Travel Optimizer: Minimizing Machine Travel Time
Travel distance is the total distance a machine moves while the laser is off or the pen is raised. On an unoptimized layout, travel can account for 50–70% of total job time. The Travel Optimizer eliminates this waste by reordering strokes into the most efficient sequence.
Why stroke order matters
Machine software (LightBurn, Inkscape, xTool Creative Space) renders paths in document order — the order they appear in your SVG file. For a word like "Hello", the document order might be: H stroke 1, H stroke 2, e stroke 1, l stroke 1, l stroke 2, o stroke 1. Each stroke starts at a different position on the canvas. The machine completes one stroke, raises the pen/laser, travels to the start of the next stroke, and begins. If that next stroke start is on the other side of the canvas, you've wasted significant time.
The nearest-endpoint algorithm
Pathhaus's Travel Optimizer uses a bidirectional nearest-endpoint algorithm: starting from the current pen position, it finds the unvisited stroke whose nearest endpoint — either the start or the end — is closest. If the end point is closer, the stroke is reversed before drawing. This matters because every stroke can be drawn in either direction, and choosing the better direction reduces travel to the next stroke. Compared to checking only start points, this bidirectional approach reduces total travel by a further 20–40% on typical font layouts. The algorithm is a greedy heuristic for the Traveling Salesman Problem — not mathematically guaranteed optimal, but consistently within 15–20% of optimal and computed in milliseconds.
Why stroke direction matters
Imagine two adjacent letter strokes where stroke A ends on the right side and stroke B starts on the right side. A nearest-start algorithm would send the machine to the left to start stroke B from its left endpoint — wasted movement. The nearest-endpoint algorithm recognises that stroke B can be drawn right-to-left starting from its right endpoint, eliminating the travel entirely. For a word like "Hello" with 8–12 strokes, choosing optimal directions for each stroke can save 30–60% of total travel versus reordering alone.
Typical time savings
Travel Optimizer savings depend on layout complexity. Single words: 10–20% travel reduction (strokes are already clustered). Multi-word sentences: 30–50% reduction. Full-page text compositions: 50–70% reduction. Complex mixed layouts (text + doodles): 60–80% reduction. For pen plotters, where overall speeds are lower, the absolute time savings are largest. A 10-minute AxiDraw plot of a greeting card can be reduced to 3–4 minutes with Travel Optimizer enabled.
Enabling Travel Optimizer in Studio
Open Pathhaus Studio, type your text, and enable the Travel Optimizer toggle in the export panel (Pro feature). The stats panel updates in real time, showing travel distance before and after optimization. You'll also see the total estimated job time for your selected machine profile. Export your file — the SVG or DXF will contain paths in the optimized order, which any machine software will execute in sequence.
Try it in Pathhaus Studio
Free to start — optimize and export your first font file in under 5 minutes.