aj
3bdefb1d1c
Adds docs/nesting-engines.md: which engine suits which jobs, the old plug-in names the registry maps, retired engines, and the rule that an engine change lands only when it beats that engine's current benchmark result with every layout valid. README, release and automatic-nesting docs drop the bundled plug-in wording; AGENTS.md now places built-in engines in OpenNest.Engine/NestingEngines and keeps only external plug-ins out of the solution.
55 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
55 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
# Nesting engines
|
|
|
|
Whole-job engines implement `INestingEngine.Solve(NestJob)` and are selected by name through
|
|
`NestingEngineRegistry`. Every automatic nesting front end validates engine output the same way;
|
|
see [automatic nesting and validation](automatic-nesting.md).
|
|
|
|
## Built-in engines
|
|
|
|
Engines are named for the jobs they suit, not for how or by whom they were built. Engine code lives
|
|
in `OpenNest.Engine/NestingEngines/<Name>/`, its tests in `OpenNest.Engine.Tests/NestingEngines/`.
|
|
|
|
| Engine | Best for | Method |
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
|
| Rectangles | Plain and near-rectangular plates | Each part packed as the box of its material at its minimum-area rotation, using a maximal-rectangles free list; stock chosen sheet by sheet by salvage-credited look-ahead cost |
|
|
| Irregular | Irregular profiles | No-fit-polygon frontier packing with gap filling, six whole-job strategy variants and a tail re-plan |
|
|
| StockLadder | Caller-supplied stock ladders | Constrained-first fill with equivalent-demand area repacking |
|
|
| Default, Strip, Vertical Remnant, Horizontal Remnant | Single-strategy fills | The fixed placement strategies behind interactive fill |
|
|
|
|
Rectangles places irregular parts validly, but only as their bounding boxes; it never nests into a
|
|
notch or hole. Box sides account for how the layout check flattens arcs, so round-edged parts stay
|
|
valid at box contact.
|
|
|
|
## Renamed engines
|
|
|
|
Earlier releases shipped these as plug-ins under other names. The registry maps the old names so
|
|
saved desktop selections, scripts and API requests keep working:
|
|
|
|
| Old name | Now |
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
| `Opus55NestingEngine` | Irregular |
|
|
| `RectanglesNestingEngine` | Rectangles |
|
|
|
|
Gpt6Astra and Qwen38FlashNext are no longer shipped and have no alias. A saved selection of either
|
|
falls back to Default with the usual status-bar warning.
|
|
|
|
## Changing an engine
|
|
|
|
- A change lands only when it beats the engine's current result on `OpenNest.Benchmark` for the
|
|
jobs that engine targets, with every layout valid. Report cost, validity, unplaced parts and time.
|
|
- Placement must be deterministic: no clocks, unseeded randomness or environment variables. Budget
|
|
work by counting it; wall time may stop work only through the cancellation token.
|
|
- Keep each engine's tests passing, including `EngineContractTests<TEngine>` (quadrants, overflow,
|
|
priority, cancellation, stock and plate limits, determinism). Every layout in those tests is
|
|
checked with `NestLayoutCheck`, the benchmark's validator.
|
|
- Engines may share code. Move a helper into shared Engine code when a second engine needs it,
|
|
rather than copying it.
|
|
|
|
## Plug-ins
|
|
|
|
External engines still load from an `Engines/` folder beside the desktop, console, MCP or benchmark
|
|
executable. A plug-in implements `INestingEngine` with a public parameterless constructor and
|
|
registers under its CLR type name. A plug-in whose name matches a built-in engine, or a renamed
|
|
engine's old name, is skipped: a leftover `OpenNest.Engine.Opus55.dll` cannot shadow Irregular.
|
|
Leftover Gpt6Astra or Qwen38FlashNext DLLs still load as ordinary plug-ins until deleted.
|