New User from Minnesota with questions on software

Hi there,

my husband purchased the crossfire XR (we living in central Minnesota). He wants to make metal art signs etc. He is having a hard time figuring out the design software - hes watched several youtube videos but hes not techy at all and needs more help figuring out how to design and execute. he has downloaded inkscape and fusion 360 and fire control. is there a course or way to gain knowledge on how to use these softwares? He has spend hours on trying to learn it on his own and stuck. Any ideas or info would be appreciated. thanks and have a blessed day

Welcome in!! There is a lot of knowledge here to help. Me personally I don’t care for ink scape. I use the software for our vinyl plotters to design artsy stuff and do my cam work in sheetcam. I have a 2d cad program to do mechanical stuff. @TinWhisperer has been doing a lot of 360 videos that may help.

Pick one program and stay with it stay calm you can get through it

What specific trouble are you having? That will give us a idea where to start.

Oh yeah start with something simple. Have you made any cuts yet?

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Check to see if you have a local Maker Space. There are several where I am and they often use Inkscape as the design program of choice for flat work like signs. It’s free and tons of YouTube videos out there. Many makerspaces offer classes in it as well because it’s a good way to get people using their lasers or CNC routers.

Programs like Fusion 360 which are 3D CAD oriented can be very daunting to novices and have a fair amount of features that can get in the way when you’re doing 2D designs - as a newbie you don’t know which things you need to learn about and which you won’t ever use.

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Great advice from both James and Phillip.

And this is very important:

Now if you interested in Fusion 360, here are a couple of YouTube videos to look at:
Mike Festiva: Fusion 360 2D Tutorial Drawing series for Beginners part 1
And,
NTD Racing: How to make 2D designs in Fusion 360 - Make parts fast and easy with the CrossFire Pro

I was definitely where your husband is at right now. I thought “I am never going to learn this.”

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