Open our STL files in Aspire, VCarve, Carveco, Fusion 360 or ArtCAM

Vectric Aspire

Can it open STL files? Yes. Aspire imports STL files as 3D models, as many as you like in one job, and can also edit and combine them.

1. Set up your job with the board size and thickness you will cut, units in millimetres or inches.
2. Use "Import a Component or 3D Model" and pick the STL. The Orientate Model form opens: keep the flat base facing down, set the size you want (lock the proportions), and set where the model sits in the board.
3. The model becomes a component. Add a 3D Roughing toolpath, then a 3D Finishing toolpath.
4. For fine detail, add a smaller ball nose to the 3D Finishing toolpath: with more than one tool, Aspire machines only the areas the bigger tool could not reach (rest machining).

Vectric VCarve Pro and VCarve Desktop

Can it open STL files? Yes. VCarve Pro and VCarve Desktop open STL files and cut them with 3D roughing and finishing toolpaths. They cut a 3D model but do not edit it, and a job holds one STL (Aspire lifts both limits).

1. Set up the job with your board size and thickness. VCarve Desktop cuts jobs up to 24 by 24 inches.
2. Use "Import a Component or 3D Model", pick the STL, and set its size and position. Keep the flat base facing down.
3. Add a 3D Roughing toolpath, then a 3D Finishing toolpath.
4. To limit the cut to the carving, choose a machining boundary from a selected vector instead of the whole board.

Our designs are single STL files, so the one-model limit rarely matters. If you want lettering or a second design in the same panel, that is what Aspire adds.

Carveco and Carveco Maker

Can it open STL files? Yes. Carveco imports an STL as a 3D model and turns it into a relief you can scale, position and combine.

1. Create a model at your board size and resolution.
2. Import the STL as a 3D model, size it, and paste it into the relief.
3. Machine it with a Machine Relief toolpath: a roughing pass, then a finishing pass with a ball nose.
4. To cut only the carving, select a vector boundary around it before you create the toolpath.

Autodesk Fusion (Fusion 360)

Can it open STL files? Yes. Fusion inserts an STL as a mesh body and can create toolpaths on the mesh as a whole.

1. In the design workspace use Insert Mesh. STL files carry no units, so choose millimetres when you insert ours.
2. Our meshes are detailed (often 1 to 2 million triangles). If Fusion becomes slow, reduce the mesh before you machine it.
3. In the Manufacture workspace, set up the stock and select the mesh body as the model.
4. Rough it, then finish with a ball nose. Finishing strategies such as Scallop and Flat suit meshes best, because individual faces and edges of a mesh cannot be selected.

ArtCAM

Can it open STL files? Yes. ArtCAM imports STL files into a relief and machines them. Autodesk stopped selling it in 2018, but many machines still run it.

1. Create a model at your board size and import the STL into the relief.
2. ArtCAM sees the whole rectangle as the relief, so it will machine the entire board unless you give it a boundary around the carving.
3. Make that boundary with our free outline tool (below), save it as DXF, import it, and machine inside the selected vector.