Toolpath Viewer

Getting started

Five minutes from download to checking your own program. Windows 10 and 11.

Three-minute walkthrough of everything below. More on the YouTube channel.

1. Install

Download the installer from toolpathviewer.com/download and run it. The installer is code-signed by Ricky Went, so Windows shows that name as the verified publisher. A brand-new certificate has no reputation with SmartScreen yet, so for the first few weeks it may still ask you to confirm: choose More info, then Run anyway. The installer is per-user, so it needs no administrator password, and it lets you choose the folder.

It is also on the Microsoft Store, which installs and updates it without any SmartScreen prompt. Same software, same trial.

The download includes 30 days of Pro with no card and no account. After that it becomes Core, which stays free forever.

2. Open a program

Three ways, all equivalent:

The badge next to the file name tells you what the program was recognised as: ROUTER, HOTWIRE, ROBOT or PRINTER. That decision comes from reading the program, not the file extension, so a KUKA program saved as .txt still opens as a robot program. If the badge is wrong, the file is unusual and worth sending to [email protected].

3. Read the view

4. Read the figures

The strip along the bottom holds the numbers worth checking before a job runs: move count, bounding box, cut and rapid distance, the feed range and an estimated cut time. The estimate follows every feed change in the program, including KUKA $VEL.CP blocks, but it ignores acceleration and dwell, so treat it as a floor rather than a promise.

5. Play it through

The transport bar steps, scrubs or plays the path at up to eight times speed, with the code panel following the moving tip. Click any line of code to jump the path to that move; hover a move in 3D to read its line number, position and feed.

6. Check it against your machine (Pro)

Pick a machine from Envelope in the toolbar, or type your own numbers into the panel that appears. The working volume is drawn around the path, and the viewer counts every move that falls outside it, naming the first offending line and the worst excursion. The box turns red the moment anything is outside.

7. Save a job report (Pro)

Report writes a single HTML file containing the figures above, the envelope result and a picture of the current view. It opens on any PC with no software and prints cleanly, so it suits a job folder or a note to whoever runs the machine.

8. Edit and save

Double-click a line in the code panel to edit it. The 3D view re-parses as you type, so you see the effect immediately. Ctrl+Z undoes the last change and Ctrl+Y redoes it, including a whole Replace All as one step. Ctrl+S saves back to the same file, keeping its encoding and line endings exactly as they were, which matters on controllers that reject anything but the original format. Ctrl+Shift+S saves a copy elsewhere. Editing and saving router, KUKA and hotwire programs needs Pro; 3D-printer files can be edited in Core.

Compare two programs

Compare… in the toolbar, or Ctrl+Shift+O, draws a second program in grey over the one that is open: a re-post against the previous version, or roughing against finishing. The grey path follows the same part or cell frame but ignores the colour mode, filters and playback, so the differences stand out. The chip next to the file name shows what is being compared; its × clears it. Comparing a KUKA or hotwire program needs Pro.

Save a picture

PNG in the toolbar writes the current view to an image file, at the size it is on screen. It is free in Core, and it is the quickest way to put a toolpath into an email or a job sheet.

Keyboard

Next: which files it opens and how licensing works.