Hello, in most of my cnc work I use v-bits and I tried using mesh cam which is fairly simple and easy to use but I can’t use v-bits and I use Mac book for my stuff so most good softwares are only for windows. Ive been using Carbide Create for a long while but I wanna see if there’s anything a little better.
I’ve used Easel almost exclusively for V-bit work and it has been great. You get 4 free days a month, or can pay for more.
V carving software:
- Carbide Create
- F-Engrave — opensource Python program
- Vectric Vcarve — commercial, Windows-only
I believe Autodesk Fusion 360 may have an option for this, and maybe EstlCAM or CamBam — list of software at:
It does…and I need more characters.
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Maybe it time to buy a windows machine. Vectric V-carve works great. Worth the $700 price tag. You should be able to get a low end windows PC/Laptop for a few hundred dollars.
Thank you guys so much. this has been helpful. and Yeah windows is much better in the long run 
Rather than a Windows machine, it should be possible to run Vectric in Windows on you Mac using either Boot Camp or Parallels.
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Another vote here for the vectric software, there is no comparison for V-carve work in my opinion. It is expensive, but it is worth it in my opinion. You can also start with V-carve desktop and scale up later without losing your investment.
I ran it for quite a quite on a mac book pro under parallels without issue, however I now run all Windows machines.
Another upvote for VCarve here. I purchased the desktop version, learning how to use it was very easy, and it is very polished, you can tell there are years of continuous improvments in there.
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I have a MacBook and VCarve pro works well with Parallel and Windows 10. Of course you have to buy Parallel and Windows 10 but it is cheaper than a comparable Windows 10 computer and you can share data (e.g. :copy, paste) between most Windows and Mac Apps (Carbide Create being one that will not let you copy paste between app in fact it will not let you open two files and copy paste between them).
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I’ll second Easel for ease of use. As far as pure V-carving goes, it seems to do what Vectric’s V-carve can do. It won’t generate any other 3D paths, though.
@evilchikin, got a project idea? Might help rule some out.
Only Easel Pro lets you V Carve and you have to pay a monthly subscription. Furthermore, I don’t think that you can transfer your designs to another system if you decide not to renew your subscription.
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Estlcam has v-carving capabilities and is compatible with Carbide Motion (and others, I think). I did get some weird results on my last attempt, but they might have been due to poor workholding and my belts not being installed correctly. Estlcam has a depth of cut feature that is missing in Carbide Create.
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You get four free days a month to generate toolpaths, and unlimited free days to do your design work.
You can export your designs as SVG. Exporting is relatively new, and I have not tried it. I don’t use Easel for design anyway…I typically import from Inkscape.
Toolpath control is limited to feed, speed, and DOC, but I don’t think it can be beat for simplicity.
From the Inventable website
How much does it cost?
$19.99 / month (cancel any time)
—OR—
$12.99 / month (pay once for the year)
All X-Carve and Carvey owners can carve for free 4 days each month.
$2.99 day passes.
You need to own an X-Carve or Carvey to get the free days it seems. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of nice features in Easel and I use the free version, I like the fact that people can write apps (an API to create apps in Carbon Create would be something that would bring CC to the next level). Unfortunately I think that an app like V-Carve is a better deal since you can use it for many years and don’t depend on a service to store your data. Recently someone on the other forum said that they felt hostage to the service.
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There have been a couple of folks who have written utilities which will make .c2d files:
https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Carbide_Create#Resources
(rabbeted boxes, and curved surfaces using grids)
It would be nice to work up something more general — I’ve been working on a project using Tool Path Language (TPL: https://tplang.org/ ) which I’d find far easier if Carbide Create just had one more feature which would facilitate my using it.
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Try a V-carve…I bet it will let you.
I’m not comparing the two. Easel is just dead simple.
I use Fusion 360 for everything I can, even v-carving. There are things that Easel just makes easy. I’m not trying to push Easel…just saying it’s a viable option.
Yup, I don’t own xcarve or carvey and use the 4 free days every month. You are right, it makes some things so simple that you don’t need to know how to use the program. This is awesome sometimes, and troublesome when it is doing something you don’t want it to.
Just need more fonts?
Use Inkspace, make any words you want in any font
Trace them
Import into your g-code making app, Vcarve that
You don’t need to trace them.
Set the type, then convert the type to paths.
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