Hoping to solicit some opinions on what software to jump to next. I got my Shapeoko about 6 months ago and I feel like I am rapidly outgrowing the Free Carbide Create and need to step up to something more powerful. What I cannot decide is do I just make the leap to Fusion 360 or stick with something specifically designed for CNC like VCarve?
I know Fusion is more powerful and can be used for lots of other things like woodworking plans, 3d printing, and a million other things so in my mind its where I think I should go but, I am wondering if it really is as good for use on the CNC as something specifically built with that in mind. Will I be spending a lot of time creating something in fusion that is a button press in VCarve? Is the fact that VCarve is really specifically for CNC mean its better at that one job or is Fusion just as well flushed out?
Thanks for any thoughts anyone might have. As of right now all I really know how to use is Carbide Create and Lightburn (and Visio) if that makes any difference.
Fusion 360 and Vectric Vcarve are two very different programs ā the former is for 3D mechanical modeling, while the latter is a 2D drawing program which has the ability to make 2.5D toolpaths (much like Carbide Create), Vectricās Aspire adds 3D modeling (as does Carbide Create Pro).
I use BlockSCAD/OpenSCAD a lot, and have been looking into RapCAD, but Iām lazy and inclined towards programmatic approaches.
Many folks use Inkscape or Serifās Affinity Designer as a front-end for Carbide Create ā my suggestion would be to start w/ one of those and see if it addresses the lacunae.
As stated above thereās lots of programs I am using carbide create pro which has some limitations that you have to work around. But you can get your feet wet with a year subscription for Around 120 bucks
Itās a little more pricey but I am going to try Vetrics vcarve pro next
@wboweiii My inputs on this: I use Vectric VCarve Pro and really like it. I also use the free version of Fusion 360 where I want the true 3D composition, and more progressive tool path options (such as Adaptive clearing). As I also have a rotary axis on my 3XL, I do at some point need to look at buying the base licence version of Fusion 360 to get rotary CAM capabilityā¦ VCarve can do rotary, but there are a few limitations - Iāve managed to work around them to date, but I suspect F360 will be stronger. Vectric Aspire is too rich for my hobby interests, so doesnāt really get a look in.
It will all come down to what you want to do, and what sort of designerās mind you have. For simple stuff, easy learning curve you might find CC/CC-Pro enough. In my experience you will quickly find its limitations and want the step up to Vectric, Fusion or similar if nothing else for the smarter drawing tools and tools library etc. Cost amongst all these options is not very different.
There are other options, OpenSCAD, CarveCo and others, but I suspect the learning curve is even higher. There is MeshCAM too, but it is out of the same stable as Carbide Create and doesnāt work the way I do.
Iām not rubbishing anything in what I say. It really will come down to your preferencesā¦ but you imply that early simplicity has given way to your now more advanced wants. My experience too.
I (still) use CC for moderately-challenging 2D cuts and CC Pro for 3D relief carving, Vectric VCarve Desktop for complex/long vcarve jobs, and Fusion for everything else especially when I need very advanced toolpath control
CC is unbeatable in terms of ātime from idea to finished pieceā for simple shapes/templates in e.g. wood. Fire up CC, draw the shape, click-click-click to create toolpaths with default feeds and speeds from the library, donāt tune anything, export and run the code, done.
Vectric VCarve really shines on complex v-carve jobs (wellā¦itās in the name, there is a reason for that), the second feature I use VCarve specifically for is its native handling of two-sided machining (very handy button to flip back and forth from front to bottom to have a fighting chance to not mess up the alignement/mirroring when doing the flip side )
Fusion360 is a love-hate thing for me . Absolutely love the advanced features, and the very fluid modelling capabilities (ONCE you have spent a few tens of hours learning itā¦be ready for a STEEP learning curve). Absolutely hate the commercial model (free hobbyist license but at random times they release a new version to make your non-paying-hobbyist life harder and lead you to buy the paid versionā¦which is only fair but still annoying). The other reason Iām still using Fusion360 a lot is that besides CNC I do a lot of 3D printing, and itās fantastic to have a single modelling tool for objects that you can then either print OR mill (for 3D printing thereās a button that sends it automatically to your slicer, for CNC well it generates the Gcode)
Thanks for all the quick repliesā¦ I knew there was no simple answer to this one. I think it am going to sit through some basic Fusion for dummies type videos and see how I feel about it. Will also check out some of the other tools people have mentioned.
Does seem like from this thread and all the others floating around that Vectric is the right tool if I do decide not to go the Fusion route.
I will throw my thoughts into the ring. I will suggest VCarve Pro. F360 is free to a hobbyist, so no downside on getting it too. But like others have said, a bit of a learning curve, and it depends on what you are throwing at your CNC. If you need to create āmodelsā of objects, F360 is the go to; personally I use SolidWorks which I have available at work, and have F360 for home use.
