VCarve Pro
V Carve Pro is a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program used to create the lines that the various CNC machines use to create their products. It works with the Laser Cutter, Vinyl Cutter, CNC Router, and Plasma CAM over in metal shop. Below are a series of projects designed to build your skills so you will be able to use more of the VCarve Program. You can always go directly to the VCarve Pro Tutorials and watch very Spacific Tutorials.
- Laser Veneer Inlay Project
- Vinyl Cutter two color stickers.
- CNC Router Sign.
Laser Veneer Inlay Project.
You will learn how to use the trace function to create lines from art that can be used to cut out and make veneer inlay.
Open VCarve. This is the same software that creates vinyl and Router CNC(computer Numeric Controls) files. We will only be using its drawing (CAD) capabilities. CAD stands for Computer Aided Design. Select New or New file. Pick a work size smaller than 20 by 12 inches because it has to fit in the printer. Make it the size of your project. If you are just staring leave it at 5 by 5 and make sure that inches are selected. The thickness does not matter for laser. Lasers use two dimensions and you manage depth by how strong and how fast you cut. Choose XY Datum point to be the center. This is better for art work. Click OK to get back to the main screen from this "Set Job" window.
Open Chrome and find a silhouette of something. This stock legal drawing works. I think Ill take a picture of my wife skiing. It will make an awesome box lid. To grab out the silhouette from the picture is much easier with a single color background. It will also be much more challenging. For this demo I will stick with the skier but I want you to eventually take pictures of things you care about and turn them into functional art.
Now back in VCarve select import, then bitmap (picture). You may have to resize it. There three select tools in VCarve. It is the third one. Now with the picture selected choose "Trace Bitmap". You will want to get in the "black and White" mode. Then adjust all the options and figure out what they do. Then when you like your result choose preview, apply, and then close.
Vector Editing: Now you have your vectors. You will probably need to doctor them. When you cut with the laser the veer wood you cut will not work if it is too thin. You will use the second select tool called the Node editor. Lines and curves are identified by mathematical equations. Lines and curves are defined by starting and ending points and what ark exists in between.
- Turn off the Bitmap in the layers menu.
- Right click the image and click ungroup/ungroup back onto groups layer.
- Under Edit objects select Node Editing. It now looks like this below. As I go in closer I will move nodes to make this image more veneer ready. I will slightly widen the ski poles and skis.
- Continued: I can grab and move individual nodes. I can also use the shift key and select any number of nodes and move them with the arrow keys. Notice as you move in close you get smaller increments.
Enclosing Shape: Draw an enclosing shape. I will put rectangle around the skier the size of my work area. This will create an easy to glue and line up boundary.
Save this file to your file server. Now select all and select export/DFX (Drawing Interchange Format ). DfX files are the vecors. The stuff you see in Node Editing. It is the wire frame of you project. It is this DFX drawing you will need to send on. If you want to make changes to your project you can go back and edit them in VCarve.