Vcarve pro 6.0

[Frank barry]

Hi all I have looked at Vcarve pro 6 and like what I see its looks very easy to use my question is could I use Vcarve pro 6 to do the design work for my laser? as it looks much easier to use than corel draw thanks in advance Frank

[Gary Hair]

Frank,
Vcarve is a great program, Aspire from what I have heard is amazing, however, for lasering I think you'd be better off learning Corel. The main reason is support, if you have an issue in Corel you can post it on numerous forums and get an answer almost immediately, not likely with Vcarve. That's not to say there isn't support for Vcarve, but you'll find laser support lacking for sure. The other reason is the cost - $599 vs $469, or less than $200 if you buy a subscription.
Just my .02

[Sotos Patistas]

What kind of laser and what kind of drawings?

With most, but not all, "commercial" lasers, line color plays a big role, I don't think you can control that in VCarve. OTOH, if you're sending G-Code to your laser, VCarve might save a step or two. Also, are you doing any raster engraving at all? If so, I don't think VCarve will work for you.

HTH

[Shane Archie]

I prefer to use Vcarve pro for design and editing. I only use Corel Draw at the end to output to my laser. But I am more familiar with Vcarve than Corel Draw and I find it easier and quicker to use than Corel Draw. But I also have Vcarve pro for my Shopbot and is more for CNC than laser use. And as mentioned earlier as far as I know there is a fixed line thickness in Vcarve Pro of .353mm which has to be converted to hairline in Corel Draw to make it right for laser output.

Shane.

[Ernie Balch]

I do all my vectorizing in Aspire (Vcarve pro is equivalent) the node editing is much easier that any other program I have. I export the vectors as .eps files to Corel for output to the laser. In Corel I convert to non filled hairline and select colors for the outlines.

[Ross Moshinsky]

V-Carve Pro doesn't touch CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator when it comes to features.

[Dennis Rech]

Hi all I have looked at Vcarve pro 6 and like what I see its looks very easy to use my question is could I use Vcarve pro 6 to do the design work for my laser? as it looks much easier to use than corel draw thanks in advance Frank

Vcarve is a wonderful program for CNC routers. Its CAD portion is about as easy to use and intuitive as it gets.
I use it for vector cutting and engraving on my ShopBot, Centroid mill and FSE laser.
It is very convenient to make a single cad file that can be used on all three machines just by picking a separate post processor.
Think routing out a piece of oak so that acrylic or stainless letters can be inlaid into it.
There is even a Full Spectrum post processor file over at the FSE website.

Before that, I would draw vector files in Vcarve and export them as DXF files to AutoCad's Trueview for printing to the FSE.
Works great.

However, Vcarve is not a graphics program, it can only import bitmaps into the program, usually for tracing, so it will not support raster engraving.

It is a great program for a router, a very good program for a milling machine (needs tapping and thread milling) and a so so program for a laser.

Dennis

[Roy Nielsen]

Frank,

I think it depends on what you're wanting to do with your laser and what other software you have, to include the type of laser you have and its associated software stack. I think Vectric apps might be easier to use for creating certain types of drawings, for instance more mechanical type parts than Corel Draw. However, Corel Draw might be better for more artistic type projects. You might want to check into Vectric's Cut2D, which has much of VCarve's abilities, notably missing the v-carving pieces, which the laser can't do anyhow; there could be other 2D things missing that could be helpful on a laser, dunno. Nice thing about Vectric is that you can download and try their demo software to see what suits your needs; also, they have a pretty fair upgrade policy, protecting most of your investment.

Myself, having both VCarve Pro (for my CNC) and Corel Draw, and at best an advanced beginner hobbyist in both CNC and laser, I've only used VCarve once or twice for a laser project, and that was to optimize parts placement, which it did fantastically. I can definitely see using VCarve for creating certain types of drawings for the laser, and also Corel Draw for CNC. However, I do use Corel Draw as my primary tool for the laser and would hate to not have it.

[Larry Robinson]

Having already been well versed with Aspire/V-Carve Pro with my CNC router, I use it for my laser as well and see no reason to learn another program. However, 99% of my laser work is cutting versus engraving.

[Bruce Dorworth]

Larry, how thick of material are you cutting with your laser?? What kind of material are you cutting?

Bruce

[Frank barry]

Good morning all
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions it gives me alot to think about and consider as I have been very impressed with Vcarve andits ease of use as I have downloaded the trial version
Thanks again
Frank

[Larry Robinson]

Bruce, Mostly 1/4" Baltic Birch.