Automatically selects these objects and moves them to a new (or existing) layer named “Cutting Guides” (or a custom name).

3. Provides a simple rule editor allowing users to map any swatch or stroke attribute to a target layer.

4. Offers a one-click preview and undo, so users can verify before committing.

Benefits

• Efficiency: Reduces manual selection and repositioning tasks.

• Consistency: Ensures all cutting guides are consistently named and isolated, reducing errors in CAM and finishing.

• Flexibility: Customisable rules accommodate different workflows (kiss-cut, router, creasing), making the tool adaptable to varied production needs.

• Auditability: By isolating guides on a dedicated layer, users can easily review and share files with clear separation of design and cut artefacts.