But back to VCP: it is very intuitive, especially in a 2D environment. I do placards with text and holes, cutouts in plexi windows, and aluminum plates with cutouts and text. VCP works great for this. Easy to draw in, with great layering tools, a tool library which you can customize and save to reuse, and the ability to create templates for operations; I have a template for a certain text operation (tool, depths, speeds) which I can import, assign to geometry and spit out g-code, and the post processors are great. Worth an investment I suggest, so give it a shot.
I took the plunge into Fusion 360 and havenāt looked back. I canāt say enough nice things about the program. Iāve been able to create pretty much whatever Iāve thought of. The sketching option is very well done. Converting it into 3D is intuitive and fast. The program separates Design from Manufacturing.
There are great online resources to learn the software. Itās relatively approaching for someone new, but has tons of powerful features as you get better at the program.
There are also numerous tool libraries to import all your end mills.
Iāve done both highly technical and organic designs using Fusion.
Throw in my 2 cents though with inflation it may be my $2.
At any rate, while I know there are a lot of what I could call āhigh endā wants, I have something the just kind of bugs me every time I start a new project.
Having to put in the āstock thicknessā in the setting everytime when I use the same stock a lot of time for my projects maybe a way to ācarry overā setting from the previous runs? Even maybe setting up the ātā in the depth setting for the toolpaths as a default.
If that is not possible maybe a way to set up an icon or selection somewhere that can be an āestablished settingsā that can be called into the new program at the start of design.
Hope this make some sense. Just seems kind of redundant every time I go into another job to set up the āstandard settingsā for my shop normal jobs.
That saidā¦I really LOVE the ātā function in the toolpath settings. What a great option. THANKS
Create a .c2d file with the desired settings, save it w/ a suitable name in a āTemplateā folder, make it read-only ā open it when you wish to work w/ those settings and then re-save it under a different name.
If you think youāre going to get into 3D printing/3D modeling I would go with Fusion 360 right off the bat. It doesnāt make sense to me to learn another program, and then learn Fusion when Fusion can do what other apps can do and so much more.
As others have said Fusion 360 is something you will have to learn about. Iām comfortable with many different creative programs and most software I can jump in and at least do something basic. I was not able to do that with Fusion 360.
Once you understand what I would call the design philosophy of Fusion I find it incredibly easy to use to create simple and complex designs. But until you learn that philosophy the program is not intuitive at all.
A few quick comments:
I use Inscape for design of most intricate 2d carvings such as making signs, cutting simple parts, etc., then import the SVGs into CC. Donāt care for the design functionality of CC, as I feel the various sketch/design operations are cumbersome and are not very accurate when precision is in order. But, the program does work very well as a SVG-conversion-to-Gcode interface, and for very simple, low intricacy things, CC works quite well also. I think it is great that Carbide provides the program for free and offers something that allows most new users to conquer what is, for most guys and gals, a learning curve to start with when getting into CNC, but, as the OP observed, most people will gravitate toward something with more capabilities as experience growsā¦
Iāve never used V-carve, but it strikes me (based on my limited research) as a pretty expensive v-carving program with enough capability to satisfy the weekend āmakersā that produce art-and-craft items for sale. I know they offer several purchase options, depending on oneās need for complicated design, and the user interface does seem pretty user friendly.
I use Fusion for all my intricate designs and especially for any 3d stuff, and do not regret the time investment that went into learning (and continuing to learn) the program. As others attest, adapting to the program is a learning curve for one moving from a 2d world to 3d, but it is a very accurate design and modeling tool with parametric design capability and, though CAM can sometimes pose its own challenges, the toolpath generation features offer infinite capability and I have never had any trouble using Fusion-produced nc files with Carbide Motion and my Shapeoko. If one is moving toward 3d productions, Fusion is becoming a go-to program for a lot of folks and there are enough similarities with some of the other CAD/CAM commercial programs that it made sense to take the time to learn the program. Further, there is an infinite knowledge base on the web for learning Fusion, so while it is a learning curve, one can almost always find some Youtube content that will get one over the hump of a problem or teach the various techniques, from simple to advanced, necessary to master the software. Finally, the hobby version is still free, so thereās not the shock of purchasing something that one never knows how much it will be used. Like others, Iām sometimes frustrated with some of the curve balls that Autodesk throws at the free-version users to push them toward a purchased edition, but given the cost of Fusion or a similar CAD/CAM package, I just suck it up and learn to live with the occasional hurdles.
One interesting option, though with a fairly difficult learning curve, is Tikz which involves coding and is part of the LaTeX ecosystem. There are plenty of ready-to-use examples on he web and as usual in this situation one starts by didding the provided code. A free subscription to the online LaTeX service Overleaf should be sufficient and easier than installing LaTeX on your computer.
Another coding platform is Processing; I have very little experience with this.
TikZ is very cool (and has a graphical interface in TikZedt) ā I used METAPOST via lualatex in:
Processing is very cool, but when I tried to make SVGs using it, I found precision lacking ā there should be a post about it on the Processing forums/bug reports. Nodebox had similar issues.
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