Aspire or ArtCam Pro

[robredick]

Can any of you all knowing folks out there tell me what (if anything) I would lose if I made the leap from ArtCam 8 to the new Aspire?

I can not help but look at the prices and think that Aspire is the way to go. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

[dana_swift]

Nobody individually is "all knowing", its having all of us knowing a little something working together that makes this forum so amazing!

Interesting.. I was contemplating the opposite question! Would there be any value in purchasing ArtCam after owning Aspire?

So the answer to one will be the answer to the other!

Thanks-

D

[cabnet636]

on of the fellows who works for us on files has artcam and had not upgraded in two years, he inquired recently and they wanted 2500.00, i got him a seat of aspire as i needed complicity and he has now stated that aspire is easier to learn and teach and he will not be upgrading his AC.

jim

[burchbot]

You can download the trial version of Aspire and play with it. It does everything the paid version does except you can’t save and run the toolpaths.
http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectric/products/download_products.htm#AspireProDownloads
I hope this helps.
Dan

[toych]

I was considering purchasing Art Cam when I bought my Bot last fall but waited until I was more familiar with the machine until I made the leap to 3d software.

Shortly after my machine was delivered I attended the Ohio Camp Shopbot and saw Tony M. give an Aspire demo.......SOLD!!!!! It does everything I need it to and I don't know that Art Cam would serve my needs any better. I'm sure as my abilities with the software develop Aspire will evolve with me, in fact, it already has.

For someone new to 3d design like myself Aspire was a perfect fit. Not to mention I get the impresion that the Vetric team has a reputation of bending over backwards to help their customers.



Darren

[magic]

At the So Cal Jamboree, Bill P said one of the advantages is that Artcam can put a texture on top of another texture.

I made a 90 degree pipe (in Rhino) and it looked like a plumbing part then added Basket Weave in Artcam and now it looks like a million dollars.

However I also don't feel the upgrade fees are reasonable considering the competition. In other businesses, upgrade fees are 1/8th to 1/12 the cost of new, which seems to be the standard operating procedure that I learned in a marketing class.

[robredick]

At 30% less for Aspire than to upgrade our version 8, it seems like a BIG plus. It also seems that the folks at Vetric are much more like the people at ShopBot. Perhaps the reason for the change on the SB end.

Most of what I do is flat cut parts. However, with a second Bot hitting the shop next week, I am hoping to play some more. At least it will keep me from watching the bot cut squares.

Dana, 2 names come to mind. Bill P & Brady Watson. Those 2 fellas are about as knowing as it comes.

Purchase ArtCam if you own Aspire? From my research, I can see 7,500 reasons not to and about 900 reasons not to upgrade ArtCam.

Thanks everybody.

[mims]

One thing Artcam has is layers for reliefs. So you can have relief objects on different layers and can change the way they react with reliefs on different layers (whether they add, subtract, highest, lowest, etc) as well as delete them later or apply effects, etc to only certain layers. I am not sure if the new version of Aspire has layers for 3D (I know they have vector layers). Relief layers can be a massive advantage if you do alot of 3d relief work.

[rb99]

Maybe asking the question on the Artcam forum will get you more answers.

RB

[bernott]

Rob, what do you do with Artcam? that is so useful that you cannot do without or that Aspire cannot do yet. that is the question I would ask myself if I were in your shoes.

[mims]

Jim pointed out to me that Aspire has similar functionality to the layers in Artcam. It is called Component manager in Aspire. thanks Jim.