[macdarren]

so I've downloaded both applications and run through the demos provided
Sadly vectra doesn't appear to allow saving out in the demo so I can only compare the simulation runs not the real thing.

Both seem fairly capable for generating tool paths from my 3D models.

They are close in price. Vectric Cut3d seems a little faster and more integrated.
I've spent more time with Meshcam and so far it seems to generate slightly
better tool paths with tweaking and seems to offer a few more options in the finish pass.

Anyone have experience with both applications or even just one. Any big reasons to choose one over the other? Maybe a really nice feature or short coming that sets one apart from the other?

Thanks
Darren

[robgrz]

Darren-

I wrote MeshCAM so I'm biased- you can take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

I think you'll find MeshCAM to be a simple program to learn and be productive with. The larger variety of toolpaths let you turn out quality work in less time than some other programs in the price range. Options like pencil finishing may not seem exciting now but you get hooked on them quickly.

The toolpath code has been totally rewritten in the past couple of years. The quality/accuracy of the toolpaths are now likely to exceed the accuracy of your machine. I have a medical company that has tested MeshCAM heavily and found it to be suitable for machining custom implants. I believe they required accuracy down to 10-20 micron.

Having Cutviewer as a separate program means it can be used for any GCode you have- not just code from MeshCAM.

That being said, the guys at Vectric have a big following as well and their products look really nice. I think you'd probably be happy with either. If you need more time to evaluate then email me and I'll send you an additional 30 day code. You can try a project and see if you like the output.

-Robert

[macdarren]

Thanks for the feed back and I may take you up on that extended trial. I am right now testing some other models..one that Cut3D managed but Meshcam is reporting huge file sizes and crashing on (I may just need more RAM)...I think it might be an orientation issue or some other configuration problem.

What I would most like to see is a manual...aside from the limited help menu is there any documentation for the program? I have experimented some and it must have taken a good 30 tries to get some of my things to look good in cut viewer but a good manual would be a great help.

Thanks
Darren

[fretsman]

Just a note, I have Meshcam as well but to be honest, haven't used it much because of just being too busy to do any real projects with it.

I did do one project with a simple bmp to stl conversion and it worked great but I too would LOVE to see some sort of manual for it. The video is helpful but documentation is much more useful (to me) for a program like this.

Robert, thanks for posting, possibly the manual is in the works?

Thanks again-
Dave

[robgrz]

I've been working on cleaning up the manual/help file and, when it's done, I expect to publish it to PDF as well as the current help file since many seem to prefer that.

Send me the file if you want me to check it out. MeshCAM has been used with > 1 million triangle STL files even on my 3 year old laptop. I can see if there is anything else going wrong.

-Robert

[galleta 118]

Me he bajado una demo de 30 dias, de este programa, y no se por dende empezar, me seria muy util poder tener el manual en español si esto no es posible al menos en ingles ya lo traduciria al español.
Gracias