Dieline Templates
Generate cut, fold and bleed lines for cards, boxes, boards, punchboards and paper parts as a PDF you can design over.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026
A dieline is the technical drawing a printer uses to cut and fold a component: the flat outline with its cut lines, fold lines and bleed. Dieline Templates draws one for the common board game parts so you can lay your artwork over it.
What this page helps you do
- Pick a template: card, box, board, punchboard, booklet, pad or sheet.
- Enter the size, material thickness and other options.
- Download the dieline as a PDF.
You'll start from Tools, under the Pre-production or Prototyping chip.
Before you start
- Know your sizes in millimetres. A bleed is the extra art that runs past the cut line so there are no white edges; a margin is the safe zone inside the cut where important art should stay.
- If a manufacturer has already sent you their own template, use theirs for production.
Open the tool
In the sidebar, open Tools, click Pre-production (or Prototyping), then click Dieline Templates.
Helpful details
- Key areas: a Template Settings panel on the left and a Preview on the right. The Generate PDF button sits in the page header.
- What you can do: change any setting and watch the preview redraw.
- Good to know: the tool is listed under both Pre-production and Prototyping.
Pick a template
Open the Template list and choose the part you are making.
Helpful details
- Key areas: the list is grouped. Boards & Punchboards: Cardboard Mat, Game Board, Punchboard. Boxes: Two Piece Box. Cards & Paper: Card, Paper Booklet, Paper Pad, Paper Sheet and Tuck Box.
- What you can do: switch templates at any time; the shared settings (size, bleed) stay.
- Good to know: a Two Piece Box is a lid and a base. A Tuck Box is the one-piece card box with flaps.
Set the size and the guide lines
Every template takes X mm (width) and Y mm (height), plus the two toggles Bleed Lines and Margin Lines.
Helpful details
- Key areas: parts with depth (the two boxes) also take Z mm (depth). Boxes and boards take Material (stock) mm: 1, 1.5, 2 or 2.5 mm of board.
- What you can do: turn Bleed Lines and Margin Lines off for a cleaner cut-only drawing.
- Good to know: the preview shows the Total Size of the flat drawing and, for folded parts, the Folded Size.
Template options
Each template adds its own controls under the size fields.
Helpful details
- Key areas:
- Card: Card Size Mode is Custom or Standard (preset). A preset picks a Card Preset from Common Sizes or Other Available Sizes and locks the width and height. Corner Radius (mm) rounds the corners. The preview reports Cards per sheet.
- Tuck Box: Mode is By Size (enter Z mm (depth)) or By Card Type (pick a Card Material (mm) from the list of card stocks, for example "0.28 (300gsm bluecore)", and a Number of Cards, and the tool works out the depth). Thumbcut adds the half-moon opening.
- Two Piece Box: Z mm (depth) and Material (stock) mm.
- Game Board: Folds (No Fold, 1/2 horizontal or vertical, 1/3 horizontal or vertical, 1/4, 1/6) and Double Sided.
- Cardboard Mat: Rounded edges.
- Punchboard: add Ellipse Tokens, Rectangle Tokens, Hexagon Tokens or Custom Tokens (Upload SVG), each with a size and a Count, plus Gutter (mm) between tokens. A Warning appears when the tokens do not fit inside the board.
- Paper Booklet: Layout (1 x 1 vertical or horizontal fold, 1 x 1 x 1, 2x2, 2x3, 3x2, 2x4, 4x2, 3x4, 4x3, 4x4) with Folded X mm (panel width) and Folded Y mm (panel height).
- Paper Sheet and Paper Pad: width and height.
- What you can do: for a punchboard, mix token shapes and adjust counts until the warning disappears.
- Good to know: there is no glue-tab setting; the box templates draw the tabs for you.
Generate the PDF
Click Generate PDF in the page header.
Helpful details
- Key areas: the PDF is drawn as vector lines, with colors set in CMYK, so it opens cleanly in Illustrator, Affinity or Inkscape.
- What you can do: place the PDF as a locked layer in your design file and paint the artwork over it, or hand it to the printer as the cut file.
- Good to know: the button is disabled while a setting is invalid (a negative corner radius, a box with no depth, tokens that do not fit).
Tips & common questions
My manufacturer wants an AI or EPS file. Open the PDF in your vector editor and export the format they ask for. The lines stay vector.
The dieline does not match my manufacturer's template. Factories often have templates tuned to their machines. Use this tool for prototypes and quotes; use the factory's file for the final run.
Which card size should I pick? Choose Standard (preset) and browse Common Sizes. Standard poker cards (63 × 88 mm) are the safe default; P&P Cards Layout uses the same presets.
Can I make a single token or a sticker? Use the Punchboard template with one token, or the Card template with a custom size and corner radius.