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Auto-Bridge SVG. Connect Disconnected Stencil Pieces for Laser Cutting
Add shape-aware supports to text, logos and pictures. Review the drawing and remaining support warnings before downloading.
One shared bridge engine for text, logos, shapes and pictures. Cleanup is off: original black material is retained at the processing resolution.
Black is retained material. Text guidance is for a text-only image, not automatic OCR. Processing uses up to 1280 pixels on the long edge; keep the original vector file for finer detail. Workers release memory after each run.
The bridged preview appears here, on the white sheet.
How auto-bridging keeps a laser-cut stencil in one piece
When you cut a design that has fully enclosed shapes, the parts trapped inside fall out the moment the laser finishes. Bridges are the small tabs of material that hold those parts in place. Here is what is actually happening and how to get it right.
Why floating pieces happen
Think of the letter O. The ring is the material you keep, but the disc in the middle is completely surrounded by a cut line. As soon as that line closes, nothing connects the middle to the rest of the sheet, so it drops onto the bed or falls through the honeycomb. The same thing happens with the counter of an A, the dot inside an i once the tittle is separated, the eye of a needle, or any island of ink that a photo trace leaves stranded.
On a screen the design looks perfect because pixels do not obey gravity. On a laser bed they do. A single stencil can hide dozens of these islands, and finding them by eye is slow and unreliable, which is exactly what an automatic pass solves.
What a good bridge looks like
A bridge is a deliberate gap in the cut line, so a thin neck of material stays connected. Good bridges share three qualities. They are thick enough to survive handling, usually at least 1.5 mm on wood and acrylic and a little more on brittle materials. They sit where they read as intentional, along a natural contour or at the top and bottom of a counter, not slashed diagonally across the artwork. And they are placed in pairs on larger shapes so the trapped piece cannot hinge or twist.
The shared bridge engine proposes supports and checks the exported mask for connectivity. It reports missing independent support routes separately from floating islands. These checks cannot certify physical strength: review local bridge widths and test the chosen material and kerf.
When you should not bridge
Engraving never needs bridges, because engraving only burns the surface and removes no material, so nothing can fall out. Bridges are strictly a cut-through concern. You also skip bridging when a design is already one connected mass, for example a solid silhouette, because there are no islands to hold. If you plan to frame a design or mount it on a backing board, you can sometimes leave counters unbridged and let the frame or backing hold them, but that only works if the pieces are captured, not loose.
Bridging checklist before you cut
- ›Bridge every fully enclosed shape, not just the obvious letters. Photo traces leave tiny islands you will not see until the piece falls apart.
- ›Keep tabs at least 1.5 mm wide on 3 mm plywood or acrylic, wider on thin or brittle stock.
- ›Prefer two small tabs on a large counter over one big one, so the piece cannot swing.
- ›Do not bridge engraving jobs. It only adds marks that do not need to be there.
- ›Cut a small test in scrap first if you are unsure a tab will hold your specific material.
How the auto-bridger works
- 1
Upload artwork
Choose a static SVG, PNG, JPG or WebP up to 16 MB.
- 2
Choose guidance and size
Select photo, shapes or text, then set proportional bridge width and finished millimetres.
- 3
Add bridges
Run the shared engine locally and review the preview, floating pieces and support warnings.
- 4
Download and test
Export SVG, DXF or PNG. Check dimensions in your laser software and test the chosen material.
What is a stencil bridge?
When you cut a stencil on a laser, anything that's a separate piece falls out. The hole in the middle of an "O", the dot on an "i", and the inside of an "8" are all floating islands. A bridge is a thin connector that links those islands to the main material so they stay in place. Without bridges, you can't actually use the stencil for spray paint, etching cream, or fabric dye.
Why use auto-bridging vs. drawing them by hand?
Manual placement means checking each island, choosing suitable attachment points and joining the geometry. The shared bridge engine proposes shape patterns, text supports and face-aware placement, then verifies the exported mask. Processing time depends on design complexity and your device. Review fine details and unsupported regions before cutting.
Works with LightBurn, xTool, Glowforge, Cricut and more
The output is standard SVG plus a DXF copy, both scaled to millimetres. Drop either into LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, Lasergrbl, Glowforge, Cricut Design Space, or Silhouette Studio. Nothing proprietary, no plugins, no Adobe subscription.
Privacy
This tool processes artwork in local browser workers. It downloads the engine assets but does not upload your design to our generation server. Each worker is released when it finishes or is cancelled. See the privacy policy for the site-wide policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the auto-bridger actually do?
It scans your SVG, finds every separate piece (floating letters, the centre of an O, a star's outer ring vs. an inner cutout, etc.), and adds thin connectors so the whole thing comes out of your laser cutter as one solid stencil. Without bridges, all those inner pieces fall out the moment you cut them.
Will it ruin my design?
With the original engine, cleanup is disabled: it keeps original black material at its processing resolution and adds supports, with a width proportional to the design. The Artisan engine (the same as Version 1 Detail and Version 2 Strong of our AI results) removes specks under 1 mm and fills tiny pinholes, and its preview colours each piece by how well it is held. Review the preview and warnings, then test your material and kerf. Connectivity does not guarantee physical strength.
What file types do you accept?
Static self-contained SVG, PNG, JPG and WebP up to 16 MB and 40 megapixels. Processing is limited to 1280 pixels on the long edge. Keep your original vector file for finer details. DXF input is not supported.
Do you store my file?
No. Geometry processing runs in your browser. Your artwork is not sent to our generation server by this tool.
How much does it cost?
Free, with no signup or generation credits. The browser downloads the geometry engine on first use and needs temporary working memory. Each worker is released after processing.
What software does the bridged file work with?
Any laser-cutting software that imports SVG or DXF: LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, Glowforge, Lasergrbl, LaserGRBL, Cricut Design Space (SVG), Silhouette Studio, and Inkscape for further editing.
My stencil already cuts in one piece, do I need this?
Not necessarily. The engine also checks independent support routes and may reinforce a connected design. The downloaded SVG follows the processed mask; it is not the original vector file.
How does the bridging algorithm work?
The shared geometry engine uses shape patterns, text guidance and optional face landmarks to place supports. Cleanup stays off. It checks the exported SVG at 1x and 2x resolution and reports remaining floating pieces or unsupported regions separately.