3D Cad/Cam?.......help

[tree]

99% of what we have job wise is 2D sheet good work.....However we are wanting to move into SOME sign making and I want to be about to cut in 3D to contour guitar bodys..... I am pretty well comfortable with 2D but I think I should be ok learning 3D....

[tree]

Oh yeah... What programs and at what prices?....

[Brady Watson]

The Vectric V-Carve Pro & Cut3D programs will do all that you are looking to do at a reasonable price. Visit www.vectric.com

You will need to create 3D geometry of your guitar body. Silo is an inexpensive 3D program as well as Rhino3D, which is a bit more robust than Rhino, but also more expensive.

Google the products I have mentioned and make up your own mind.

-B

[paco]

Rhino or MoI (if it's enough to fulfill you needs) for the modeling part (CAD) and Vectric V Carve PRO (v4) and Cut 3D for the toolpath part (CAM). Nurbs modeling will enable you to model 3D shape for your guitar body and the VCP+C3D package will enable to precisely position 2D and 3D together so you can still have the benefit of 2D toolpathing around your 3D model.

Vectric product just can't be waste money and if you cannot afford/unsure about Rhino, start with MoI or something alike in which you can model from primitive shape (nurbs and/or polygonal) rather than fussing with meshes... though soon to release Silo 2 will enable one to accurately locate things around... it's just that from your post above, I'd go with nurbs personally...

My 1,88 cents worth...
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[paco]

Hmmm... great mind think alike...
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[tree]

Brady, Paco.... You rock..... I REALLY like CUT3D... Wow I cant believe how easy it is. But Vcarve I am not sure it can work for me. I need to be able to edit a 3D file from a probe. BOBCAD can do what I want but Its just way to much... Dont need 99% of what it can do and its alot of money for what I wont use...

[Brady Watson]

Editing data from a probe is where things get expensive...Being able to truly modify probe data with a high degree of control costs almost as much as a new Bot...but if you wanna play, you gotta pay. I believe that Silo will let you do some sculpting of scanned data, so that might be an easy way out. The level of control is of course not as good as ArtCAM, but then again there is quite a price differential between the two.

VCarve is a bread and butter program, meaning that you really NEED something of this caliber or better to do your day to day cutting. Once nice thing about the new version (v4) is that you can use data from Cut3D in VCP v4 to line up your 3D toolpaths with 2D operations. So in your case, let's say you scanned a guitar body and captured the overall shape of it, but the pockets for the pick-ups etc weren't as tight and square as you would like them to be. You could draw some 2D lines in VCP and then do a quick, efficient and sharp pocketing routine in just those areas. There are many situations where VCP in addition to Cut3D would make sense. I think if you really want to get going, buy both of these programs as a package deal. It's really hard to beat the value that these programs now bring to the table.

Another thing that you might consider (depending on how many things you have to modify) is to just farm out your 3D file work to someone who can smooth and/or modify your 3D scan who has already made the investment in ArtCAM. One such person is Grant Bailey gobailey@gmail.com I have worked on several projects with Grant in the past and he is an excellent resource for both 3D content and modification of existing models. Get in touch with him when you are ready to get going.

-B