NEW MAC USER

[Imacman]

Hello... I am new here.. and very confused... i'm about to buy a CNC... I am a MAC user.... i have about 6 here from G3's to the newest Intel's... I'm over the fact that my mac can't run to a CNC... no probem.. I will pick up a PC for that... but my question is what software can I design in?... I am a Graphic Designer Using CS4 Photoshop...Illustrator & Flash....so what would be the obvious choice for me to design wood workign projects in?.. My intention is to begin building Electric Guitars & Strumsticks.... In a perfect world... I would like to be able to do my basic 2D guitar outlines in Illustrator then import them into a another mac program that will let me finish the deisgn of the instrument ..ie.. Routed edges... Pickup holes , Tuner key holes etc...... then bring that file over to the PC to do the CNC coding.. My apologies... I am very new to this... and I'm not quite sure I even have a handle on the process... Correct me if I'm wrong... but...does it work like this... A.) design object in a Cad program... Export or save file in a DXF format... then import this into a CAM program ( No Idea what a Cam program is BTW ) and that CAM program will create GGode and send it to a CNC?... is the way it works?... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
At the end of the day... i just want to be able to design on my Mac...in something similar to Illustrator or Photoshop. : (

Imacman

[casta-baga]

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...4&goto=newpost

[Imacman]

Ok... Me again..... I've been working / playing in Rhino for the last 3 days.... it's a bit confusing.. but a great program it seems. I'm not looking for an "All The Bells & Whistles" software pkg to start... does anyone know if there is an very very basic program I can run on a mac? And for anyone that uses Rhino... quick questio. when I create a solid object... and then I trim a piec out of it... the object then becomes hollow it seems? am I doing some thing wrong? is there anyway to make objects stay solid? I've done the tutorials that come with the program.. it's a good start... but not quite enough to get any comfort level...lol.. My flashlight & yellow duck came out good...lol.