Learning to draw with a vector drawing tool is several different skills:
- learning how to draw / manage curves — remember the following rules:
- on-curve nodes are placed at extrema (top/bottom, left/right), sharp points (the tip of a V), points of inflection (the middle of an S curve) Let's draw an "ellipse" with new users — very basic tutorial on drawing with the curve tool — also see: Let's Make a B (for anyone)
- off-curve nodes should reach roughly one-third of the way (usually guideline is 30%, the “rule of 30”) towards the next on-curve node
- off-curve nodes should be placed in-line with the associated off-curve node if a smooth transition is desired — making them vertical/horizontal is usually the best way to do this
- learning to understand Boolean operations — these are critical for efficient achieving many results, see: http://docs.carbide3d.com/assembly/carbidecreate/video-tutorials/#boolean-operations and https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Carbide_Create_Basics#Boolean_Operations — unfortunately, such operations convert curves/geometry into polylines in Carbide Create, so should be left to last. The prototypical make a coaster project: Let's make a coaster — obsolete with CC’s new corner options, but a useful tutorial on Boolean operations or doing this to imported or drawn objects
- understanding manipulation of location, esp. rotation: How to draw a compass rose and How to draw a star --- Carbide Create
We have a bit on the manual tracing at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Carbide_Create_Photo_Tracing and also see Logo re-creation: Carbide create help! and Carbide Create re-drawing — re-drawing with the curve tool and see https://inkscape.org/doc/tutorials/tracing/tutorial-tracing.html
c.f., https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Carbide_Create
If you get stuck on a file or project, post it here, or send it in to use at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll do our best to help.