[alexccmeister]

Hi All,

Sorry for this silly question. I have checked the net but haven't found a website with pricing for the Artcam Pro. Can anyone tell me the ballpark figure of this software? Seems interesting as I am thinking about doing signboards as well and the user gallery is very impressive. Is there an online store selling the software? Thanks in advance.

Alex

[ger21]

$7500 plus annual support fees in excess of $1000 per year.

[alexccmeister]

Thanks Gerry,

I managed to get the price from another thread also. Its really expensive. Oh Well!

Alex

[thkoutsidthebox]

Have you looked at the Vectric products, much cheaper, and excellent software. Im using them myself.
http://www.vectric.com

[lovebugjunkie]

What thkoutsidethebox said. Look at Vcarve Pro. Watch a few of their tutorials. Very easy and quick to learn.

I have never used this type of software before and after watching the tutorials that come with V4 it took me about 15 minutes to come up with a bowl shaped like the state of Texas after I grabbed a JPEG of it off the Internet.

[HayTay]

Have you looked at the Vectric products, much cheaper, and excellent software. Im using them myself.
http://www.vectric.com

Definitely, what thkoutsidthebox said. And... While you're there download the Vectric VCarve PRO 4.0 Trial Version. It doesn't cost anything to try it out and you can actually cut the included sample designs. You can also create and save your own projects but the trial version won't allow you to produce any tool paths.

VCarve PRO is fun, way cool, easy to learn, produces quality results and very quickly pays for itself. While you're there grab the other trials, too; Vectric Cut3D and PhotoVCarve. And yes, I, too, am also using Vectric's products with fantastic results. Oh, and Vectric has great support via their own forum and the two human dynamos that are Vectric, Tony and Brian.


Have fun,

[alexccmeister]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info. Will definitely check it out.

[artcam]

Also take a look at - ArtCAM Express its a much cheaper option to ArtCAM Pro and allows you to import 3d models and reliefs and machine them aswell as all the standard 2d functionality.

www.artcam.com

[grahamshere]

I cant wait till vectric comes out with 3d modeling, At the moment thats the difference between vectric & express compared to artcam pro. If vectric did that it would pretty near sink any other software used for cnc. Did you get that Tonly if your listening:wave: Well I caused enough trouble here, ill go look for another some more some were else lol. graham

[Stepper Monkey]

Artcam can cost a lot more than you think, depending on how lucky you are and/or whether you are willing to litigate internationally. I love the program, some of the people, and formerly the support. Lately they seem to have gotten extremely paranoid over people pirating their wares - it has become epidemic particularly in China and India in large numbers of multi-seat environments - and it is very understandable they quite rightly want to and need to put a stop to this. Unfortunately, their reaction has been very toxic to their core user base - it hurts registered users and doesn't do much if anything to stop the serious piracy in the first place.

Remember that there have been incidents recently that bring into doubt whether the $7500-$9500 license you buy today has any guarantee it will be honored when it comes time to update. Even if you try to pay the $1500-$2000 per year maintenance, you may well be refused and told no, the license is invalid now and you have to buy another full license at $9500 - and in one case the user was told in no uncertain terms by the salesman that if he didn't pay full price again he was a pirate and they would prosecute him for continuing to use his original copy he had paid for. That was being the registered owner with a fully legit version with the dongle and all. Lose or destroy that and you are just as screwed, pay again. Even if you are on their good side and pay a grand or two a year to get maintenance you are going to likely be treated like a criminal. It has all forced several people I know of who have bought legit versions to actually go pirate as they had no choice other than that or pay up for a full reg again. And likely later, again. Besides, apparently some of the pirate stuff is more stable on some laptops without all the security crap interfering and crashing out. There is one guy I know of with a legit version collecting dust on the shelf and a pirate copy of the same version he has to use to do his work with for just that reason.
I haven't had any trouble with them myself or my license, knock on wood, but there is a small but growing base of legit people put out in the cold by Delcam (or their reps, anyway), several that I know personally, that show this is not an isolated thing. Hopefully - and I truly do hope this - it may be changing. I don't want them to shoot themselves in the foot, I like the program and don't want it to go away. I noticed at least last time I went to their website to get a patch, the opening page had a message politely asking users to register their .PAF file before allowing the download. This sure beat the previous opening screen message that was something really friendly like "YOUR IP ADDRESS HAS BEEN LOGGED FOR INVESTIGATION". Not much, but it's a start anyway. You know, its the polite little things that count when you've just handed somebody ten grand of your money...

[Edward P]

Hi guys,

I pretty dismayed by this last post. Delcam certainly does honour its maintenance system. If you pay your annual maintenance you are entitled to *every* release (big or small) that we produce for your product. If you don't choose to pay maintenance you can pay for the upgrade(s) instead - the choice is entirely yours. Obviously if you allow your maintenance to lapse and you have not stayed up-to-date with releases, you will typically need to get back on track by buying the equivalent upgrade before continuing with maintenance. It should really be that simple.

If people are encountering what they believe to be 'sharp' practises through our Sales Partners please contact us directly and we will ensure that it is immediately rectified. The best method of contacting us directly is probably through [email protected]. There are also direct phone numbers depending on where you are in the world. See:

http://www.artcampro.com/contact/con...sp?from=ARTCAM

As the development manager for ArtCAM, product security and licensing are my responsibility. I agree that these can be a pain in bits for all concerned, but the simple fact is I'd be out of a job and you guys would be out of software tools pretty quickly if I didn't make efforts to secure *both* of our investments in ArtCAM.

