Hi I am in the figuring out stage before buying and I am trying to figure what software to pay for. I’ve watched a lot of vcarve desktop/pro videos and ( i think) I can grasp it. I have used easel before with my little 3018 but that’s my only experience. So my first question of probably a few thousand questions is, does the LR4 and vcarve work together? Anything I need to know before purchasing the software and LR4? Any other tidbits are appreciated.
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If you don’t own V-Carve, don’t buy it. With a large LR you’d need Pro as well. Stick to Estlcam, it’s free with a nag screen or $50. I have been using it for five years now and am still happy, even though I sometimes wish I had V-Carve (but not so bad that I’d spend the $700 for it…). 
Where are you from, regarding hints for buying stuff.
Welcome to the community!
Estlcam is something you can use to get started (and there are many techniques posted on the forums that are relatively advanced.) But selecting your software also must account for your taste and preferences.
My understanding is that Vcarve almost doubles the cost of the LR4. I see a lot of folks on Youtube very happy with it. As long as it sends GRBL code that can be interpreted by FluidNC, a LR4 can use it.
I use Lightburn for my laser, and they’re in beta testing for a non-vcarving product. If you’re really looking for vcarving, it’s not for you at this point. But if you’re generally cutting parts and pocketing, it might be an option. Its called Millmage and it includes some design tools as well.
There are a lot of others, but if you’re starting from VCarve as your preference, I’d look for the types of gcode output and ensure you can send GRBL (I can’t imagine that would be absent on such high-end software.)
I’m in Alberta Canada. Thanks for the reply. Does ESTLcam do both the cad and cam? I know I’ve read about it over the 2 years of planning/hesitating but can’t recall. I know that the price of vcarve hurts, especially with the canadian peso, but it seems to be easy for me to navigate. Is estlcam similarly laid out?
Estlcam can not “design” the way V-Carve can, it can basically just program your cutting paths.
If you are using the Jackpot Estlcam can only generate the toolpaths for you, then you have to get them to the Jackpot. If you were in the EU you could buy the OpenCNCShield2 to control it with Estlcam as well.
Also, if you are in Canada, the easiest option is to just order everything from Ryan directly.
As @Tokoloshe stated, EstlCAM only outputs the g-code (CAM) that it creates from an imported CAD drawing. It is a GREAT program for what it does, and is well worth the money (IMO). You can even try it for free for as long as you want, but after a while the pop-up reminders to purchase become a bit overwhelming.
The CAD program of choice varies a lot amongst users. What you need is something that will output a 2D drawing (DXF or SVG file). EstlCAM will import some 3D file formats (STL), but the conversion process can be a bit messy.
Others have their favourites (note the Canadian/British spelling 
), but for cheap options, I prefer Fusion. It is a 3D modelling program, based on 2D drawing “sketches”. It is very powerful, and has a moderate learning curve, with lots of YouTube tutorials available.
There is a free “Personal Use” license that will do almost everything you need it to do. The main downsides to the free option are that you can only have a limited number (10) of projects “active” at the same time. This isn’t a big deal IMO, as you simply archive projects that you aren’t using right away, and then activate them when you need to use them.
The other minor hassle with the free version is that it won’t output 3D models directly as 2D drawings (DXF). There are some easy work-arounds though. You can export the 2D sketches that you based the 3D model on as DXF files directly. You can also create sketches from complex “faces” of your 3D model, and then use the sketch export DXF function for that complex face.
There is a paid option that is probably way more than you will need, and very expensive (IMO), but it will output 2D drawings directly, and there is no limit on the number of active projects. There are lots of other features in the paid version as well, most of which you will never need or use as a hobbyist.
I did use FreeCAD as a CAD/3D modelling program for a while, but I found the learning curve to be quite a bit steeper, and the workflow to be more complicated than Fusion.
Hope that helps, let me know if you need more info.
I use inkscape or freecad, then esltcam! If you are looking for a one solution, Millmage may work, but it does not yet have scarce or relief yet!
Riley, excuse my ignorance but can you explain scarce/relief?
I’m sure he meant Vcarve and 3D relief carving.
