[reflectivist]

I know I'm at risk of starting a bit of a flame war here, however, that is not my intent. I'm having a tough time getting a comparison between the Vetric package (VCarve Pro, Cut 2d/3d and PhotoVCarve) vs. BobCAD-CAM & BobArt.

I want to do both some machining of parts (tools, molds, etc...) and some art-based CAM S/W to support my wife's jewelry work.

I would like to figure out which way to go between the Vetric and BobCAD stuff. I've used the Vetric stuff at TechShop is America's 1st Nationwide Open-Access Public Workshop -- What Do You Want To Make at TechShop? and I think it's pretty good, well established, nice interface, big company, good support, good reputation, but BobCAD sales think they have better options/configurations for people doing let's say tool and part making with metal, and I have no idea. I guess BobCAD has a slightly dated looking interface, but theoretically more options for articulating and configuring and saving tool paths for specific milling tools and materials (i.e. - if you want to get nerdy BobCAM may offer more flexibility but not as pretty an interface is my guess).

I'm hoping that someone can give me some things to look for and consider and why I might choose one over the other, and known issues.

[ger21]

BobCAD may very well have many more toolpath options plus support for machining solids and surfaces that V Carve Pro doesn't have.
BobCAD is a full 3D package, and V-Carve Pro is really just a 2D package with V-Carving.

I don't really have any experience with BobCAD.

But. Someone on another forum was trying to V-Carve an Aztec calendar. It was taking over 30 minutes for BobCAD to calculate the toolpaths, and giving a lot of errors. The BobCAD rep blamed it on bad geometry. The user posted the .dxf file, and I loaded it into V-Carve Pro, which calculated the toolpaths in 17 seconds. Over 100 times faster, and with no errors.

This may be an isolated example, but if you plan on doing a lot of complex V Carving, you might want to take that into consideration.

[ger21]

BobCAD may very well have many more toolpath options plus support for machining solids and surfaces that V Carve Pro doesn't have.
BobCAD is a full 3D package, and V-Carve Pro is really just a 2D package with V-Carving.

I don't really have any experience with BobCAD.

But. Someone on another forum was trying to V-Carve an Aztec calendar. It was taking over 30 minutes for BobCAD to calculate the toolpaths, and giving a lot of errors. The BobCAD rep blamed it on bad geometry. The user posted the .dxf file, and I loaded it into V-Carve Pro, which calculated the toolpaths in 17 seconds. Over 100 times faster, and with no errors.

This may be an isolated example, but if you plan on doing a lot of complex V Carving, you might want to take that into consideration.

[aldepoalo]

BobCAD CAM Features

File Import:

CAD – Legacy BobCAD-CAM
DXF – AutoCAD
DWG – AutoCAD
STEP,STP – Step
IGES,IGS – Iges
SAT – ACIS
3DM – Rhino
X_T – Parasolids
X_B – Parasolids
SLDPRT – SolidWorks
BBCD – BobCAD-CAM
STL – Stereo Lithography

File Export:

IGES, IGS – Iges
DXF – AutoCAD
DWG – AutoCAD
SAT – ACIS
3DM – Rhino
STP,STEP – Step
BBCD – BobCAD
STL – Stereo Lithography

Surface Creation & Tools:

Planar
Skin
Revolve
Offset
3 Edge
4 Edge
Cross Section
Extrude Curve
Extrude Surface
Multi-Sided Patch
Fillet
Extend Surface
Intersection Curves
Un-Trim Surface
Break Surface
Sweep

Solid Creation & Editing:

Sphere
Cube
Cone
Cylinder
Torus
Fillet
Add, Subtract and Intersect Booleans

CAM Features:

Wizard Driven CAM
Tool Database
Speed & Feed Calculator
Save & Load Tool Path Settings
Associative CAM
Tool Path Simulation

CAM Tool Paths:

2.5 Axis Drilling
2.5 Axis Profiling
2.5 Axis Pocketing
2.5 Axis Facing
2.5 Axis Chamfer
2.5 Axis Threading
2.5 & 3 Axis Engraving
2D & 3 Axis Plunge Roughing
3D Slice Planer
3D Slice Spiral
3D Engraving
3D Slice Radial
3D Z-Level Roughing
3D Z-Level Finishing
4 Axis Indexing
4 Axis Wrapping

BobART:

Import – .BMP, JPEG, PNG, EPS, AI, PDF
Photo Embossing,Turn Pictures directly into 3D Relief/Embossed models
Raster to Vector Conversion
Embossing & Debossing
Emboss from dxf files or solid shapes
Texturing
Mirroring
Lettering
V Carving
2-Rail Sweep
Sculpting
Smoothing
Material/Texture Selection


BobCAD CAM Promo Video



How to Design and Machine Parts:

The purpose of this exercise is to teach you fundamental design and machining functionality that the BobCADCAM
version 24 software provides.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...ine-part-2.pdf


How to Design and Machine Parts:

BobCAD-CAM offers Hole making, 2 Axis & 3 Axis Machining Wizards to step you through the process ofcreating Machine programs for your parts.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...chine-part.pdf


