What's New in Easel

Snap alignment

We recently added alignment guides to Easel to help align shapes to each other or to the center or edge of the material.

Guide lines appear when the center or an edge of the shapes you’re dragging are close to another center or edge, and the dragging shapes will snap to align with the guide. Guides also appear when dragging shapes horizontally or vertically to help keep them aligned with their starting position. Holding the Command or Ctrl key while dragging disables the guides.

Seeking feedback: New Milling Direction

We’re rolling out a beta for a new, powerful feature: Milling Direction for offset fills. Before this becomes a Pro feature, we’d love your feedback! You’ll be able to choose from:

• Default: Our current toolpath. The direction of cuts is variable.
• Climb (CCW): Forces a counter-clockwise toolpath. This method typically creates a cleaner surface finish and is easier on your bits.
• Conventional (CW): Forces a clockwise toolpath. This method can be useful for preventing tear-out on certain materials and reducing backlash.

This feature is currently in beta — and available to all Easel users. Try it out, share your feedback, and help us shape the final version.

Click Enable this feature to try this great new addition!

New Drawing Modes

Easel’s drawing tools just got a big upgrade! Learn more in the video update on our YouTube channel!

The Pen Tool now comes with three powerful drawing modes to give you more control and creativity in your designs:

• Straight Lines: Click to place points and Easel connects them with straight segments. Double-click or press Esc to finish your shape, or connect back to an existing point to close it.
• Curved Lines: Add points to create smooth flowing curves between them — perfect for organic shapes and curvatures.
• Arcs: Define your start and end points, then drag your mouse to set the arc’s radius before clicking to lock it in.

You can also now connect a new line directly to the endpoint of another, automatically merging them into a single, unified shape. See these new capabilities in action in the image below!

This update makes sketching precise lines, curves, and arcs in Easel faster, smoother, and more flexible than ever.

Alignment Tool & Design Updates

We've added a new menu for Alignment Tools in Easel!

This menu makes it easier to align, distribute, and layout elements in your Easel designs. You can also quickly combine shapes, and adjust the layering of shapes in your designs by moving them above or below other elements in the design.

That's not all! You'll also notice some new icons for the design toolbar, as we'll as a one-click option for Image Trace - now easily accessible from the toolbar!

Choose pass type when adding a second bit

New in Easel -- Choose the desired pass type when adding a second bit to a workpiece!

Previously, using an outline bit required adding a roughing and detail bit to your workpieces first. Some projects only require two bits: one to carve the fill cuts and other design details, and another for the outline cuts.

Now, you can chose between detail and outline when adding a second bit!

What if you still want to use a 3-bit workflow with a roughing, detail, and outline bit? You still can! After adding your detail bit as the second bit, simply click the + button to add the outline bit as your third bit.

New "Edit" Options

We’ve made two of Easel’s most popular apps easier to access! The Convert Circles to Drill Holes app and the Replicator app are now built directly into Easel’s Edit menu.

No more digging through the App Library — you can now access these tools directly from the Easel design canvas. You'll find all of these options in the Edit menu at the top of the page, or by right-clicking on the shapes in your designs.

New Project Creation

We’re making it easier to kick off a new project in Easel! Check out the overview video on YouTube.

When you start a new Easel project, you’ll see a window where you can give your new project a name, pick a category, and browse suggested projects from the Easel Gallery. If something catches your eye, you can copy it and jump right into customizing and carving!

Prefer to start from scratch? Everything in this new window is optional - you can always go straight into a brand-new blank project by closing the window or clicking the .

This update gives you the flexibility to hit the ground running with an existing design or to continue kicking things off with a clean slate!

Outline Bit

More control over your cut paths — no workarounds needed. You can now assign a dedicated bit just for outline paths in multi-stage carves.

Watch the feature video!

Previously, Easel always used your detail bit for outline cuts – including final cutouts – even if it was a V-bit or a small 1/32" bit. That often led to slow carves, broken bits, or extra workarounds.

Now, with Outline Bits, you can:

• Choose a separate, sturdier bit (like a 1/8" or 1/4" end mill) just for outline paths
• Skip duplicating workpieces or manually hiding shapes
• Keep everything in one carve with three distinct toolpaths: Roughing, Detail, and Outline

After you select an Outline Bit, Easel will assign it to shapes where the Cut Path is set to “on shape path”, “outside shape path”, or “inside shape path”:

Pockets will be carved by the Roughing and Detail Bits

Outlines will be carved by the new Outline Bit

How to use it:

• Load or create a project in Easel with a roughing and detail pass
• Click the “+” next to your Detail Bit and select an Outline Bit
• Simulate your carve — the outline pass will appear as a separate orange toolpath
• During carving or downloading G-code, you'll now see a new “Outline Pass” option when selecting toolpaths

This feature is available to all Easel users. Try it out and share your feedback!

Path drawing & editing improvements

We've recently made some improvements to the path drawing & editing tools in Easel!

First, when using the pen tool, you can drag while adding points to make curves:

Additionally, when editing points, you can drag to select all the points within an area:

Shape Names

Easel's Shape panel now lets you enter a name for the selected shape or group. Names are overlaid on their shapes in the design editor, making it easy to identify parts in assemblies or otherwise label or annotate particular design elements.

To add a name to a shape or group of shapes, select it in the 2D editor. At the bottom of the Shape editor, users will find a new input to name the selected shape or group. Shape names can be edited and deleted once added.