The Rebirth of ArtCam to Carveco

[Gary.B]

For those following the re birth of ArtCam by Carveco, the carveco.com website is now up and running with the big announcement that the software is to be released March 28th 2019......just days away

Gary

[bgoodman4]

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@mikeis wrote:

   When I got my w10 I tried artcam v8, it worked, I like 2015 r2 It also works, as did 2010. rhino v3 works, modo 8.1 works, zbrush 4 works, had a little trouble with photo shop cs3 but it now works and haven't had a problem since.

I don't like the mess they did with the interface, in my mind it's horrible,

Thanks for the thoughts Mike,,,,, I have friends who have 10 and some like it and others don't. Personally I do prefer to organize my desktop the way I want but I could live with it if i had to. I am not worried about CAD programs, there are a number of other programs that I use that concern me. In fact, I bought both XP and 7 retail versions of the programs so that when the time came and I had to move to a non-supportive OS I could create virtual machines and run them there,,,,,,but that's a whole new learning curve and I am leaning to keeping things simple just now. And really, the major advantage of Carvco over my 2012 is the lack of a dongle. As far as capability is concerned the only real nice feature of Carvco is the live modifications, I could just use Carvco as it is on my PC and swap back and forth between 2012 and the new program (save the model as a tif file and they move without fuss or muss). Anyway things will work out in the end. I will look into swapping graphic cards and if its doable I may just go that route.

[Gary.B]

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@bgoodman4 wrote:

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@Gary.B wrote:

@bgoodman4 

Barry just get your self a new video card, preferable one with the Nvidia chip set. You can pick up a good geforce for around 200 and drop in which should take care of your video issues

Gary

Maybe that's the way to go. I am using a convertible tablet laptop (desktop replacement - I paid $3000 for it in 2012). Could I simply swap cards out of such a beast?

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Yes Barry you can simply swap the cards out, you just need to check what slot type you have before ordering a card, more than likely you will have a PCI or PCI express.

Gary

[bgoodman4]

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@Gary.B wrote:

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Yes Barry you can simply swap the cards out, you just need to check what slot type you have before ordering a card, more than likely you will have a PCI or PCI express.

Gary

Thanks Gary, much appreciated.

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[bgoodman4]

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@Gary.B wrote:

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Yes Barry you can simply swap the cards out, you just need to check what slot type you have before ordering a card, more than likely you will have a PCI or PCI express.

Gary

How would I know what slot type I have, would I have to contact the mfg or is there a way to tell myself? Also, specifically what card would you recommend? Once I am doing it I may as well do it right.

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[Gary.B]

@bgoodman4 

if you don't have your spec sheet on your computer just open it up and look at the slots. google is full of photos of PCI and PCI express slots, its easy to tell the difference. (pin configuration)

I've been partial to Nvidia geforce cards, they just simply work and they are not overpriced, but I'm sure others will suggest their choices.

you just need to do a comparison, don't forget to review the video card specs under Carveco's FAQ section

Gary

[ashcroftleighton]

Barry, also, the amount cores you get on the graphics card will dictate how smooth the live tools in the 3D view work.  The more you have, the smoother it will update the relief in real time.

[wgrix]

Hi all

Just read an email that Dillion has joined the Carveco team.

[bgoodman4]

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@Gary.B wrote:

@bgoodman4 

if you don't have your spec sheet on your computer just open it up and look at the slots. google is full of photos of PCI and PCI express slots, its easy to tell the difference. (pin configuration)

I've been partial to Nvidia geforce cards, they just simply work and they are not overpriced, but I'm sure others will suggest their choices.

you just need to do a comparison, don't forget to review the video card specs under Carveco's FAQ section

Gary

Sounds easy enough but I have no idea what I would be looking for or where to look for it in the laptop.