Using the Profile Wizard:

BobCAD-CAM offers a 2 Axis Machining Wizard to step you through the process of creating Machine
programs for any of the 2 Axis Operations. In this lesson we will be creating a program using the profile
feature.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...ile-wizard.pdf


Using the Hole Wizard:

BobCAD-CAM offers a simple hole drilling wizard to step you through the process of creating hole programs
for CNC machining.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...ole-wizard.pdf

How to do Simple Z-Level Roughing:

BobCAD-CAM offers a powerful and easy to use 3 Axis Machining Wizard to step you through the process ofcreating 3 Axis programs for CNC machining. This exercise has been created to teach you how to draw a
simple solid model to be used for creating Z‐Level Roughing toolpaths.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...l-roughing.pdf

How to do 2 Axis Engraving:

BobCAD-CAM offers powerful and easy to use Engraving capabilities for CNC machining. This exercise has
been created to teach you how to use the 2 Axis Engrave feature.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...-engraving.pdf

How to do V-Craving:

BobCAD-CAM offers a powerful and easy to use 3 Axis Machining Wizard to step you through the process of creating 3 Axis programs for CNC machining. This exercise has been created to teach you how to create a 3D
Model with BobART and machine it with the PRO Version toolpaths.

http://www.bobcad.com/wp-content/med...24/v-carve.pdf

[osphoto]

If you ware wanting to do signs and such, Vectric. Bob CAD will nickle and dime you over support and high pressure sales you with phone calls once if not twice a month to sell you their next release.

I did BobCad, trashed it and went with a different CAD/CAM Package but I would like to add Vectric to my software capabilities.

It seems BobCAD is a love / hate relationship amongst the forums. Personally, it's a hate issue for me. Their tech support problems did them in for me. I'd call to ask questions, they'd tell me that's a "teaching" thing and they would have to charge me for that. Perhaps your experience will be better.

If Vectrics will do what you want, go Vectrics. I've only read good things. You can to tooling, etc with Vectics. I've seen some really cool stuff and very surprised what some folks have done with it. meaning, they have done assemblies with Vectics.

And as you can see, from the prior BOBCad post. The sales folks circle the forums their sales pitch.

In the end, its your $$. Try both products, get a feel and decide from that.

[aldepoalo]

Yes our direct sales team can be agressive. When it comes down to features and options both packages offer great tools.

Vetrics would be best for art type work. Many wood workers use their products.

Bobcad cam would be better for mechanical part manufacturing. Many job shops tool & die mold makers and fabricators use bobcad. Metal cutting applications.

Vetrics does a good job of drop , drag and scale of parts for 2D jobs. They use object type concept and poly lines with nodes for design manipulation.

Bobcad is more rigid in design more like and autcad. If you are importing 3d parts for machining, the design edit tools and machining options are geared tword this type of work.

Both systems work great, have good support and documentation. Price points are very close.

If you are more of a wood worker then vetrics would be the better choice. If you will be working with metal then bobcad cam would be the better choice. Imho

[reflectivist]

Yes our direct sales team can be agressive. When it comes down to features and options both packages offer great tools.

Vetrics would be best for art type work. Many wood workers use their products.

Bobcad cam would be better for mechanical part manufacturing. Many job shops tool & die mold makers and fabricators use bobcad. Metal cutting applications.

Vetrics does a good job of drop , drag and scale of parts for 2D jobs. They use object type concept and poly lines with nodes for design manipulation.

Bobcad is more rigid in design more like and autcad. If you are importing 3d parts for machining, the design edit tools and machining options are geared tword this type of work.

Both systems work great, have good support and documentation. Price points are very close.

If you are more of a wood worker then vetrics would be the better choice. If you will be working with metal then bobcad cam would be the better choice. Imho

Thanks.

I'm familiar with the Vetrics stuff because that's what I learned at TechShop in Menlo Park. I built a very nice multi-hole sheet metal punch with die steel on their Tormach using the Vetrics Cut2D CAM package they have on their computers, so I'm familiar with what it can do (at least from a 2.5 axis milling and basic tooling/component standpoint). At TechShop some of the whiz kids who were into 4-or-more axis machining and a bigger learning curve were using SprutCAM, which TechShop also has running on their machines, but that's more spendy than my budget, equipment and needs will afford at this moment. And from the artistic standpoint, I hear nothing but good things about Vetrics (VCarve Pro).

I'm just going to stick with what I'm familiar with (Vetrics), which seems to have a sterling reputation, and eliminate all the doubt. I couldn't find any reviews that compared and contrasted features between Vetric and BobCAD, and I prefer to do all my research and purchases online without sales intervention. Eventually I might be looking for CAM stuff again, but I will have a long time to evaluate a multitude of Vendors.

Looks like there's a LOT of stuff out there, and that it isn't an easy decision.
For example I found this comparison chart, and it lists a ton of stuff and looks really helpful, but doesn't even mention Vetrics....

http://ftp.cnchungary.com/Varsanyi_P...lito_tabla.pdf