Carbide 3D Pro software honest review

[HardDrive (Jon)]

So I bought my shapeoko 5 pro 4x4 around Jan - Feb 2025

Around April 2025 I upgraded to the pro and then shortly after started using the beta v8

I used my support time for hard 3D projects.

I learned a lot with the software. I had tons and I mean tons of failures on projects.

Now, after completing my third craft show in less than six months with 3-D carves and everything else, I spent my profits off of the last show to buy Vetric vcarve pro.

With that being said, it’s a learning curve seeing that I’ve had this machine less than a year of learning new software.

Which at the pace I was going with regular carbide create non-pro version and then I switched to the pro version in just a few months

I have no problem, tearing stuff up and trying to create stuff with wood, but my big complaint about the pro version of carbide 3-D is you all as a company need to step it up

If I would have known six months ago, that I could have sped up my production in carve times with vectric pro software.

I would have never paid for carbide 3-D pro version whether it’s version 7 or version 8 Beta

I have to admit carbide3-D is way behind in the times of what is out there for software

Now granted I’ve only had vectric pro for less than a week, but I can say wholeheartedly you all need to step up your game and your software and quit being so conservative

I just ran my first file on Vectric pro 3D CARVE FILE. A file that would be the same to pass tools and bits used under carbide 3-D pro it took over one and a half hours to complete.

With Vetric it took just 20 minutes with 3 tool changes of 1/4 and a 1/2 bit on a 80 mm spindle

That has cut my carve time down on a 3-D tool path astronomical

With all this being said, I’d challenge carbide 3-D designers software designers and the company to be better.

I also making this post being less than a year maybe eight months owning a machine which I think it’s fabulous and does everything that I wanted to do.
when I know how to do it to better.
Must improve their software.

The software that I am learning right now has so many more features, objects, layers, selections, creative, designs, carving, and so many other options that I wish would have been in carbide 3-D pro software

Honestly, I feel like I have been duped into a software that is very conservative and is very limited and what a CNC can do

For the money being spent per year for carbide 3-D pro I think you all should do better and add more options to the software other than generic cut paths and tool paths.

With this being said, I enjoyed my time of tearing up a lot of wood at my expense, but I learned a lot with carbide 3-D pro but now I know that is not the best software at all for hobby or someone just starting out

Carbide3D should learn from a different software than what you all offer AND make it better

Just my two cents on the software

[Redlander (Tim Jones)]

If I remember correctly, Vetric does not sell cnc machines?

Carbide does and provides basic and upgraded software to run there machines as well as provide specific support for issues with the software and machines.

I’m still using C3D Pro version, it cuts everything I need it too. I also have adjusted feeds/speeds as recommended by C3D, once I understood how to run the machine without tearing it or what ever I was cutting at the time.

C3D has stated that there is more powerful software than their Pro version before you purchased it. They also are constantly upgrading features, some of these features added were specific requests from this forum.

Just my two cents on the entire Carbide experience for me.

I’m glad you are using software that works for you, but you had the opportunity to increase the feeds and speeds in Carbide Create to increase your efficiency.

[jrobe (Jim Roberts)]

If I am not mistaken, V-carve Pro is also a $700 program. It is not really fair to compare it to a product that is half the price. That would be like comparing your Shapeoko to a CNC machine that cost twice the price.

For my use, CC Pro is great for $10 per month. I would have no need for V-carve Pro.

[Emmess (Matthias Solga)]

AFAIK Vcarve does not write *.c2d-files for CM. That is a no go for me, I have big problems to cut GCode what I downloaded from external sources, since -again AFIAK- these GCodes must be specific to the machine. Or am I wrong?

[mhotchin (Michael Hotchin)]

Since you are controlling the program in this case, it’s fine to use the GCode output from VCarve. You are in complete control of feeds, speeds and bit choice.

CM reads .c2d files, but just to extract the GCode that is embedded in it. Since things like the toolnames are shown in CM now that they are written into the GCode, it appears that CM isn’t doing anything with any of the other information in the .c2d file.

If you have CC Pro, and export the GCode, I don’t see any difference between loading the GCode and loading the .c2d file.

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

Vectric works fine for pretty much any machine, including those from Carbide 3D, as noted, it’s just a matter of selecting an appropriate post-processor which matches the machine, see:

New Post-Processor for Vectric software

I have updated the old v4 Carbide Motion ATC Post Processor (PostP) to v5a. It adds toolpath name and tool number display to Carbide Motion STATUS display line in place of the PostP code ID stamp. It also replaces that old code ID stamp with english text so it is meaningful. It was developed with a Shapeoko Pro. I am attaching a ZIP file that contains both the mm and inch versions, as well as a user guide that explains how to install the custom post processor. The user guide also explains a p…

for one example.

