CutArc Connect: Your CNC Shop, In Your Pocket

Some of the best design ideas never make it to the shop computer. A customer sketches what they want on a napkin. You spot a template or a part on the bench that you'd like to reproduce. Inspiration strikes while you're standing in a client's driveway. By the time you're back at the keyboard, the details are gone — or the sketch is crumpled in a pocket somewhere.

CutArc Connect is a free companion app for iPhone — available now on the App Store, with an Android version in development — that puts CutArc's capture and design tools in your pocket. It works with any CutArc account, free or Pro. No additional hardware required, no subscription fee.

This article walks through every feature in the app and how to get started.

Sketch Scanner

The headline feature of CutArc Connect is the Sketch Scanner. Point your camera at a drawing, a template, or a part lying on the bench, and the app turns it into clean vector geometry ready to trace and cut.

This isn't just a photo capture. The scanner automatically detects the edges of the page, corrects the perspective (so a sketch photographed at an angle comes out square), and removes shadows and uneven lighting before tracing. That preprocessing is what makes the difference between a clean, cuttable contour and a noisy trace full of artifacts — a phone photo taken freehand at the bench produces geometry you can actually use.

The workflow is simple: scan the sketch, review the trace preview, and save it to your projects. The next time you open CutArc on your shop computer, the geometry is there, ready for toolpaths.

Tip: A customer's napkin sketch, an old paper template you want to preserve, a flat part you need to reproduce — if you can lay it flat and photograph it, the Sketch Scanner can turn it into a cut file.

Sign Builder

The Sign Builder is a quick way to create custom metal signs directly on your phone. Instead of opening a full CAD editor, you pick a template, type your text, adjust the dimensions, and get a cut-ready SVG in seconds.

CutArc Connect includes six professionally designed sign templates:

Welcome Sign — simple rectangular sign with centered text, customizable border and corner radius
Family Est. Sign — two-line layout with family name and established date, separated by a divider line
Farm/Ranch Sign — large-format sign with bold centered text, ideal for property entrance markers
Garage Sign — two-line design with a smaller top line and large main text (think "Dad's Garage")
Lake House Sign — elegant three-tier layout with top, main, and bottom text lines
Double Border Sign — decorative nested border design for a more polished look

Every template lets you customize the text, dimensions, font, corner radius, and whether to include borders or dividers. The preview updates live as you make changes, so you can see exactly what you'll get before saving. All text renders in CNC-optimized stencil fonts — letters with proper bridges so enclosed shapes like O, A, and D stay intact after cutting.

When you're happy with the design, save it to your CutArc account. The next time you open CutArc on your shop computer, the sign is ready to open, nest, and cut.

Tip: The Sign Builder is a fast way to quote customers on the spot. Stand at a craft fair or in a client's driveway, pull out your phone, mock up their custom sign in 30 seconds, and show them the preview. If they approve, the design is already in your account and ready to cut when you get back to the shop.

AI Design Generation

CutArc's AI Design Generator — the same feature available in the desktop browser app — is fully accessible from CutArc Connect. Describe what you want in a sentence or two, and the AI produces a plasma-ready SVG design optimized for CNC cutting.

Type something like "wolf howling at moon silhouette" or "compass rose wall art" and the AI generates a clean vector design with proper silhouette styling, closed paths, and no internal detail lines that would cause cut-through problems. The result saves directly to your account.

This is particularly useful when you're away from your shop computer. A customer texts you asking for a custom eagle design — you can generate it from your phone during lunch, review the result, and have it ready to cut when you get to the shop. Or you're browsing social media and see a design idea that sparks inspiration — generate a version of it immediately before you forget the details.

Every CutArc account gets free AI generation credits each week. If you need more, credit packs are available at reasonable rates. See our AI Design Generator guide for tips on writing effective prompts.

Photo to Vector

Sometimes the best design source is a photograph. A customer brings in a photo of their dog and wants it cut in steel. A homeowner wants their house silhouette as a wall piece. A hunter wants a trophy photo turned into a metal sign.

CutArc Connect handles this with two vectorization approaches:

AI Vectorize uses AI to analyze your photo and produce a clean, stylized SVG. It doesn't just trace the edges — it interprets the image and creates a design that's optimized for cutting. Upload a photo of a dog, and you get a clean silhouette with proper proportions and cuttable geometry, not a noisy edge trace with thousands of tiny jagged paths.

Image Trace is a free alternative that extracts contours from high-contrast images. It works well for silhouettes, logos, and images with clear outlines. If the source image has good contrast between the subject and background, Image Trace can produce clean results without using any credits.

Both options let you snap a photo directly with your phone's camera or pick an image from your gallery. You see a preview before saving, so you can evaluate the result and try again with a different photo if needed.

Tip: For best AI vectorization results, use photos with a clear subject against a simple background. The AI produces cleaner silhouettes when it can easily distinguish the subject from the surroundings.

Design Library

CutArc Connect gives you access to the full CutArc Design Library — thousands of professionally designed, cut-ready vector files organized into categories. Browse animals, signs, patriotic designs, Western themes, Celtic patterns, and more. Each design is pre-optimized for CNC cutting with proper path geometry and no internal detail lines.

Search by category or keyword to find what you need. Preview any design before adding it to your account. When you find one you like, it saves directly to your project library and is ready to open in the desktop app for nesting and cutting.

The library is useful for building up a catalog of designs to offer customers, filling in gaps in your portfolio, or just finding a quick starting point that you can customize with CutArc's editing tools.

Cut Charts

Cut charts are one of those things you always need at the machine and never seem to have handy. CutArc Connect includes a built-in cut chart reference that lets you look up recommended parameters for your plasma setup right from your phone.

Filter by amperage and material type to get recommended settings for:

Feed rate (inches or millimeters per minute)
Pierce delay
Kerf compensation width
Cut height

The charts automatically display in your preferred unit system (metric or imperial). It's a quick reference tool that saves you from digging through paper manuals or searching online forums when you switch to a different material thickness.

Coming Soon: Remote Machine Control

The next major update adds remote machine control — turning your phone into a wireless pendant for your CNC table. Jog the X, Y, and Z axes, home the machine, set work zero, monitor job progress with a live position readout, and trigger an emergency stop from wherever you're standing in the shop. It connects through the CutArc browser session already running on your shop computer, so there's no extra hardware to buy.

Machine control is built and in testing now, and it will ship in an upcoming update. The Android version of the app is also in active development.

How It All Fits Together

CutArc Connect isn't a separate product — it's an extension of the CutArc workflow you're already using. Everything shares the same account, the same projects, and the same design library. A sign you build on your phone appears in your desktop browser session. A design you generate with AI on the train is waiting for you in your project list when you get to the shop.

The workflow looks like this:

Capture and design anywhere. Scan a sketch, use Sign Builder, AI Generate, Photo to Vector, or the Design Library from your phone whenever inspiration strikes or a customer asks for something.
Refine on desktop. Open CutArc in your browser, load the design, make any final adjustments, set up toolpaths, and generate G-code.
Reference at the machine. Pull out your phone at the table to look up feed rates, pierce delays, and kerf settings in the built-in cut charts — no digging through paper manuals.

The app is free, works with any CutArc account (including free accounts), and requires no additional hardware beyond the phone you already have in your pocket.

Download CutArc Connect

CutArc Connect is available now for iPhone — download it from the App Store, log in with your CutArc account, and start using it immediately. An Android version is in development and coming soon. If you don't have a CutArc account yet, you can create one for free — the same account works for the desktop browser app, CutArc Connect, and all CutArc products.

For more details on the app's features and download links, visit the CutArc Connect page.