User manual · Chapter 1 of 9

Getting started

Making an account, downloading and installing Carvect Pro, the trial, buying a license and getting it onto your computers, and keeping the application up to date.

What you need

Carvect Pro runs on Windows and on macOS. One license covers both, so a Windows machine in the workshop and a Mac at home can share it.

Windows: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
macOS: macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon (M1 or newer). Intel Macs are not supported.
Memory: 8 GB is comfortable for 2D and 2.5D work. Give it 16 GB if you rough large 3D models often.
Graphics: Any graphics card with OpenGL 2.1. The 3D view and the cutting simulation draw through it. Without it, drawing and 2D toolpaths still work and only the 3D preview is lost.
Internet: Needed to sign in, activate a computer, redeem a key and download updates. Once a computer is activated it runs without a connection.

The machines it writes programs for are 3-axis routers and mills: X, Y and Z, with the tool vertical. Parts can be cut from both sides by flipping the stock. Rotary axes, 4-axis and 5-axis work and lathes are outside what it does.

Creating your account

Start here. You need an account to download Carvect Pro, and the same account later holds your license: it is what lets one license work on your second computer, and it is where a purchase is recorded. Making one is free, needs no card, and starts you on the trial.

On the website

Go to carvect.com and choose Sign in, then Create an account, or go straight to carvect.com/register.
Enter your Name, Email and a Password of at least 8 characters.
Press Start the trial. You land on your account page, signed in.

In the application

If someone else downloaded the installer for you, you can make your account from inside the application instead.

Choose Help ▸ Account & License…, then Sign in….
Open the Create account tab.
Fill in Name, Email and Password and press Create account.

Either way, a new account starts on the free trial. If the email address is already registered you are told so; sign in instead.

Signing in, and a forgotten password

Sign in to the application from Help ▸ Account & License… ▸ Sign in…, using the Sign in tab. Pressing Enter in the Password box signs you in. When you sign in, the application immediately takes one of your license's two computer places for this computer (see Two computers per license, below).

If you have forgotten your password, use Forgotten your password? on the website's sign-in page. Enter your email and press Send the link. The email contains a link that works once and expires after an hour; it opens a page where you choose a new password and are signed in.

Downloading

Downloads come from carvect.com/download. Anyone can open that page, but downloading an installer needs the account you made in the previous step.

Go to carvect.com and choose Download.
If you are not signed in, sign in. (If you skipped the previous step, Create an account to download takes you there.)
Press Download .exe for Windows or Download .dmg for macOS. The version number is printed beside each button.

The Windows file is called CarvectPro-<version>-setup.exe and the macOS file CarvectPro-<version>.dmg.

Installing on Windows

Run the downloaded .exe.
If you are allowed to install for everyone on the computer, the installer offers that; otherwise it installs for your own user account. Either works.
Choose the folder. The default is Program Files\Carvect Pro.
On the options page, tick Create a desktop shortcut if you want one, and leave Open .cvc project files with Carvect Pro ticked so double-clicking a job opens it.
Press Install, and on the last page leave Launch Carvect Pro ticked to start it straight away.

The Start menu gets two entries, Carvect Pro and Uninstall Carvect Pro.

Installing on macOS

Open the downloaded .dmg. A window appears with the Carvect Pro icon and a shortcut to your Applications folder.
Drag Carvect Pro onto Applications.
Eject the disk image and open Carvect Pro from Applications or Launchpad.

The first time it opens

Carvect Pro opens on its Home page: a greeting, your recent files, your projects and a set of cards for the usual first jobs (set up your machine, choose a post-processor, load your cutters). Nothing needs to be done here before you start. Press New Job to go to the workspace, where the Setup stage and the Job Setup form are waiting.

You do not have to sign in to the application straight away. Until you do, it runs as the trial, which does everything except write G-code. Sign in with the account you downloaded with when you want to take up a license (see Getting the license into the application).

The trial

The trial is the whole application with one thing held back: writing G-code. You can draw, import, set up 3D models, make every kind of toolpath, run the simulation, print a job sheet and save your work. When you press Export G-code… you are told that G-code is the one thing the trial keeps back, and offered Buy a license… or Not now.

The trial does not expire and needs no card. Anything you make on it is saved in the ordinary way, so after you buy, the same job file exports without being redone.

The coloured badge at the right-hand end of the ribbon shows where you stand. It reads Trial in amber until a license is active, and then Licensed · Pro. Click it to open the Account & License window.

Buying a license

There is one product at one price. The license is perpetual, it covers two computers at a time and any number of CNC machines, and it includes twelve months of updates.

