# Carveco - Vectric question **URL:** \ **Category:** CAD (Design) Software\ **Created:** [February 24, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522 "2024-02-24T20:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/1 "2024-02-24T20:37:21Z")
I’m a LONG time VCarve Pro user (at least 15 years). I got started with it back in my CNC machining days to make brass and aluminum things. I then got into CNC routing bout the same time but for making basic profile type of work (boxes, furniture, tools). I’m getting interested in doing some more artistic stuff on my ELITE Journeyman. I came across some interesting YouTube videos on taking photos and adding dimensionality to them like this one from Carveco [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqGxCUp2toY&t=3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqGxCUp2toY&t=3s) with Maker Plus This functionality doesn’t exist in VCarve Pro 11.5. It doesn’t appear to be in Aspire either but wanted to see if anyone has any experience doing this with different software tools or clarify if Aspire can do this. I’ve not installed the Aspire demo but I have spent hours watching videos and perusing the website and haven’t seen anything that approaches the Maker Plus video above. Thanks for any input! ---
**Author:** ![Pleased2fly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pleased2fly](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/Pleased2fly)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/2 "2024-02-24T21:13:22Z")
It says they can do 3D lithophanes for back lit carving a photo. I would think setting depth for a 3D image from a vector scan would be possible. I’d research the videos of Aspire on the vectric website or on their forum to search for a related entry. Personally, I’ve been with V-carve since version 3.1, and I found the free Carveco to be too confusing and never used it for the free year with my Foreman. I will not switch. ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/3 "2024-02-24T21:15:56Z")
Thanks Jim. I’ve done a good 50+ hours of research on this in Aspire and like I said, it isn’t clear that it has similar tools that carveco plus has. ---
**Author:** ![DCK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@DCK](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/DCK)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/4 "2024-02-24T22:29:32Z")
Aspire can do this. It’s a pretty long process, tracing, puffing up individual shapes, blending them together, then adding fine details. I tried it once, but I’m not very artistic, so my face looked nothing like the original picture. Anyway, Aspire has similar modeling tools to ArtCam/CarveCo. ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/5 "2024-02-24T22:38:40Z")
Yeah! After a week of searching and watching/reading I found this Aspire tutorial: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-o-LpA1gs&list=PLLdEiXEsoRepSAUxJSWXtED8YuHuUNMFi&index=11&ab\_channel=VectricLtd](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-o-LpA1gs&list=PLLdEiXEsoRepSAUxJSWXtED8YuHuUNMFi&index=11&ab_channel=VectricLtd) That’s exactly what I want to do - and even with trout! I guess it’s an upgrade to Aspire for me. ---
**Author:** ![349iq2345](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/bb73d2/32.png) [@349iq2345](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/349iq2345)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/6 "2024-02-25T03:28:26Z")
Hey Michael, > [@mhackney](#): > > I came across some interesting YouTube videos on taking photos and adding dimensionality to them like this one from Carveco [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqGxCUp2toY&t=3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqGxCUp2toY&t=3s) with Maker Plus > > This functionality doesn’t exist in VCarve Pro 11.5. It doesn’t appear to be in Aspire either but wanted to see if anyone has any experience doing this with different software tools or clarify if Aspire can do this. I’ve not installed the Aspire demo but I have spent hours watching videos and perusing the website and haven’t seen anything that approaches the Maker Plus video above. Why spend that much money for _Vectric Aspire_ ($2K) if [Blender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)) ([Blender homepage](https://www.blender.org)) is [free and open](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software)? → See here: - [Blender Face Modelling Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blender+Face+Modelling+Tutorial) - [Blender Tutorial - Turn Any 2D Image to 3D Model](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Blender+Tutorial+-+Turn+Any+2D+Image+to+3D+Model) [Blender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)) ([Blender homepage](https://www.blender.org)) is excellent and very developed nowadays with many tools. > [@Trying to decide on Elite vs X50 series before I buy](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/trying-to-decide-on-elite-vs-x50-series-before-i-buy/18141/69): > > if you think of byuing [Vectric Aspire](https://www.vectric.com/products/aspire) in order to be able to use 3D model creation and editing tools, instead of [Vectric VCarve Pro](https://www.vectric.com/products/vcarve-pro), which means you have a [big price difference](https://www.vectric.com/purchase) for this additional capability (USD $1,995 vs. $699), you should know that you can also use many other softwares to create your 3D models, e.g. the free and open Blender as mentioned [here](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/vcarve-pro-to-aspire/19465/4): > > > [@Vcarve Pro to