Nice, I’m a sucker for those tree of life projects.
You can’t beat VCarve for V-carving, indeed 
They have been polishing their software for 10 major releases now, it’s only fair that they ended up with a superior product
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i did the same and got the pro version i was like £680 is allot of money but already the quality difference in carving / text. And the time i have saved vs fafing in Fusion 360 text is substantial. Though i still love and use fusion360 #neverleavemefusion lol
for me though it is allot of money for a very narrow product but as @Julien said it is now focused for a reason vcarve quality
here is a good example of what i struggled to do in fusion but seconds in Vcarve
Edit - for example pic
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What machine are you using?
SO3XXL that i love like my fourth child )
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@Julien, @Sherpa
I am very interested in the v-carve quality. You both say that the Vectric products have superior v-carve quality. Have you figured out why the quality is better than Carbide Create - what does Vectric do differently?
Well I didn’t mention “quality” (as in quality of the resulting cut), as this is mostly related to proper feeds and speed and high-quality V-bits (I love Carbide3D’s #301 and #302 by the way)
I was more thinking about the optimization of the V-carving toolpaths strategy: the toolpaths generated by V-Carve are efficient, don’t rapid back and forth all over the place, and do what you would expect in the order you would expect. Also, VCarve handles complex design with lots of vector elements (read : the Aztec calendar) easily, while last time I tried CC choked on it. No offence/grudge against CC, and I know it has come a long way since then, maybe it would work now. And it’s completely unfair anyway to compare a 350$+ piece of specialized software to CC which comes for free (and is arguably a better way to enter the world of CNC/Shapeoko than VCarve)
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Ah . i read more into your comment “You can’t beat VCarve for v-carving” than I should. I agree that Carbide Create is an absolutely great introduction software. But at some point, depending on what you are trying to create you need to move to better, more versatile software. I am certainly at that point - and am increasingly frustrated using CC and having to use unnecessarily complex workrounds to do what I want - it gets there eventually though and it is free!
Actually, a number of folks have reported the Vectric Vcarve does “crisper” better looking V carves. A couple of considerations:
- finer model scale — in particular, one can hold down shift when choosing the model resolution and get an incredibly detailed model option in Vectric (albeit at a cost in memory / performance)
- different height changing toolpaths — Vectric seems to do this in a fashion which results in more consistent cutting than Carbide Create (stars have been noted as resulting in uneven points in some materials if feeds and speeds aren’t just so — Vectric seems to afford more latitude)
- internal modeling is done as / allows for curves in toolpaths in Vectric — one can even enable this in G-Code generation by selecting a suitable post-processor or editing one to enable this option
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These are both from the same JPG file, I converted to SVG from Vector Magic the one with the dark background, 60 degree bit. The lighter one was Vcarve import and traced JPG cut with 90 degree bit.
I know its not a true side by side comparison but just watching the Toolpaths was so much smoother and not jumping around and doing the “just going to act like its about to cut plunge”
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Nice, I have not tried the drag bit with carve yet but saw that it was there.
The ease of use and intuitiveness of Vcarve is worth every penny. I found CC to be so frustrating and unpredictable. IMO It’s not worth the learning curve time.
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Diamond drag engraving was actually the reason I bought V-Carve. I created DDE bit profiles with different spacing and hatching so it is easier to use different hatching.
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I have a SHAPEOKO Carbide 3d XXL and I can’t even get started with it! I am 65 and not to tech savvy! I downloaded the tutorials for my machine!
I’m frustrated that I won’t be able to get the results that I want
Another aspect of VCarve is that it has the ability to set a maximum depth for VCarve toolpaths so for example it does not go through the material and also it has the ability to automatically create a roughing toolpath with a larger bit to speed the process.
I will also mention the very powerful design tools that provides the ability for example to cut duplicate/unwanted vectors, to join vectors, etc.
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Search ZANK INLAY and you’ll see how inlays are done with Vcarve
If you’ll let us know what sort of things you want to do, we’ll do our best to find or make tutorials which will allow you to do them.
Have you worked through any at: https://docs.carbide3d.com/tutorials/#shapeoko-tutorials
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Delbert,
That is an interesting name. My father was a Delbert.
To answer your comment of being frustrated. I am also 65 and have had my Shapeoko 3xxl for about a year. It is true that there is a very steep learning curve if you do not have a background with design or software. However that can be overcome with perseverance. If you think you cant you cant. You have to think that it is possible and work toward your goal. You may fail but each failure you learn something new and eventually you will succeed. So keep a positive mental attitude that you can do it and keep trying. Even though you are 65 remember that it took several years for you to learn to crawl, walk and run, learn to use a fork and knife and keep most of your dinner off of your shirt. So do not concentrate on your failure or inability to grasp a very complex set of instructions but concentrate on learning it bit by bit. There are a lot of tutorials on youtube.com about using the software and making projects. You should check out cutrocket.com for projects that have already been figures out. Do a couple of the projects from cutrocket.com and learn. Then you can start to build on your success and achieve more as you learn more.
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Hang in there, it will click
Simple signs were pretty easy but I was looking to do more relief type carving.
YouTube is definitely the way to learn.
I’m sure if you start a post with what you want to accomplish this group will help you along.
Carbide create was simple to start with and once you have an idea how to select the vectors it will fall in place.
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Funny in college my lab partner always joked that I didn’t own a shirt without a coffee stain on the chest. I’m 47 now and I’ve finally learned,…to not buy anything except dark colored shirts!
On with the topic at hand. I have plenty of friends that think my 3D printers, SO3 and laser are machines that I somehow turn on, go grab lunch, come back and a perfectly made “product” is just somehow sitting on my workbench waiting for me. I come from a background of sheet metal fabrication, all hand work, always custom. To me at least that sort of work (albeit different) is easier for me and much more natural. It’s like drawing with a pencil and paper versus drawing in CAD. I can draw and sketch all day long with a pencil, but for the life of me I can’t draw anything “organic” in nature on a computer. CNC versus hands on is the same way, it’s a whole different “strategy” to make the same thing on a CNC. It takes time, and lots of scrapped material before it works consistently. Stick to it, it’ll come.
Dan
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