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[Gary.B]

@bgoodman4 

I didn't know it was a laptop... whole new ballgame.

you will have to go look up your model specs and see if it can have the video card changed out or not, some can have  an external add on for PCIe.

you will have to do the research on that, you will find plenty of images for the different slots showing what they look like, just google !!

Gary

[mikeis]

Barry asked,

It appears that the Relief Envelope Distortion tool has disappeared. This is a bummer,,,,,,,, I do not use this tool a lot but when I need it its an important tool to have

  I did a video for you once you are up and running of this tool and another one you might find very interesting, hope it's clear enough, these are fun tools to play with.

                  mike

Screencast will be displayed here after you click Post.

[wgrix]

Thanks for the screencast Mikeis, looking forward to using new tools

Bill

[bgoodman4]

Thanks Mike, the putty tool looks a lot like liquify in Photoshop, I use it a lot, it will be nice to do the work in one program rather than 2. The relief envelope distortion tool looks much smoother and better functioning than in 2012. In 2012 it was awkward to use and moving one node point would move others, will be nice to use these tools if I can swap out a graphics card or use an eternal port for it.

Why does everything have to be complicated,,,,,,at least it seems that way these days.

Thanks again for the video, much appreciated.

[bgoodman4]

Well a new graphics card is out, back to hoping that Fujitsu can solve the driver update problem and if they can that this solves the display issues.

[mikeis]

Barry,

    Take a look at.....https://www.amazon.com/stores/node/8200879011?_encoding=UTF8&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=CPU%20Solut...

Just go through what they provide they aren't that spendy, and they have gotten some very good reviews. If you don't do any amazon I do believe they also do it over the phone.

             mike

[bgoodman4]

Thanks Mike I really do appreciate your input but I really do not want to do a new PC at this time. I will give Fujitsu some time to see if they can work out some way to get the latest drives onto my PC and if not then will make a decision regarding what direction I will go with Carvco.

[bgoodman4]

I am pleased to report that Carveco is running fully on my PC. Like a dummy (I'm old, what can I say) I was relying on Fujitsu to provide the drivers for the graphics card. I finally realized that if I wanted Intel drivers I likely could get them directly from Intel. I was of course correct in this.

It took a bit of time but I have figured out how to use the Envelope Distortion Tool (you have to do Cookie Cutter first). I am at a loss though,,,,,,,what happened to Zero and Zero Rest in the shape editor. They can not have been eliminated,,,,,,can they? I see that I can get the effect of Zero by selecting merge low but Zero Rest has me stumped. I have spent the last hour trying to figure out how to do Zero Rest but no cigar. Its probably very simple but its beyond me. Also, as Danny has mentioned, I do mainly flat models, I do however do an occasional wedding band and I do not see how to do rotary models in Carveco. I must also confess that I also do not know how to do rotary models in 2012. For wedding bands I use ArtCAM Jewelsmith 9.1. Any guidance in these 2 areas will be appreciated.

PS: in 2012 you can have model information displayed beside the cursor (X location, Y location, and most importantly Z height), this is very helpful especially when sculpting. Is it possible to display this info in Carveco? Its very irritating to repeatedly have to look down at the bottom right of the screen to see what Z is while sculpting. This could be a deal breaker as being able to see this info by the cursor is critical.

[bgoodman4]

I have forgotten how to get the putty tool to work and the Help files are of no help. I have tried to use the tool both with vectors selected and in cookie cutter mode but no luck. Rather pissed at myself because I was using the tool a few hours ago but cannot remember what I did to make it work.

PS: figured it out, you have to select the boundary vector and then hit cookie cutter.

[ashcroftleighton]

Zero and zero rest have their own icons and are not within the shape editor now.  From memory, they are on the relief editing toolbar

[bgoodman4]

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@ashcroftleighton wrote:

Zero and zero rest have their own icons and are not within the shape editor now.  From memory, they are on the relief editing toolbar

Thank you, I have found them and figured out how they work. Couple of extra steps but no big deal. Much appreciated.

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