NC Studio is the CAM-authoring half of GCode Sentinel — the half that makes the program the controller runs. Drop in a STEP file and a single Auto-generate produces an efficient multi-op 3-axis program — roughing and finishing in one pass — that hands straight to the controller, loaded at the setup zero and selected. Same vendor, shared coordinate doctrine, shared G-code parser. In active development — v1 is feature-complete in the simulator, not yet validated on a real machine. Beta coming soon.
The platform is two native macOS apps that hand off to each other in both directions.
NC Studio is the generator — it authors the program from your model.
GCode Sentinel — already marketed here as the platform, an advanced AI-infused
CNC platform designed around machine vision — is the controller that runs the machine. Studio
makes it; the controller cuts it. And because Studio vendors the controller's
Toolpath parser verbatim and shares its coordinate doctrine, the program Studio
writes is byte-for-byte the program the controller streams, and the preview is driven by that very
same parser — not an approximation of the job, but the job itself:
preview == removal-sim == the streamed program. When the setup is done, click
Open in GCode Sentinel and the program loads onto the controller at the setup zero,
selected and ready; the controller carries the reciprocal NC Studio button back the
other way. NC Studio is the companion CAM half — parallel but a step earlier in its bring-up.
Four moves from a CAD model to a program waiting at the setup zero.
Drop in a STEP and Studio auto-derives the setup — no manual picking. The model is read Z-up with the origin at the top-centre of the part (0,0,0); stock defaults to the part plus a 6 mm XY margin, so the exterior gets cut away clean.
One button. Studio builds a multi-op 3-axis program from your own tools: the largest active flat or bull endmill roughs by Z-levels stepped at its depth-of-cut — profile-only, leaving 0.1 mm — then the same program finishes the walls and skims each flat. Rough and finish in a single click.
See it before metal moves. Three synchronized 3D views — the model, the toolpath, and a cut-result removal simulation — all driven by the controller's own parser, so preview equals removal-sim equals the program that will stream.
Export grblHAL G-code, or click Open in GCode Sentinel for a true one-click hand-off — the program loads straight onto the controller at the setup zero, selected and ready. First cuts should always be air- or foam-validated before any real stock.
Built native in SwiftUI, sharing the controller's parser and doctrine — so the program is clean, gouge-free, and exactly what the machine receives.
Import a STEP file and Studio auto-derives the whole setup — no manual feature picking. The model is assumed Z-up, origin at the top-centre of the part, stock sized to the part plus a default 6 mm XY margin so the exterior is cleared. You point it at a model; it places the zero and the blank for you.
A single Auto-generate click produces a complete multi-op 3-axis program. The largest active flat or bull endmill roughs by Z-levels stepped at its DOC — profile-only, never stripping the blank — and leaves 0.1 mm of finish stock. In the same program, a wall pass and a top skim then finish it.
The wall-finish path rides outside the solid model, so it can't gouge — clean by geometry, not by luck or tolerance. The top skim faces each flat while preserving raised pins and bosses instead of shaving them off. Rest machining for tight corners and bores is a noted future feature, not yet built.
Preview every job across three views — the model, the toolpath, and a cut-result removal simulation — so you watch the part emerge from the stock before any chips fly. Studio shares the controller's parser and doctrine, so preview == removal-sim == the streamed program: what you see is what the machine receives, not an approximation.
Tools are .gcstool JSON packages — sellable, shareable, each with feeds stored inside the tool and a per-tool active flag. The default kit is two flat endmills: a 1/4" (Ø6.35) rougher and a 1/8" (Ø3.175) finisher. Auto-gen always roughs with the largest active tool and builds the program around the tools you actually own.
Output is grblHAL-clean — header G21/G90/M3 S, footer M5/G0 X0Y0, and no G28/G30/G53/M6. Tool changes pause safely with M5 + M0, never M6. A self-contained native Mac app — one half of a platform that hands off to its other half in both directions.