Pls help point me in the right direction

Hello folks. I am in need of help finding the appropriate forum link for people new to Easel. Yeah yeah, i know what some of you are thinking already, “find it yourself”. And I agree, I would, IF I understood the “language”. I need a link(s) for someone that has zero experience working in Easel. I am considering purchasing the X-carve, and based on some of the forum topics i have read (apps) I feel more comfortable about opening my wallet. With that said, I’d really like to be able to learn or at minimum have access to a beginners guide for the time being.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jimmy Diresta sent me : )

I can’t think of a good forum thread that has a “beginner’s guide” for Easel, but there’s decent documentation at http://easel.inventables.com/help. What I suggest is just playing in Easel and learning as you go. It’s pretty easy, here’s a good list of things you can try:

-Add a shape and change the dimensions and location.
-Change the cut depth of the pocket and see what happens to the color.
-Change it from a fill (pocket) to an outline and look at the different options in the outline menu.
-Change the outline cut depth and see what happens to the color.

Once you get the basics down:
-Make a square piece with a circle pocket and a star shaped hole, sizes and locations your choice.
-Overlapping a few shapes and test out the send to back/front/etc. functions.
-Using two overlapping shapes, combine then explode them.
-Flip a triangle horizontally and vertically.
-Make a large square with your name and age carved into them, with the age at a different depth than the name.

Now move on to the advanced stuff:
-With a shape highlighted go to the app menu (9 squares) and see what each app does to the shape, if anything.
-Find an SVG file, something simple like a square, and import it into Easel. (If it doesn’t work, go to http://www.makercam.com, open and save the file, then try to import it into Easel.)

That’s it. It’s almost drag-and-drop easy, and the best way to figure it out is to spend an evening playing around.

PS Tell Jimmy I love his work. :smile:

1 Like

Agree. You can read for days but you’ll figure it out quicker just getting on and playing with it