Vortex and software

Community Discussion đź“„ General
1

Let me start off with I am new at this. I have done a couple carvings (router) and a bunch of laser work. Most of the router work have been flattening live edge work with epoxy, mostly why I got the MK2 48” then have been exploring what else I can do - this is probably a mistake.

What I have now :

  • MacBook Pro
  • VCarve desk top running with Parallels

I would like to try taking a picture and carving it into wood - my research shows I need to use modeling in order to get access to this function I would have to upgrade to VCarve Pro.

I would prefer to stay in the Mac OS

I am also planning on up grading to the Super LongBoard

I pre purchased the Vortex, reading the Vortex information @mollysaynavong is recommending VCarve

Since Fusion works with Mac OS and seams to offer modeling would switching to Fusion 360 work? I have not used Fusion 360 so hoping someone would offer their thoughts , actually haven’t worked a lot with VCarve either so I am wondering if this work be a good time to switch🤔

2

What type of carving are trying to end up with 2.5D or 3D?

Vectric Desktop does have a trace bitmap function that will create a vector drawing from a raster image and then you can carve with those vectors for 2.5D.

I don’t have any experience with the Pro version but I would be amazed if it could create a 3D model from a photo. There is free software that can do that, the process is called photogrammetry and requires a bunch of photos from different angles. If that interests you, you might want to check out Meshroom. They only have versions for Windows and Linux though. Meshroom has a ton of options, none of which I understand but it has a default setup that’ll get you started.

Like I said I don’t have VCarve Pro so I may be mistaken on what it can do.

3

I think it would be 2.5

Here is one of the pictures I want to convert

IMG_8113
IMG_81133024Ă—4032 3.64 MB

Here is a YouTube link from Vectric of the clay modeling

I am going to go back and watch your link - thanks for getting back with me.

4

@_Michael Meshroom- wow mind blown that is amazing.

5

She is using Aspire, ~$2,000 US, and I think you need it for those modeling tools.

Quote from Vectrics website.

Aspire gives you all of the functionality of VCarve Pro but adds 3D design tools to enable you to create your own 3D reliefs.

You can import a model into VCarve Desktop if you use another program to create the STL. Blender is an amazing free and Open Source application. It has clay modeling and a ton of other stuff. It has a Mac version. It takes a while to learn but you can model anything in Blender. It’s been used for cartoon shorts, special effects in commercials and tv etc.