Resolution Issues.........?

[oneusageek]

The problem with the last line is that the vectors are malformed. The text is apparently so small, and the contrast in the original picture so low, that it was not able to put together full vectors for those letters. Why not just replace them with actual text in a similar font? It's a separate line from the rest of the piece, so a slightly different font (or perhaps even a contrasting font - how about some kind of italic font?) should not look too out of place. Frankly, if I were doing this piece, I would replace all the text with real text anyway, as there are a lot of jaggies and badly formed letters in the smaller text areas.

The default bits that come with Aspire are just that - default. You need to set them up to match the bits you actually have, or add new bits as necessary. The numbers in the bit names are supposed to indicate the diameter of the bit, but the numbers you listed - .05 for example - don't sound right. V-bits come in a variety of diameters, which you define in the tool setup for that v-bit. For example, one of my 90-degree v-bits is 1.25" in diameter, and I've included that in the tool name. The value of knowing the diameter of the bit is that it helps you to understand how many passes it will take to reach the full depth of the v-carving. A wider bit can generally do in one pass what a skinny bit will require several passes to do.

I know the tutorials are time consuming, but you really need to find the time if possible. Many of your questions are addressed there.

Good idea with replacing that text, I am going to try doing that. And I know you are right, I really do need to make the time to get the tutorials watched. Perhaps a bigger problem will be remembering everything I learn from them.....

[oneusageek]

Looking at the two pictures I do NOT see a preview pictures.

FIRST picture is a "toolpath" preview but NOT the preview that shows the actual toolpath AFTER running the preview.

SECOND picture is - I really don't know what that is but it does not look like a preview pic.

On to the tutorials ------

You are not going to be successful at this if you do not STUDY the tutorials. I will NOT recommend watching the tutorials, as in like watching a movie. Watching them will get you little to nothing. What I am suggestion is to STUDY them. That means watch, than watch again, and practice. Watch, stop, rewind, watch and listen slowly, rewind, watch again. Try it on your own, then go back and watch again. SOOO - if you don't have time to watch, as in watch a movie, which is what I am saying is not a good way to do it, then you are NOT liking what I am saying about STUDYING.

Truth is - you will need 10,000 hours at this before you will start to "get it". You are not going to get it, just by asking other users what is wrong. You really need to get past the "I don't have time" thing, and get into studying the tutorials.

All this stuff is REALLY COOL - and REALLY FUN. Guys like Adrian, Michael Mezalick, Michael Tyler and so many others here have WAY WAY more than 10,000 hours - more like 50,000 or 100,000 hours into it, or even more. NOBODY, gets good at this in 20-100 hours of actual working at it.

Soo - bite the bullet - study the tutorials - START at the BEGINNING. Get good at the basics.

I really don't mean to be harsh, but that my nature - I am not good at being diplomatic.

Actually, you are right, I did mess up that preview pic, and it is a pic of the toolpath preview, not a pic of the toolpath after the preview had been run, which is what I intended to put up. The second pic was taken after the bitmap tracing. I had selected all the vectors before taking and cropping the screenshot. And the tutorials..............Truth is that I did watch a few of them, and my initial opinion was that they were so detailed that I was never going to remember what I was learning, and then when I took notice how many of them there were, I started getting a touch of discouragement. I am one of the types that wants to be at the finish line without bothering with the race. Gotta learn to get over that. I've also been poring over YouTube videos, as well. I intend to make a renewed effort, and this time, I will play the tutorial on my desktop while I actually repeat the steps I see on my laptop. Maybe that will help it all sink in................You are right, it is really cool, and really fun. I think I enjoy watching the machine do the actual work more that anything else. My first thought after seeing it cut my first job was 'I want a bigger machine'. No worries about being harsh, I understand completely as I am much the same way, in that I say what I think. I actually prefer when people are that way with me. Thanks for your advice.

[Leo]

want to learn fast?
go to a workshop.
i have a free one aug 5 and 6
leo has one on east coast
mezalick has some across the country.
vectric has a few over here.
jim mcgrew has some.

just go to one and you will learn a lot in a couple of days. and you will meet some nice people.
i dont have 10000 hours in this, but i did watch every tutorial more than once.

Rob,

I am CERTAIN that you have at least 10,000 hours into it.

[oneusageek]

want to learn fast?
go to a workshop.
i have a free one aug 5 and 6
leo has one on east coast
mezalick has some across the country.
vectric has a few over here.
jim mcgrew has some.

just go to one and you will learn a lot in a couple of days. and you will meet some nice people.
i dont have 10000 hours in this, but i did watch every tutorial more than once.

How do I find out where the workshops are at in different areas of the USA? I am in Pennsylvania.

