Nesting in Indesing (with datamerge)

[Bart_Bossuyt_-_die_Keure]

Hi all, 

Do you think it's possible to use nesting in indesign. Or even better, use nesting while performing a data merge. With nesting i mean this: Nesting refers to the process of laying out cutting patterns to minimize the raw meterial waste.

So i have a data merge with several PDF-files in different sizes. is it possible to place the files at 100% automatically and in the most efficient way. 

maybe with scripting? i'm just thinking out loud here 🙂

Thanks in advance.

[Colin Flashman · Accepted solution]

If you mean nesting such as this example:

The short answer is no. The longer answer is not without paying a scripter to develop a bespoke application, as it involves trying to solve a bin packing task: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_packing_problem

Because I feel that this is more of a page imposition issue, I'd consider using imposition software designed for nested impositions. Esko makes software like this - it isn't cheap but worth a look: https://www.esko.com/en/products/i-cut-suite

[Luke_Jennings]

I found this in the Illustrator forum:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/auto-nesting-objects/td-p/3659299

I have not tested the plug-in mentioned in the post.