// Docs
The interface
MillPath has one screen: setup and operations on the left, the drawing in the middle with the simulation under it, the selection or the selected operation on the right, and your open projects as tabs at the bottom.
Top bar
| Button | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| MillPath | Logo | Back to the start screen: a new project, with your open projects kept as tabs. |
| File | File menu | New project (a new tab), import a drawing or a 3D model, open and save a project file (.mpj), Part from sizes, projects in your account. You can also drop a file on the drawing. |
| Arrows | Undo / Redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z. |
| Drawing | Step 1 | Draw and change the shapes: rectangles, circles, lines, text, dimensions, node editing (see Drawing and editing shapes). |
| Operations | Step 2 | The operations and their toolpaths. Once the part is nested on a sheet (Nest on a sheet… in Found in the drawing), Part and Sheet above the drawing switch between the two (see Nesting on a sheet). |
| Simulation | Step 3 | Opens the 3D view and the simulation panel and plays the whole job from the start; the checks run on every move. |
| G-code | Step 4 | Opens the export options: the controller, the file, and Download G-code. A tick shows each step that is done. |
| ? | Help | Search the docs, lessons, keyboard keys, units (mm or inch), the language, the MillPath website. |
| Account | Your account | Sign in; once signed in, your plan and trial days, Upgrade, projects, export history, support and backup. |
| Export G-code | Export | Writes the G-code file for your controller (asked once, at the first export). The arrow next to it opens the export menu. |
Left: setup and operations
// Stock & setup: thickness, margin, the work zero in X Y (a corner, the centre or the drawing origin) and Z zero on the stock top or the table. Heights & machine holds the safe heights and machine limits.
// Operations: in cutting order. Each row shows the tool, its diameter and depth, and its run time. The check box includes or leaves out an operation. Click a row to select it: its toolpath stays in colour and the others turn faint (nothing selected: all in colour; Esc clears). Ctrl+click adds a row; Shift+click, or pressing on a row and moving over others, selects several. Drag a row by its grip (⋮⋮) to change the order (or Alt+↑ / Alt+↓). Right-click a row for copy, paste, duplicate, leave out of the G-code and delete; the keys work too: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V (also into another tab), Ctrl+D, Del.
// Tools: the tools of this project. + Add creates one; Library keeps your tools and presets for every project.
Right: the selection and the operation
With nothing selected, // Found in the drawing lists what MillPath recognises: holes by size, outlines, inner shapes, text, a part to lay out on a sheet. Each has a suggested operation (Add…), and a tick where an operation already covers it.
Below, // Add operation lists the operations by group; their keyboard keys show on hover.
Select an operation to change it: its type, name, shapes (click shapes on the drawing to add or remove), tool, Feeds & speeds, the cut settings, heights and coolant.
The line under the name shows the air cutting share and the number of retracts, a quick way to compare settings.
A small (i) next to a setting explains it. Every setting is described in Operations.
Simulation and checks
Play, step move by move, or drag along the coloured bar (one colour per operation). The middle shows the G-code line and the operation at the current point. Checks OK, or the number of problems, opens the safety checks. The arrow at the right opens the full simulation with its speeds and the G-code.
In 3D the tool is drawn to its own dimensions: flute length, shank, stick-out and holder as set in the tool editor (a usual collet nut when no holder is set). While the simulation runs, the path already cut is faint and the path ahead stays clear.
The export menu
The arrow next to Export G-code opens it.
Post (controller): your controller, with its badge: checked by the controller's own parser, confirmed on N machines, or not yet confirmed (what the badges mean).
// File: all included operations in one file, the selected operation only, or one file per tool for manual tool changes; the run time and the number of lines.
Copy G-code, Send to machine (GRBL over USB), Cost & quote (see here), the setup sheet for the operator, and Report how a program ran.
Cut in tiles (routers: jobs larger than the machine) and Check this post: the controller check in the air, compare with a file that runs on your machine, learn a post, edit posts.
The bottom bar
Each open project is a tab; the open one says where it is saved (in this browser, or in your account). Double-click a tab to rename the project; + opens a new one. Feedback at the right sends a problem, an idea or a question to the MillPath team.