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I have V-Carve Pro and love it yes it is pricey but everything’s in one place and easier for me to maintain and track files.
On the other hand, I used Inkscape and estcam for years before the V-CARVE purchase. Inscape is amazing despite being free. Estcam is great and has a couple things like progressive pocketing that are really nice.
Just some of the 3D capabilities in vcarve I needed and we’re not available in the free software I was capable of using. FreeCAD looks amazing just so far confused about its operation.
The 4th axis rotary stuff is starting to come into my needs soon am also being questioned about custom chess pieces
The ability to use( light maps ?) For 3D still can’t make myself get aspire yet but I will.
But I haven’t used a jackpot-only machine yet. Mine is still a few gen back in arduino world. I can connect the Jackpot and Mach cut and it doesn’t give errors with straight GRBL.
Buy it if it fills a need not provided by much cheaper alternatives or you like cool software
Thanks Tim and others. Tim can you send vcarve straight to machine or do you still to use a g code sender?
I took a look at millmage and seems straight forward enough.
I’m looking for something to carve signs, import jpegs, do a bit of art and perhaps carve a imported 3d file. I don’t plan on doing my own 3d models. Looking for ease of use.
With my Arduino setup I can send directly to the machine but I prefer UGS. I like the visualizer. But have recently been looking at the one from sesi lab
https://sienci.com/ gsender
This won’t work with the jackpot though
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I am very sorry. My kindle and I have problems working together!!! Yes it was v carve and relief carving! 3d carving!
I have been using Fusion (free for teachers ) and Vcarve Pro both for 10 years. I recently had to fork out the euros for Vcarve Pro because the version that came bundled with my Handibot was so out of date. I did not hesitate. I LOVE Vcarve Pro! It is SOO MUCH EASIER than Fusion. Fusion was made for industrial design, not woodworking. Vectric products are for woodworkers like us. I have not needed Aspire – I can manage with Blender if I need to create a 3D model artistically, or using Fusion if it is more geometrical or needs to be parametric. I have not used Vcarve Pro as a g-code sender, but I think it is possible for some machines. The straight grbl-mm post processor works flawlessly for my MPCNC Primo. I have recently begun using gSender as my g-code sender and love it.
If you want Ease of use, get a Vectric product. Customer service is very good; turnaround is minutes or hours, not days.
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For example, Fusion has no “v-carve" toolpath – it is called “engrave” and it has no possibility to add a v-bit to your tool database, only a chamfer bit. It can’t lay out many items to be cut from a 4x8 sheet. Because why would an industrial machinist ever be using a 4x8 sheet of wood?? Vcarve can.
I posted about an interesting comparison of settings and terminology I asked Gemini to do between VCarvePro12, CarbideCreate6, and F-Engrave. I played around enough with the “freebies” (CC6 and FEngrave) to see that they might, in many cases, be suitable alternatives to the expensive VCarvePro option. I think CC6 would be my preference between it and FEngrave… and though Windows/Mac only, the Windows version runs on Linux via Bottles nicely. I specify CC6 rather than the later versions as it is the last version that allows gcode export. If you want to give it a try, it can be downloaded here. It includes a pretty extensive tool library… and custom tools/libraries can be easily added.
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I finally took the LR3 out from winter storage this summer. I was looking for something similar, ended up using blender and the Fabex cnc extension (previously called blendercam) to create the gcode for a 3d relief carve. My first cnc project, so do not really have anything bad to say, it worked for me.
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Thanks for all the info guys and keep it coming. I appreciate it all
Steve, can you describe your ‘ path ‘ for using vcarve? I assume cad and cam through vcarve, then what’s the next step? As I said earlier, my only CNC knowledge is with my 3018 using easel. So I would create my design and set up the tool path in easel, then download the gcode ( .NC file ), save it to my SD card. The card would go into my offline controller, I would zero my axis’s and run it. How different would vcarve and the low rider be in this process? Thanks
I have a Primo still but use VCarve Pro i do CAD and CAM in VCarve then export the tool paths to a flash card and run it down to the controller
There would not be any difference