Is anyone here using blendercam. i cant for the life of me get it to work

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pretty much what the title says. if you use blender cam, please share with me, how to install it. i followed the install instructions and python is confusing. there is no strait forward download and install this because when i go to look for python they have endless amounts of different kinds and versions and i just dont know. ive been at it for 2 hours and i cant find the right thing or make sense of the few tutorials Ive found.

this should be so simple but i just can get it to work. i think its python is my problem.
blender keeps telling me that its python and that it can find a module called polygon. and god knows that python is offering me 15-20 version of the same thing and i cant tell them apart.

just really frustrating

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I did get it to work, but it was a mess… I ended up with many copies of Blender and only one worked… ugh. Even then the tool path generation in BlenderCAM is a bit of a mess to work with. I’m pretty sure that in the end the one that worked was self contained and didn’t need extra Python installs, it was just a step back to the version of Blender that came in the package… not sure though.

frustrating was my take away from it as well.

might I ask what you are trying to accomplish with it?

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I dont have alot of money so i model in blender. It would have been a straight shot for me, so i didnt need to convert it a bunch of time to different programs.

If it was that bad. Ill probably just reinstall my blender. And go back to vcarve.

Thanks

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I’m with @PhilJohnson on this…

I was using Blender due to it being a free option and one that I thought I could recommend, but it was such a mess that it turned me off… Thats when I switched to Fusion 360

F360 is free until you start making a certain amount of money with it, so it works out to be pretty great. It has a nice set of CAM operations and the modeling environment isn’t too shabby either once you get used to it’s interface… It really depends on what kinds of stuff you want to make and carve.

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Did you ever have problems with the download with Fusion? Specifically “Exchange Material Service” popup?

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I guess not, as “Exchange Material Service” doesn’t ring a bell.

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I just found BlenderCam and am attempting to get it installed on my work computer (only windows box I currently have access to) Although after reading this, and several other sites. I’m thinking it may be easier to bite the bullet, put Windows on one of my boxes at home and use F360.

I’m just starting to get orders in and get my name out, so I’m looking to keep my costs down to material only. Love Blender 3d, but as most Blender add-ons the documentation and videos are lacking any start to finish details, and I’m not really in the mood for another “just give it a try” experience.

Any quarks with Fusion 360 anyone has experienced? Such as odd tool paths (I noticed easel has gotten a little odd with tool paths lately)

Now if TinkerCad would just add in some CAM functions I could be a happy cheap bald guy.

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I may have to check v-carve desktop. Really just wanting to offer some fancier signs / designs. Fusion looks great, but it almost has too many options.

Thanks again.

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