Meshcam vs Vcarve pro

Is it worth the money to get meshcam or Vcarve pro and conver the files so that they can be was in carbide motion. Or just use Inkscape. Just a question has anyone brought either of the two and how do they work or not work for you???

They’re markedly different programs for different usages.

  • Mesh CAM is a general purpose 3D CAM program w/ some additional features — allows one to use 3D modeling apps to their best advantage
  • V Carve Pro is a 2D drawing program w/ CAM features optimized for signage, but w/ the ability to import one 3D file per project

Some links on them here: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Commercial_Software — both have trial versions.

Inkscape is perfectly capable for 2D vector/Bezier curve drawing and will allow one to make pretty much anything possible in 2.5D using gcodetools, MakerCAM, or Carbide Create.

Meshcam is included with the nomad, so lots of people here on the forum use it. It does a good enough job for a lot of thigns. I haven’t used vcarve for more than a small trial project. There are other free options around too, what works well for you depends a lot on how much messing around you’re willing to do, how much your time is worth… Most of the commercial tools have a trial, don’t be shy about using them.