My team and I wrote the downloads system for ArtCAM - it does try to validate what products you are likely to want from your customer ID & dongle (in the same way that you enter a serial number to get drivers for a piece of hardware). It does this in order to filter which, of the potentially dozens, of Delcam's software downloads is appropriate for you. If possible this is done automatically. If for some reason if fails to do this (Norten or other products can interfere with it) then we simply ask you to type the equivalent information in from your PAF file manually. There are no tricks and no secret nonsense.

The suggestion of a message (or indeed any IP address shinanigans):
"YOUR IP ADDRESS HAS BEEN LOGGED FOR INVESTIGATION"
is simply not true. I would suggest that Stepper Monkey gets hold of an up-to-date virus & spam checker as this may indicate he/she is not hitting the sites intended? Can you contact the support address above and we'll investigate it for you?

I hope this clears up a few things - sorry that my first CNCZone post is to correct something. I hope I can contribute some more constructive stuff in the future.

Cheers,

E

[todd71]

Edward,
This is off subject. Figured since you work for ArtCAM I'd ask.
When I open my version 9.017 I see, for a split second, an icon of
a cabinet door in the "other features" window. Then it disappears.
Is this a functional upgrade or option? If ArtCAM could layout cabinet components based on size that would be way easier than it is now.

Thanks,
Todd

[Edward P]

Hi Todd,

The icon you're seeing was an optional extra called Cabinet Wizard. It takes a layered DXF file from an external CAD package and a cut list of parts & materials (in a generic comma separated text file) then it automatically creates, nests and generates the required toolpaths to cut the parts.

I'm afraid you're seeing a slight delay while your licence is checked, during this time the icon is briefly visible - it's not subliminal advertising!!

If you're interested in this functionality Todd, you will be pleased to know that we've included the tool as standard in the 2008 versions of ArtCAM Insignia & Pro for no extra cost. Depending on what sort if work you do, you may find that getting an upgrade is better value than buying the tool as an option for V9.

Hope this explains things.

E

[Stepper Monkey]

Hello Edward,
I am very glad to see that someone from Delcam is on the board. I think that Artcam in some of its variations has a lot to offer a lot of the folks on here, and someone directly knowledgeable could be a big help in making it more visible. I have been a strong supporter in recommending it to people here in the past (until recently anyway), and I hope you continue on doing the kind of things that got me as a customer in the first place many revisions ago. I have depended on it for years and think the program is one of the best out there.

That being said, I wasn't overstating things when I said I now know more Ex-Artcam users than current ones. I understand and approve of the system of either paying maintenance or of buying an upgrade, but the customer I referenced requested to do so, but was offered neither. He was told point blank that he was not eligible, his original version was no longer valid, and he had to buy another full version to get the new release. Furthermore, he was told by the resellers rep that if he wanted to continue to use Artcam he MUST buy the newest version, as he no longer had the right to use the old version, and if he continued to operate his original older version, he could be prosecuted. Period. After getting him to consult with an attorney and finding it was clear blackletter law in his favor, his choice was either to sue you for the right to buy an upgrade, or to simply ignore you guys and go elsewhere. I don't blame him for choosing the second, why would you want a product you have to sue someone to sell to you, or be able to use only under threat of being sued by you for using? Even if it isn't your policy and was just crap spewed by a sales guy trying the hard sell doesn't matter. Same effect in the end.
As for the IP logging message, it was while getting an Artcam patch from my resellers site, and it's still there. It wasn't on a Delcam server, I guess I could have made that distinction clear. I would never have thought about it though until you mentioned it - your resellers create as much of your image as the parent company does, and customers don't usually try to separate the two. They certainly shouldn't have to try to see through one to find the good in the other.

Now that I think about that distinction, my only personal gripes about Artcam have been through contact with my reseller as well since I've had no direct contact with your firm, so I don't know if it is their or Delcams policies and service that chafe - I honestly never thought about it. Really, my reps claiming of Delcam always being the scary bogeyman, and themselves as helpless and of having their hands tied about everything, was in all fairness most likely just a convenient passing of the buck for them. Or it could be true, I don't know. Again, the customer shouldn't have to try to figure that out. One way or the other, I'm still afraid of you. I think you have to admit, it is a logical, well-reasoned fear of you at that. Not exactly a trait you want to instill in customers though.

Perhaps all you need to do is simply some better training of sales reps, or even some housecleaning of dodgy resellers then. Maybe it is that simple, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but I really do wish you the best. I have to call it as I see it though, too. I don't want to just bash you - I wouldn't spend this much time and effort laying all of this out if I didn't sincerely want to see you succeed.

[Edward P]

Thanks for your honest feedback Stepper. Obviously I'm pretty gutted by some of the behaviour you describe and I have passed on your comments to the appropriate senior colleague of mine. Obviously things are essentially anonymous at the moment, but if you would like to provide more details in confidence so we can take more precise action, please feel free to drop us a line at [email protected] and mention this thread. We'll do our best to follow-it up.

I'll certainly try and get more actively involved in this forum from now on, and I'm more than happy to provide ArtCAM help when I can.

Cheers,

E

[Volantorman]

No, I repeat, NO software is worth $10k. It can be stuck where the cyber sun don't shine.

[adengesteibar]

i'd really want to try artcam. i have a mastercam9 software and i'm using it for quite some time. is there any link where i can download and try artcam?

[Gary-BDP]

Yes you can download & get more info from the following links
www.artcamexpress.com] for the entry level priced at $149 usd
www.artcaminsignia.com for Insignia 2011-R2 with 3d design at $2500 usd

For ArtCam Pro at $7500 usd, you will need to contract a reseller to obtain a trial version
Gary

[mcv300]

A friend of mine bought ARTCAM PRO for around $5400 ( Asia region ). The price list is indeed $7500 but you can always negotiate