What kind of software

[Inge Palmar]

Hi!

I am new at this laser engraving and cutting. I dont have an machine yet. But still looking for a small size machine.
Currently looking at gweike Storm 500 (LG500) and Thunderlaser Mini60. Have read alot of different cons and pros.

Anyway, what kind of software is recommended for engraving and cutting? I do have an iMac, but I can run windows without any problem.
I do have illustrator CS5 for mac and windows, but as far as I know I cant use it on theese machines?

What other software can be used?
Coreldraw x4?

Is there any freeware that can be used?


regards
C

[Bert Kemp]

Corel, Inkscape, draftsight

[Michael Davis4]

Hello Inge, First on machines. You will not in my opinion bet the Thunder Laser Mini 60 for the money. Amy at Thunder Laser is who you want to talk too. I love this machine and have nothing to say bad about it or the buying experience with it. I also own a G. Weike LG6040N and like it very much. Thunder laser uses the RD Works 8 software and RD LaserGrav. Both are free and available from Thunder Laser on there web site. I like both so when I bought my G. Weike machine I had Quiven Li spec it with the New RD control board (took an extra week to produce my machine, but worth it) so I now use the same software in both machines. I design using Corel Draw and Corel Paint. I also have Photo Grav for processing photos and posters and the like. Any of the 2 lasers will engrave from .jpeg, .tiff,.png and cut from .dxf. I hope this helps you.

The only other thing I can tell you is that, There are good machines and not so good machines. Lasers are like cars, everyone has their favorites.

MJD
Thunder Laser Mini 60
G.Weike LG6040N

[Inge Palmar]

I dont have CorelDraw yet, but I see on coreldraws website they have "CorelDRAW Home & Student Suite X7"
Can I use this for engraving/cutting?

MJD, thanks for your input ;)

Regards

[Ross Moshinsky]

You can use Adobe Illustrator. You do not need to buy any other software. You'll export your art files as an older version EPS.

In general, you should do some research on how to create artwork with a Chinese laser. It is significantly different than how Western machines work.

[Rich Harman]

I use Corel Draw but export as Illustrator v8 files. If I already had Illustrator then I would use that instead.

If the software to run your laser is like mine (I think it is) then it will import AI files, so in your case you can use the Illustrator that you already have. If you use something like DropBox you can easily do your creating on one computer then your laser's computer will have easy access to it. I run my laser on an old Pentium D machine that I bought for $50, but I do creating on other computers.