# newbie questions



## Crosetti (Mar 21, 2013)

Hello all,
Our company just purchased a CNC router. We are a major player in the entertainment / rental business & my boss (on a whim) bought a 4'x8' Pro Series CNC by a company called Vortech. For what purpose we do not know yet, he saw a demonstration & loved it so he bought it ... (yea, must be nice). I am the CAD / graphics guy here so it's my job to select software & figure it out & i have ZERO experience with a CNC. 

I do my CAD / 3D in a program called Vectorworks. 
Can I design in Vectorworks or do I have to purchase software made for CNCs?
let's say I don't have to, would it better / easier though?
If so, any recommendations?

That's it for now, I'm sure I'll have a lot more as I get it set up.

Thanks for the time!
JC


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

As long as you can generate G code you should be fine.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Welcome to the forum.


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## adot45 (Feb 6, 2013)

Welcome to the forum.


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## bgriggs (Nov 26, 2008)

JC,

Your question could be given a better answer if we knew the types of projects you work on most often. 

Vectorworks looks like an amazing program with lots of features. You can use it to generate your vectors for your tool paths. It exports DXF and a few other formats which can be imported into a CAM package. The vectors then get converted to tool paths and then G-Code gets generated. 

I would be really surprised if the machine did not include software to handle this...... Actually I just looked at their website and the only software provided is Mach3. Mach3 will run your G-code but won't generate it.

You will probably want to consider a CAM package like Vectric Aspire (3D) or VCarve Pro (2D). I wrote a series of blog posts about the CNC process a few months ago. Here are the two articles which might explain the part you are asking about.

If you need any assistance just ask.

Bill

CNC SIGN PROJECTS - CNC DESIGN SOFTWARE -

CNC SIGN PROJECTS - MAKE TOOLPATHS


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