Programing your own ?

[johnmcda]

Hey follks. I am new to this and I know that you can buy models to put in your programs to carve out but was wondering if you can and how to create your own and carve.

[tonydude]

You need to buy aspire from www.vectric.com

[saramos]

It depends on what you want to cut and what your source is. If you want to create your own 3D objects, you will need a 3D CAD program of some sort, and then a CAM that will convert it into the toolpath. Aspire will do both, but depending on what you want to do, you could find cheaper methods. You can use 3DCut, which is a 3D CAM program from Vectric if you do your 3D CAD in some other program like 123D or SketchUp on the free side, or SolidWorks on the high end side. AutoDesk (makers of AutoCAD and 123D) even have a free Beta program that will convert digital photos into some type of 3D. I have not tried it, so I cannot speak to it's results (Vectric also has PhotoVCarve for $150). I would recommend taking a look at 123D or SketchUp first because of cost as they are free. Make some models and only then download the trial version of 3DCut. After that, you can download the free trial version of Aspire, give it a try, then decide on which route you want to go, $300 for 3DCut and free CAD programs, or $2000 for Aspire.

Scott

[budwood2]

I know of a web site that shows how to create raster graphic height maps much the same way that Aspire does.

You can see it here: www.patternhelp.com

I don't know how well this would work for your purposes though.

[johnmcda]

Thank you all. I knew about the aspire. It is just too much right now anyways. But will try out everything

[jeb2cav]

Hi John,

You can also look at sketchup. There are free plugins to sketchup that enable an stl file to be written. You can then use Cut3D with that file, and then take that to VCarve. Do a search on this forum using sketchup and you'll see some examples that folks have shared of sketchup use.