Need advice on software

[Jnovosel (John novosel)]

I need some wisdom from the people here, I am thinking of buying either the carbide creater or Vcarve desktop. I was looking for a good all around software to maximize my ability to make items. Another is the support that they provide for there products. I am starting a project for a dear friend and have been running into problems with it. It is a carved lazy Suzan and have been having problem designing the words and design on a round area. So please need any advise that you can provide, need something that this blind veteran can use. Thank you

[Radiation (Josh)]

Inkscape(free) or some sort of vector software can typically do text on a curve. Might be easier to design there, then import the svg into carbide create.
I’ve not looked too much into vcarve, but most people seem to really dig it. Not sure that helps at all.

[Jnovosel (John novosel)]

Thanks for the input, I use screen read software and can see a little, I have issues with carbide create, and features that are shown in videos I can find them on the free one, so I need to find something that is friendly.

[Radiation (Josh)]

Ah, understood. Yeah, I’m not sure about accessability friendly software. Might be something @WillAdams may know more about as he’s pretty dialed into the various softwares that exist and may know of some that are more feature friendly than others.

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

Carbide Create does not have a facility for putting text on a path. You would need to set each letter separately (or convert them to curves) and then drag each into position and rotate manually.

Much easier to use a program which has that as a feature.

Inkscape is a free/opensource option, but not sure how well it works w/ screen readers:

https://inkscape-manuals.readthedocs.io/en/latest/putting-text-on-path.html

Serif’s Affinity Designer is a popular vector editor which works well as a front-end — just export SVG files from it at 96ppi to import into Carbide Create.

Naturally, if you have any specific difficulties w/ Carbide Create please post them here or send them in to support@carbide3d.com and we will do our best to assist.

The older videos show a menu bar which Carbide Create no longer has, but all that functionality is still present — it just migrated into the main menus — the one notable interface change is that the key for adding or removing an element from a selection has changed from control to the industy-standard shift.

Please see:

Keyboard Shortcut Cheat sheet for Carbide Create and Motion

Hope this helps! [Carbide3D_create_motion_keyboard_shortcuts_CM5_CC6] Updated version for Carbide Motion 5 and Carbide Create 6 (updated for 627): Carbide3D_create_motion_keyboard_shortcuts_CM5_CC6.pdf (665.0 KB) For folks who only use Carbide Create or Motion: Carbide3D_create_motion_keyboard_shortcuts_CM5.pdf (661.1 KB) Carbide3D_create_motion_keyboard_shortcuts_CC6.pdf (573.3 KB) and Carbide Create build 727 adds a number of keyboard shortcuts, so warrants its own chart: [Carbide3D_…

I’ve written a bit on Carbide Create and the basics of drawing with it at:

2D Drawing

which should be up-to-date for the current version where applicable.

You may want to consider using specific-purpose software — if they work well w/ your screen reader they might be a good option:

https://www.scorchworks.com/Fengrave/fengrave.html

I used that ages ago to make:

Locking register calipers after H.O. Studley

Hope things done on a ShapeOko 3 are okay: (Note that the projects page below is off-line) Source file: [Tool_calipers_locking] CAM done using MakerCAM and F-Engrave. Parts list: 6061-T6 aluminum, brass Chicago screw, #8-32 screw, #6-32 screw (may need a divot filed into it), and a knurled #6-32 thumb screw Cut on a ShapeOko 3 using a Makita RT-0701 and 1/8" bits, feed 215mm/min., plunge rate 27mm/min., 0.2mm cutting depth.

after drawing it up in Macromedia Freehand, then making a character in a font using Inkscape, then cut things out using MakerCAM.

As noted, please let us know what you need assistance with and we will do our best to assist.

[GJM (Gary Morgen)]

@Jnovosel Hi John. I’d imagine that consistency in the interface is a key concern? From what I’ve seen, VCarve is far more “standardized” than some of the other tools - in that right click is used for all contextual menus (as opposed to sometimes right click, sometimes a ‘…’ button), drag and drop is used for movement (as opposed to sometimes drag and drop, sometimes up and down arrows), etc.

When I purchased a laser for my CNC, I started using Lightburn for my laser designs. Since then, I find that Lightburn’s design features are very powerful and intuitive - things like text on path, object grids, reproduce object along path, path editing (delete path between two other paths), etc. I have begun to use it for my primary designs, exporting the SVG to be imported into CC for toolpaths. Lightburn’s pricing is now $60 for a lifetime purchase - with $30/yr (after the first year) if you want the feature upgrades. I’m honestly not sure how well it does with accessibility software, but the developers are readily available on their forum (which is as active as this one!) and the software is built with consistent usage of mouse and keyboard. Might be worth a trial.

• Gary

[NewToThis (Peter)]

Never mind fannying about with several different programs where one will do. Go for Vectric - at whatever level you can afford and upgrade as and when you need to, e.g. Cut2D to VCarve to Pro to Aspire.