Watch the job run before the machine does.
It plays the files ParametrIQ CAD writes in real time, as your cutter, plotter, router or laser would run them.
Catch it on screen, not on the board
The emulator draws the tool's path as the machine would move it, within the machine's own acceleration and jerk limits. You see the cutting order, every tool change and how long the job takes, and mistakes show up on screen instead of on material.
Send to it from ParametrIQ CAD
File › Send Using Machine Profile has an Emulator profile for each trade's format. The file is written and sent with your drawing's tools, and ParametrIQ tells you the machine time.
- Your tools: each layer's and element's tool, drawn at its width and colour and run at its feed.
- Running or not: over HTTP when the emulator is running, or waiting in its inbox until it starts.
- Any profile: add
"emulator": "local"to one of your own.
{
"id": "my-cutter-emulator",
"name": "My cutter (emulator)",
"format": "Hpgl2",
"emulator": "local"
}A machine profile that sends its job to the emulator
Every format ParametrIQ writes
Plotters and cutters
HP-GL, HP-GL/2 and Graphtec GP-GL, with each pen's speed and a cutter's force and blade offset.
Sample-makers
CF2 and DDES3 on a flatbed: creases first, then partial cuts, perforations and cuts, with bridges left uncut.
CNC
G-code on a router, plasma or laser table: rapids, arcs and helices, tool changes, drilling cycles, M0 and M1 stops.
Lasers
LightBurn projects and laser SVG: engraving line by line, then scoring, then cutting.
Mat cutters
Mat cutter DXF: the pen, V-groove, bevel and straight heads, each in turn.
Steel
DSTV NC on a drill and saw line: marks, then holes smallest first, then the contours.
It runs like the machine
S-curve motion
Jerk-limited acceleration with look-ahead, planned as a real controller plans it, so the time it gives is the time the job takes.
Hold, speed up, go back
Hold slows to a stop along the path, as a controller's feed hold does. Play up to a hundred times faster, or double-click a line of the program to go to it.
A drag knife's real cut
See where a drag knife's tip actually cuts as it trails behind the tool.
Off the bed or the sheet
Every move is checked against the bed, the Z travel and the sheet, with a message for any that leave them.
Your cutter's own commands
JavaScript extensions read a cutter's own commands for pressure or speed. They're the same extensions ParametrIQ CAD uses.
From other programs too
Post a file to its HTTP API or drop it in its inbox folder, and ask how long a job will take without playing it.
Check every job before it cuts
Free: register, then get your licence and the download from your account. The help says how to install it and send it your first job.