Resolved: Vectric VCarve Desktop

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

I found VCarve confusing and annoying (I’m a Mac user as well), and Carbide Create has a simplicity about it which makes basic things easy, and even complex things can be done in it, esp. with the new version.

I’d suggest trying the new beta: Carbide Create Beta Downloads

and if you’re not familiar with vector drawing software please see:

2D Drawing

and try some basic project — perhaps:

Design into 3D: Box: Rabbeted: with lid

Please note that we have a standing offer — if you get stuck, let us know at support@carbide3d.com (or here!) and we’ll do our best to work through it with you — many of the tutorials here such as:

Let's make a coaster

The prototypical first job for a Shapeoko is to cut a coaster — here we do this using Carbide Create, trying to make the job as simple as possible, but adding a bit of interest with an inlay, and increasing the utility of the object by rounding off the corners. Before any real setup it will be best to go into Job Setup and Clear the drawing, and set the measurement units — please use mm (metric) for this tutorial. Note that the feeds and speeds in the Carbide 3D charts are given in Imperial inc…

and

https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Child_Name_or_Letter_Board

came about from folks asking how to do things.

I will note that one excellent way to extend Carbide Create is to use a vector drawing program as a front-end — Serif’s Affinity Design is excellent and Mac OS X native (it was ported to Windows), or you could try Inkscape.