Adobe illustrator Substitute

[vanroekelsteve (Stephen)]

Hi all, I’m new to cnc. I just bought the 5 pro and will be using for first time on Thursday. As I review my strategy to use, could you all give me your advice on the use of a program that can help transform illustrations into vectors easier. Or what is your process or software that you use that is most helpful in moving your ideas to actionable files for carbide motion? Ty for advice in advance

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

CorelDraw is still popular for folks running Windows

A popular newer commercial option is Serif’s Affinity Designer.

The free/opensource options include Inkscape, Cenon, Graphite, &c.

Depending on what you mean by:

program that can help transform illustrations into vectors easier.

Carbide Create may work well:

Carbide Create - Image Tracing

We just posted CC 520 to: https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/download/ 520 includes a big new feature for us, Image Tracing. [image] You should be able to load a JPG or PNG and get a reasonable set of curves from it very quickly. A few caveats: Right now, it’s mono only so color images will be converted to black and white using the thresholds in the window. We’re not optimizing for very small images so some will work well, others won’t. We’d recommend images larger than 500px on a side …

If you would provide an example of the workflow/files/approach you wish to use we might be better able to advise.

[jtclose (Jim Close)]

Inkscape is free. It is a 2D SVG editor.

Edit: It does tracing as well

[Bobster (Robert Plante)]

There is also Ligthburn, it is designed for laser engraving but can be used as a 2D SVG editor, it works very well, does also tracing. It can open image and vector files in many formats and you can export SVG, DXF and AI files and of course send your files to a laser engraver. It is the most used software for that. It is free to try for one month.

They also started a new software: Millmage. It is for a 2.5D design for CNC also with CAM. They starting a release candidate free to use. I don’t know if I will try it. I am presently using the free version (hobbyist) of Fusion 360 for CNC and 3D printing. I am using also Carbide Create for some 2.5D designs.

[Evermorian (Andrew Crawford)]

I have used Illustrator, Corel Draw, Affinity Designer, and Inkscape. I mostly use Inkscape these days.

Good tutorials here, if you prefer videos:

Logos By Nick

[vanroekelsteve (Stephen)]

Thank you all for your input! I am new to CNC and have had the shapeoko 5 pro for a few weeks and am just getting it started. So I am still learning the vocabulary of the realm as well. Thanks for the suggestions. As for what I am planning to do, that is still in process as I am narrowing down that. But I when I get there I want to have knowledge of what tools to properly explore.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

@vanroekelsteve

still learning the vocabulary

For more on that please see:

Glossary | Shapeoko CNC A to Z