Aspire](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/vcarve-pro-to-aspire/19465/4): > > > > Vectric [Aspire](https://www.vectric.com/products/aspire) differs from Vectric [Vcarve Pro](https://www.vectric.com/products/vcarve-pro) just by the 3D creating and editing tools. But you could do that with another tool (and use VCarve or another CAM software like FreeCAD Workbench just for importing the 3D model and export it as a g-code toolpath). The [free and open](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software) 3D editing software [Blender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)) ([Blender homepage](https://www.blender.org)) is excellent and very developed nowadays with many tools. > > > > ![Screenshot_2023-03-17_20-34-37__Blender-Workshop_Teil_2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/onefinitycnc/original/3X/2/9/294dc0fb38175a7d1a4ba45cc4e3d2d638f96a03.jpeg) > > > > [c’t Magazin, 23/2019, S. 144ff: Blender-Workshop, Teil 2](https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2019/23/1572879579121721) > > More on other free and open tools [here](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/cabinet-design-software/19153/3#free-and-open-software-1) ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/7 "2024-02-25T15:27:05Z")
Thanks @349iq2345 - I actually use both Blender and Rhino CAD and have been using Rhino’s SubD modeling to do this. The main differences I’ve seen between these apps and what I see in the Aspire video is the ease of applying the photo as a texture over the 3D form that you create and the tools to generate that form are also purpose built for that task (in the video, the changing the angles of the fins is an example of that. You can do that in Rhino and blender but it takes a lot more work). All that said, seeing the workflow in the video has given me some ideas to try in a rhino workflow. I still haven’t figured out how to overlay a complete image converted to a texture map though. The Rhino forums have some really talented designers so I’ll check them out. ---
**Author:** ![DCK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@DCK](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/DCK)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/8 "2024-02-25T18:22:35Z")
Have you tried the RhinoCAM Art module? I haven’t messed around with it much, but it’ll convert imported images to 3D and comes with all of the RhinoCAM versions. ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/9 "2024-02-25T22:28:57Z")
Dan, I have not. I look at RhinoCAM years ago but it was very $$ - that’s when I mo ed to VCarve Pro. I see they have a mill version for $495 that includes the art module, I just installed the demo and I’m going to try it out. On paper it looks like it has the features - things like “puff” etc. I’ll report back if this is a viable option. ---
**Author:** ![DCK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@DCK](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/DCK)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/10 "2024-02-25T22:37:37Z")
Honestly, I would recommend against RhinoCAM, aside from maybe that $500 version. Bought the $5k one for rotary toolpaths, only to find out that it can’t do anything I actually bought it to do, and some $200 software I already had was more useful to me. The ART module may be the only part of the purchase that I’ll actually use, eventually. Don’t even have it installed, at the moment, but I know I’ll reinstall it, at some point. ---
**Author:** ![349iq2345](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/bb73d2/32.png) [@349iq2345](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/349iq2345)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/11 "2024-02-25T22:42:52Z")
Hey Michael, > [@mhackney](#): > > Thanks @349iq2345 - I actually use both Blender and Rhino CAD what’s wrong with [Blender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)) (apart from the fact that you can’t brag about how much money you’ve spent for it)? ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/12 "2024-02-25T22:57:39Z")
It is a multi-step very complicated workflow to pull off what is shown in the trout video. I’ve spent most of today working through blender and rhinocad to reproduce what is shown in the aspire trout video (including lots of searching on forums, YouTube and reading docs to answer questions). ---
**Author:** ![mhackney](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.onefinitycnc.com/mhackney/32/9105_2.png) [@mhackney](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/u/mhackney)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/carveco-vectric-question/25522/13 "2024-03-01T14:06:04Z")
Ok, I’ve spent quite a few hours on this. Neither Blender nor Rhino have all of the tools targeted for this sort of work but come very close. In the end, I got some great help on the Rhino forum and have a workflow to produce the results I want. The main weakness with Blender is its lack of “rail sweeping” and a few other surface manipulation features. The main weakness in Rhino is the lack of “painting tools”. I need rail sweeping and surface editing more than the painting tools and as a last resort I could always take the model into Blender for this detail work. Here is a simplified example in Rhino (no fins or other features). This takes about 2 minutes to produce, even faster than Aspire to get to the same point. I can continue to use VCarve Pro for the CAM. ![Screenshot 2024-03-01 at 9.00.08 AM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/onefinitycnc/original/3X/0/4/0491830ccfd3b33c4356d677198723b4b9da6e7d.jpeg)