@mhotchin

If you have CC Pro, and export the GCode, I don’t see any difference between loading the GCode and loading the .c2d file.

One notable difference is that rather than using the internal post-processor (seems to be the same as “Carbide 3D Shapeoko”) one can choose/use a different post-processor, and control the machine as described at:

https://carbide3d.com/hub/faq/create-pro-custom-post-processor/

We’ve always been quite up-front that the feeds and speeds in Carbide Create are quite conservative — they have to be, since they can be used on a Shapeoko 3 w/ belt-drive Z-axis (but when used on a heftier machine w/ a trim router one can always use feed rate override and adjust the speed dial) — moreover, rather than being divided into multiple programs (and a plethora of post-processors) w/ a final buy-in of almost $2,000, it is one program, with two modes, only one of which is charged for, and the other has to be suited for beginning users doing the most basic of projects with no experience.

For optimizing feeds and speeds see:

#MaterialMonday on YouTube

@wmoy has begin a series of YouTube videos on #MaterialMonday. For the full list: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/materialmonday A central tenet of this series is an acknowledgement that the hobby CNC routers need different numbers for different sorts of paths. Thus far he has done: Aluminum: Shapeoko 3: [Aluminum Feeds and Speeds for the Shapeoko - #MaterialMonday] [Machining Aluminum with the 278-Z on the Shapeoko - #MaterialMonday] Nomad 883 Pro: [Sing…

Obviously, as a Carbide 3D employee, I’m not impartial, but I bought a Vectric license ages ago and while I successfully used it for one project, found the UI cluttered and clunky and confusing, and never used Vectric Vcarve Desktop again after that once Carbide Create gained the Advanced V carving functionality except for tech support interactions, which gradually tapered off as new features were added to Carbide Create.

We are constantly developing new versions:

https://carbide3d.com/blog/carbide-create-v6-done/

https://carbide3d.com/blog/carbide-create-v7/

https://carbide3d.com/blog/create-big-file-update/

https://carbide3d.com/blog/create-v8/

and will continue to do so:

CC - Node Editing Changes

UPDATE: The poll is closed, but scroll down for a new beta release. We’re about to start on the changes to node editing, specifically allowing keyboard nudges for nodes based on the “what do you want changed” thread from a month ago. We were starting here because it seemed like a simple change to knock out. Of course, it’s one of the oldest parts of the code, so it’s more invasive than we expected. Since we’re here anyway, we’d like your opinion on a larger change that we might make. Curren…

Carbide Create V817--821 (Beta)

Robs post from the other topic:

Moreover, if folks need something better than Carbide Create, we do sell/partner with:

Alibre Workshop CAD/CAM

[UngerCNC (Luke)]

I have both Vcarve Desktop and CC Pro and still use CC Pro for ease of use. I don’t do 3D carving, so that very well might be the main advantage of Vcarve. I prefer the simplistic design tools in CC as I make a lot of functional mechanical parts and I have the most time in CC software so I am very comfortable using it. I keep telling myself to use Vcarve more (since I paid $350 for it) but I keep going back to CC Pro.

[GJM (Gary Morgen)]

I’m also a CC Pro user and it works very well for me. I’ve spoken up about features that I felt were not up to snuff - and about consistency in a program that’s no longer free (things you are willing to put up with when you’re not paying for them). Rob and Carbide have been VERY responsive - changes were made and are continuing to be made that address those concerns and the concerns of others on this forum.

There’s something very special about having such easy and close access to the team creating the software and machines. You feel like you’re contributing to the product in more ways than money - and they appreciate it.

I’m also a heavy user of what I consider to be one of the most powerful software packages around - Photoshop - and I understand what it means to invest the time to get the level of knowledge you need to make a powerful package become second nature, so you can make it do cartwheels. If you invest that time with Vectric, it will be time well spent and you will likely be able to do things you could never to with CC Pro. But I still turn to Paint when I want to do something quick - and I know a lot of folks who use other, less powerful, imaging packages and get by just fine.

CC Pro is a brilliant concept - software that drives the machine becomes as important as the machine itself - it’s the Microsoft lesson relearned. As long as Rob and crew continue to put resources against the development of CC and CC Pro, they will continue to be viable, lower cost alternatives. Not necessarily the most powerful, but certainly formidable.

Gary