I dislike Carveco Maker quite a lot. I'm open to having my mind changed...
I've used several CAD/CAM softwares in my time, but I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with Carveco Maker. I've been using it for the past few months because a free year came with my new CNC, but there's a slim to none chance of me continuing my subscription once the free trial is up. Nearly every time I use this software I find something else that makes using it just that much more cumbersome. That being said, I am open to my mind being changed. If someone can tell me fixes to the issues I have, thereby making the use of the program more enjoyable, I'm all ears.
A few gripes:
Each time I search the forums or Carveco website for the varied issues I have, I'm very seldom able to find clear answers. This isn't because of a nuanced problem and there are many ways to accomplish a task. It's due to me not finding any other instances.
There's no way to keep the default of normal-sized icons; each time I start the software, I have to right-click the toolbar, hit customize, navigate to the options tab, and uncheck the box that says "Large Icons". Why in the **** wouldn't that just stay as whatever was selected??
There are many ways to make CAD/CAM more efficient, and one of my favorites is hotkeys. However, the hotkeys that I'd like to apply to actions in Carveco Maker aren't allowed. Moreover, one of the MOST frustrating things I've found is that when I try to assign a shortcut key to some buttons, they are "assigned" to something called "New Menu". There is no command in the structure called New Menu when I search for it, therefore I can't unassign the current hotkey and reassign to what I want to. Additionally, when I do press the hotkey for "New Menu", absolutely NOTHING happens. I've tried it with different windows open within Carveco Maker and still see nothing. Absolutely useless, and I can't unassign it in order to reassign the hotkey command. Also, there are multiple hotkey commands that are assigned to "New Menu", so it's not like it's just one command that I've been deprived of, but several. Sheesh!
This one might be answered on here: What the **** is "Cursor Info Settings" in the options menu?? There are two fields that are under this submenu, Opacity and Text Size. I was hoping that I'd be able to enlarge the text size of the GUI to make things easier to read, but changing these has no effect that I have been able to discern. I'm sure they do something, but I can't find any forum topic about it and I've watched so many videos from Carveco tutorials that I would think I'd have come across it by now.
If that's not the way to adjust the text size of the GUI, then how would I do that? If I can't do that, that's a really dumb miss by Carveco. I can change the text size for the PC so all programs have that, but a) Carveco Maker is the only one that's difficult to read, and b) when I do that, the fields the numbers are in don't change so it just leads to even greater legibility issues.
As I said, I'm open to having my opinion of Carveco Maker completely turned around and be shown that I was just not finding the correct menu options for a lot of these issues. I'd still argue that Carveco did a very poor job of making things intuitive if that's the case, but I wouldn't completely talk trash on it. I will genuinely be grateful for any solutions or insight from others. Show me the error of my ways.
Comments
I did just find a way to get the large icons to not reset each time I restart the software by unchecking the "Reset toolbars and panes when opening files" box, but I would like some things reset if I change them for a specific project. I just want the icons, not the rest of the settings to remain a particular size.
Aaaand here we are, FIVE DAYS this post has been "pending approval"... Hard to not be suspicious about Carveco preventing posts with criticisms being published at this point...
What the ****, Carveco staff??? Y'all won't approve a post that has honest and legitimate criticisms of your software? I was posting this in the hopes that another user would have insight about the issues I described. By not approving the post (two weeks!), you're essentially conceding that you made a BAD program... Shameful.
Hi Jake Vincent,
Regrettably, specific language used within two of your posts in this topic is what lead them to being automatically quarantined. Quarantined posts are reviewed periodically, and your two posts have now been approved, less a word which can be deemed offensive by others. While you may not find particular words offensive, please be considerate of others. Contrary to your suggestion, we can assure you that there is no attempt to censor opinion at play here.
While the vast majority of our customers are very happy with using their chosen Carveco product, we recognize that not everyone feels that way and we value all constructive feedback offered in relation to any difficulties or struggles they may encounter. Your feedback has now been shared with our Development team for further consideration.
As you've correctly deduced, selecting the Edit > Options menu option to display the Options panel, deselecting the Interface Customisation category's Reset toolbars and panes when opening files check box, and then clicking Apply prevents the workspace from being reset in each session of Carveco Maker. The decision to reset the workspace by default resulted from several customers accidentally removing elements of the workspace and was implemented as part of the Carveco 1.33 Update; you can find the associated Release Notes on our company website: https://carveco.com/2022/07/27/carveco-v1-33-release-notes/
It seems that you have deselected the Options panel's Reset toolbars and panes when opening files and Lock toolbars check boxes, and then clicked Apply followed by Close, as shown below:
This enables you to customize the interface without your preferred changes being reset each time you start a new session of Carveco Maker.
It seems that you've right-clicked an empty area of the workspace, have selected the Customise menu option to display the Customise dialog, have then selected its Options tab, and have then deselected its Large Icons check box, as shown below:
After doing so, provided that you do not re-select the Options panel's Reset toolbars and panes when opening files check box and then click Apply, smaller-sized icons remain displayed between your sessions of Carveco Maker, as shown below:
It seems that you have selected the Customise dialog's Keyboard tab and attempted to assign the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut to a command; the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut is shown as being assigned to New Menu, as shown below:
You can find New Menu by selecting the Customise dialog's Commands tab. With New Menu selected in the Categories list, click and drag New Menu from the Commands window to an empty area of the workspace to create a new menu, as shown below:
However, we are currently investigating how the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut is assigned by default in Carveco Maker and why it is seemingly failing to respond when used; we'll provide you with a further update on this shortly.
Regarding keyboard shortcuts (or "hot keys"), you cannot assign a keyboard shortcut combination to a command which is already being used elsewhere. To ascertain all of the keyboard shortcuts already assigned, when reviewing the Customise dialog's Commands list, please ensure that All Commands is chosen as the Category, as shown below:
You might also find selecting the Help > Shortcuts menu option, which displays the Shortcuts dialog, is useful to you in discerning what keyboard shortcuts are currently assigned.
If you click the ? icon shown on a panel's header within the Carveco Maker interface, inline help is displayed showing further information about that particular tool or setting. Regarding the Options panel's Cursor Info Settings, the inline help is shown as follows:
These settings specifically relate to the cursor information shown in the view while the View > Show Cursor Information menu option remains selected, as shown below:
Unfortunately, at this time, it is not possible to change the size of the text used for labels in the Carveco Maker interface from within the software itself. There are two settings within Windows that affect text scaling: the DPI Scale in Settings > System > Display (shown using ms-settings:display in your browser's address bar) and the Text Size scaling in Settings > System > Accessibility (shown using ms-settings:accessibility in your browser's address bar). At present, the Carveco Maker interface adjusts according to the former setting rather than the latter.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Really? Really?? You're claiming that you delayed approving my post because of the alternate word for heck?? The place of fire and brimstone? C'mon, get real. I'll respond to the rest of the post later when I get time, but that can't really be the reason... That word is used in G-rated movies....
Hi Jake Vincent,
We've confirmed why the two of your posts were automatically quarantined and how quarantined posts are then moderated; we cannot enter into a debate about what words should or should not be included in a moderated list, as this is entirely subjective. The pre-compiled list of moderated words serves only to mitigate the risk of causing offense.
We've acknowledged and commented on the majority of the points which you've raised in this topic. However, our investigations regarding the oddities relating to New Menu remain ongoing. We'll provide you with a further update regarding that just as soon as we have drawn some accurate conclusions.
Thanks once again for your time and consideration.
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