A very new new person to all this CNC stuff. Got a small Longmill version so far . Really really impressed with this machine . the fit and finish is so much better than most of the Chinese stuff we buy nowadays.
Love the fact that its Canadian made ,
My question is concerning working with different pcs of clip art, jpeg,png files etc. and dressing them up or down to work with CNC carves .
Am i correct in thinking that the best way to accomplish this is to use and learn some secondary dressup program such as Inkscape to do the prep work needed…
@Quebecnewf Welcome to the group, Paul. I believe that it’s a very user friendly place; lots of good people willing and able to help you through your learning curve.
In reply to your question, it somewhat depends on what you want to do. However, generally, you need CAD/CAM program to change graphics into vectors. Take a look on the Sienci page on choosing software:
It’s a very good place to start. As in all software choices, budget considerations come into play. Some of the paid programs offer free trials. Some are pay up front, others are subscription.
I can offer a little bit of “getting started” on that as well. Typically you will want to work with a vector format file (SVG for example) to be able to scale and generate toolpaths in whatever software you do choose (as in @gwilki 's posted link).
If you are starting from a raster image (jpeg, PNG, other clip art) sometimes it is useful to use a converter or converter site something like this: PNG to SVG (Online & Free) — Convertio
I would guess that some of the available software can do this as well, but my general workflow has been raster image (PNG or JPEG) → converter → SVG, and I then import that SVG into Fusion 360 to set up my work in the way I’m normally familiar with.
Thanks for the response . I guess it boils down to what your cutting and how you arrive at that step . I’m hoping to install “ local flavour “ into the things I cut . This will entail a lot of local images turned into SVG .
Lots more how to vid to watch . Lots more wood to spoil and then burn to heat the workshop . It’s going to be a journey .
Glad to hear you’re liking your machine, I’m excited to get mine! Im comfortable in Illustrator, so that would be my go to for creating vector images. I believe inkscape is similar, but as mentioned above a CAD/CAM software ultimately is needed.
Let us know how it goes and what you creat, look forward to learning from you all and sharing anything I can that may be helpful as I get going!