Stencil Font Generator

What it is

Stencil Maker turns a line of text into a stencil you can cut on a laser. Pick a font, type your words, and download a 1:1 millimeter SVG — a plate with the letters cut out, or the letters themselves.

The hard part of a text stencil is the enclosed counters: the inside of O, A, B, D, P, R, 0 and 8. Cut them from a regular font and the centers fall out. Stencil fonts avoid this with small gaps — bridges — designed into the strokes. Stencil Maker handles both: stencil fonts are used as they are, and every other font gets bridges added automatically, so any font you like can become a stencil.

How to use it

1. Pick a font

1. Upload a TTF / OTF / WOFF file, load the fonts installed on your computer, or search by name.
2. Click a font to use it.

36 fonts are built in: 29 stencil fonts with bridges designed in, and 7 regular fonts that get bridges added for you.

2. Type your text and set the size

1. Type up to 200 characters on one line.
2. Turn on Invert for a classic spray stencil: the app adds a frame and the letters become holes. The frame margin is 25% of the text height. With Invert off you get the letter shapes themselves.
3. Set the Text width (10–300 mm). The height follows the font's proportions, and the frame size is shown underneath.

3. Use any font — bridges are added for you

1. Here the font is switched to Anta, a regular font without bridges.
2. The Bridges card only appears for fonts that need it. Auto bridges (on by default) connects every enclosed counter to the rest of the stencil, and tells you which letters got bridges and how many. Bridge width defaults to 1 mm and goes from 0.5 to 10 mm.

Check it in 3D

1. Switch to 3D preview to see the cut plate at its real thickness. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.
2. Try it on wood, red acrylic, mylar or card. The surface only changes the preview, never the file.

5. Export

1. The Export view shows the exact SVG that will be downloaded — red cut lines, file name and size.
2. Download as SVG for laser cutting, or STL / 3MF to 3D-print the stencil. Open in Studio always uses the SVG.
3. Click Export.

Bonus: fonts already on your computer

1. Click Local fonts (Chrome or Edge; the browser asks for permission) and search for the one you want.
2. Pick it. The app checks the font as it loads — Futura Bold has no bridges…
3. …so Auto bridges adds 12 of them to R, O, B, 0 and 8.

How the bridges are placed

Bridges follow the same rules a sign maker would:

• Straight across the stroke, at right angles, so each bridge is as short as possible.
• Where the stroke is thinnest, not across thick stems.
• Away from corners and junctions, centered between them.
• Horizontal or vertical where the letter allows, so the whole set looks consistent.
• Two bridges for large counters, on opposite sides — top and bottom of an O — so the center can't swing loose.
• Nested counters connect outwardone step at a time.

The method is adapted from Bronson, Rheingans & Olano, Semi-Automatic Stencil Creation through Error Minimization (NPAR 2008), applied to vector outlines instead of pixels.

The default 1 mm bridge still leaves about 0.8 mm of material after a 0.2 mm kerf. If you set the bridge width above a quarter of the text height, bridges would chop the letters apart, so none are added and the app names the letters that will lose their centers. Turn Auto bridges off and it names them too.

What you get

• SVG — 1:1 in millimeters (width and height in mm), one cut path in #FE0002 with a 0.1 mm stroke and no fill, artboard tight around the outline. Named after your text, e.g. stencil-GOOD-VIBES.svg.
• STL (binary) and 3MF — the same outline extruded to your thickness (1–20 mm, default 3 mm), in millimeters, for 3D-printed stencils.

Specifications

Good to know

• Single-line (engraving) fonts can't make a stencil — they have no closed outlines to cut. The app tells you on the canvas.
• Your fonts stay on your computer.Uploaded fonts never leave the browser and last for this session only. Reading installed fonts needs Chrome or Edge; in other browsers, upload the font file instead.
• No kerf compensation.The SVG is the nominal shape; set an offset in your laser software if you need one.
• Choosing a material: mylar or acrylic for stencils you'll use again and again, cardstock for one-off jobs.
• Undo / redo, reset, and an English or Chinese interface that follows your platform language.

Credits