[oneusageek]

Along with studying the tutorials, there's the "Help" button at the top of the Aspire window. The Help button opens up the complete up to date user instruction book. I use the Help button all the time to refresh myself on just some of the questions you are asking, like tool data bases and V-Carve vs. Pocketing etc. I have been using this program for a long time and have studied each tutorial as it comes out and over the years, that is a considerable amount of study time, but, as Leo and others have said, you have to read and study and practice and like my old school teacher always told us,"...study and study and it will eventually dawn on you." You will start to get this, but it ain't going to happen overnight. Hang in there, and good luck...joe

Slowly but surely, I am getting there. A bigger issue with the tutorials is retaining what I learn. Thanks for the encouragement!

[Leo]

Dear Geek,

If you try to take on ALL of the tutorials - yes that will be overwhelming. How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE at a time. chew chew chew chew, then swallow. Take a little drink. Let it settle, before going to the next bite.

Slow down a little. Don't try to do so much at once. Take One tutorial. Study it. Get used to it. Do small stuff. One little bite at a time.

Truthfully, I have been doing CAD - CAM - CNC - Programming as a profession for more that 30 years, and have been operating machings for another 10 before that, and was a mechanic for another 5+ before that.

Even soooo, still, I studied the tutorials, and have been using Vectric products since 2007.

So I will speak from experience, as well as so many other here.

Also, REJ said about attending some events as posted on the forums. I have been to a couple. I had attended one of REJ's events in Indiana. They talk funny there, but MAN, what a learning experience it was. I learned a LOT.

So - take on a little bit, chew and chew. Digest, then go to the next bite. It is just sooooo much easier that way, and a whole lot more fun.

This forum is FANTASTIC - there as so many professional and highly talented people here.

[Leo]

want to learn fast?
go to a workshop.
i have a free one aug 5 and 6
leo has one on east coast
mezalick has some across the country.
vectric has a few over here.
jim mcgrew has some.

just go to one and you will learn a lot in a couple of days. and you will meet some nice people.
i dont have 10000 hours in this, but i did watch every tutorial more than once.

How do I find out where the workshops are at in different areas of the USA? I am in Pennsylvania.

Geek,

From Pensy, you can drive up to my place on August 12. Make a vacation out of it. Cape Cod, Newport R.I. and so much more is just around the corner from me. My day is an open forum, that is nothing planned, but great people to meet. It's FREE, sorta. If you want to be a part of it email me at voisil@comcast.net

[redwood]

There are a ton of Vectric produced videos, and they are great, but I don't just stop there. There are many other great video's by others using Vectric software. Sometimes seeing the same thing through someone else's keyboard is just the thing to make it stick. Legacy Woodworking puts out a ton of vectric video's to name one. I would love to hear of others that put out quality unique video's using the Vectric software.

[Adrian]

One thing to bear in mind with the non-Vectric videos is that they might be made with older versions of the software which work in a very different way to current versions. With the official tutorials on the support site you can be sure they will always be the latest versions. Having said that there are videos out there of V9 so it can sometimes be the other way around!

[dealguy11]

Where in Pennsylvania are you located?

[oneusageek]

I am located in Hanover, PA, about 170 miles distant for your location, Steve. I had a question the other day, and so decided to start with reading the user manual, just to completely familiarize myself with all parts of the software and am soon going to be done with that, then I will start with the videos. My question from the other day, which I never did find an answer to, was in regard to the preview pane. It says that after running the preview, you can remove the waste area by double clicking it. I would like to make the waste area be deleted automatically at the completion of the preview. After having read 3/4 of the user manual, I have not found the way to do that as of this point. I kind of like the videos I see on YouTube. Good point about the program version issue, though.

[dealguy11]

There isn't an option to have the waste material automatically removed without clicking on it. That's because Aspire has no way of knowing what you consider to be waste and what is "good".

If you have a really involved design it can be a bit tedious to click on all the waste areas, I know.

[Rcnewcomb]

I would like to make the waste area be deleted automatically at the completion of the preview.

The software doesn't know what material you are keeping and what is waste.

Consider the following. If I am making a stencil then the interior letters are waste. If I am making letters then the exterior area is waste.

[dwilli9013]

Another point to remember if you are tabbing your models or cutouts the remove waste material in the preview will not function.

[oneusageek]

OK, so another issue I am having.....................This may sound a bit stupid, but I would find it easier to learn by watching the video tutorials on one computer and actually working through the steps on another computer. To make this happen, it would work better for me to be able to download the tutorials to my hard drive and watch them offline. There is a button on each video that appears to offer that download option, but when I click the button, I am offered an .exe file, not anything that would be a typical video file. Running the file appears to install something, but I am unsure what, as I cannot locate anything new after the 'install' completes. Precautionary before and after scans of the system come back clean. Any way to get a traditional video file from this, such as .avi, .mp4, .mkv, etc....................????? Thanks!