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Easel Pro users can get a cleaner finish and better-looking carve by using raster toolpaths to carve wood. The raster toolpath cut setting changes how the bit moves across your material when carving filled shapes in your project.
As a default, Easel uses the “offset” strategy: the bit typically starts in the center of a filled area and gradually work its way to the edges, following the contours of your design. By contrast, with the raster approach, the bit’s toolpath moves back and forth in a linear direction.
The main advantage of raster toolpaths comes when carving wood. Because the bit moves linearly in parallel lines, using raster can help you follow the direction of the wood grain. By carving with the wood grain, you will see a much cleaner finish on the resulting carve.
Want to learn more about how to use this new Easel Pro feature? Check out this helpful step-by-step tutorial and use raster toolpaths on your next project!
So what’s the justification for calling this a Pro feature? With V-Carve they said it wasn’t really a quality issue (INCORRECT) it was just a time optimization for pro users trying to make them in quantity. So what does this new feature do for pros that the people who bought their X-Carve for hobby use don’t care about?
Zach told me personally on the phone that Easel Pro was only targeted at users who were running a business with their X-Carve and later got very upset when I said that the features proposed for Easel Pro made it reasonable to question the honesty of that. So that’s why I feel justified in asking why this is considered a feature that business owners would care about that someone who bought their X-Carve for purely hobby reasons would not.
what happened to all those fonts that were going to be added on a constant basis? so far for my 25 bucks a month I get to use a Vbit, some google fonts and now many many months later…rastering. I feel that easel pro isn’t shaping up to what it was touted to be in Zach’s presentation a while back.
But again this is just my opinion and other people may be quite happy with how Easel Pro is progressing
For the cost of the X-Carve, anyone buying this machine should have access to all of these extra bells and whistles. I’d even be happy paying an extra $50 on the front end of the purchase to cover it over the lifetime of ownership. I like to use Easel for quick jobs and out of simplicity, and would probably use the Pro features if they came as part of the perks of ownership. And this coming from someone who has Aspire.
Hi Steve, thanks for your post. I’m Jessie, the community manager here at Inventables.
We have 3 criteria for whether we should consider a feature for inclusion in Easel Pro, based on the needs of the professional maker: does the feature consistently save users time, does it consistently help users get more professional results, or does it give users more control over the carve. We believe the raster feature hits on all 3 of these things.
Also, one big reason we give all customers 4 free days of Easel Pro a month is because we understand hobbyists or those exploring a side project might not yet have the budget to pay for it. This was based on input from customers, including you!
So you’re saying that the regular free Easel users don’t get features which help users get more professional results, or give users more control over the carve? Really??? That makes it sound like only trivial features will be added to non-pro Easel.
When has Inventables ever taken advise from its customer base? This is the reason so many of the original members whose knowledge and experience helped build this forum have left and moved on to other venues.
Would you really expect them to keep upgrading and working on Easel for free forever? I’ve voiced previously that I didn’t think Easel pro was worth the cost, but I also wouldn’t expect professional, continually upgraded software in perpetuity. Easel does the basic jobs with basic features as its designed to do (when we’re lucky).
Jessie can you clear up something?
Is the raster option available to those of us that only use free days of PRO?
The initial posting of this release indicated it was for PRO subscribers.
Are they saying that? Easel is free for everyone, regardless of whether they have an X-carve. It’s ridiculous how easy it makes it for beginners and those who have no need to do more. It requires constant support and upgrades. And, again, it’s free. If they started off charging for Easel, people would’ve paid. If Inventables had Easel Pro first and then announced they were releasing a simpler version free of charge for anyone, no one would complain. We’d be singing their praises.
Didn’t realize the hate for a company making things, charging people for its services to then release updates and improvements. lol.
I am a hobbyists but getting into doing more and more work for others and I was surprised and happy to discover the 4 free days of Easel Pro. Keep being awesome. I also love seeing new updates, even if they cost money.