Sign in on carvect.com. Your license is attached to the account you are signed in with, so use the one you will sign in to the application with.
Go to Pricing and press Buy Carvect Pro. The checkout opens over the page with your email filled in.
The price is shown in your currency, before tax. Tax for your country is worked out and added in the checkout.
Pay. Payments are handled by Paddle, who also send the receipt.

When the payment goes through you arrive on a thank-you page. Your license appears on your account within a minute or two, and we email you the license key as well. If it has not arrived, look in your spam folder before anything else.

Getting the license into the application

If the application is signed in to the account you bought with, it only has to ask the server.

Open Help ▸ Account & License… (or click the Trial badge).
Press Check again. The window reports "Up to date — Pro" and the badge changes to Licensed · Pro.

If you prefer to use the key from the email:

Open Help ▸ Account & License…. If it says Not signed in, sign in first with the email you bought with. A key belongs to the account it was bought on, and a key typed into a different account is refused.
Press Enter a license key… and paste the key from your receipt.
You see "License updated — thank you."

Export G-code now writes files.

The Account & License window

This window is the one place in the application that deals with your license. Open it from Help ▸ Account & License…, from Settings ▸ Account ▸ Account & License… on the ribbon, or by clicking the license badge.

From top to bottom it shows:

The plan (Trial, or Pro) and what that means.
Who you are signed in as.
On a licensed copy, the License key, masked because this window tends to end up in screenshots. Show reveals it and Copy puts it on the clipboard. Below it, the date your included updates run to.
Computers: how many of your two places are in use, one row per computer, with a Release button on each.
This computer's id, with a Copy button. You only need this for a computer without internet access.

The buttons along the bottom:

Buy a license…: Trial only. Opens the pricing page in your browser.
Activate offline…: For a computer with no internet connection. See below.
Check again: Asks the server for your current license. Use it after buying, or after freeing a computer place elsewhere.
Enter a license key…: Redeem the key from your receipt email.
Sign in… / Sign out: Signing out returns this computer to the trial and removes its license file, so a shared computer cannot go on exporting after you leave. It does not release the computer's place. Use Release for that.
Close: Closes the window and refreshes the badge.

Two computers per license

A license is installed on two computers at a time. A computer takes its place the first time it signs in with a licensed account. When both places are taken, a third computer that signs in stays on the trial and the window tells you why.

To move the license to a new computer, free a place first. You can do that in two places:

In the application, on the computer you are leaving: Account & License ▸ Release beside its row. Releasing the computer you are sitting at asks you to confirm, and deletes its local license file.
On the website, on your account page, under Computers: press Free seat beside the computer. This is the one to use when the old computer is dead or gone.

Then press Check again on the new computer.

Copying Carvect Pro's settings folder to the new computer, or bringing them across with a migration tool, does not bring the license with it. The settings are locked to the computer they were made on, so the new computer starts signed out on the trial. Sign in there, and release the old computer if it still holds a place.

If a license is activated on an unusually large number of different computers in a short time, further computers are held on the trial and the message asks you to write to support@smepoint.com. Replacing a computer now and then never runs into this.

A computer with no internet

A workshop computer that is never connected can still be licensed. It needs a license file made for it, which you carry over on a USB stick.

On the offline computer, open Help ▸ Account & License… ▸ Activate offline… and note This computer's id (32 characters). Copy puts it on the clipboard if you can save it to a stick.
On any computer with internet access, sign in at carvect.com and open your account page.
Under Activate a computer with no internet, type the id into Computer id, give it a name such as "Bench PC", and press Issue license.
On the page that follows, press Download license file, or copy the text in the box. If you copy it by hand, take all of it including the two lines of dashes.
Back on the offline computer, in the Activate offline window, press Load from a file… and pick the file, or paste the text into the box.
Press Activate. You see "License accepted — this computer is licensed."

Issuing the file takes one of your two computer places, just as activating online does. The file does not expire and does not need the website to exist, so keep a copy somewhere safe. If you lose it, the License file button beside that computer on your account page issues it again without taking another place.

A license file only works on the computer it was issued for. Paste one into a different computer and you are told it belongs to a different machine.

Your account page on carvect.com

Profile: Your name, email and the date you joined. Change your name and Change your password open small forms in place. On a bought license, Email my license key again re-sends the key to your address. Your email address is where keys, receipts and password resets go; to change it, write to support@smepoint.com from that address.
License: The plan, the masked key with a Copy button, whether the license expires (it does not), the date updates run to, and how many computer places are in use.
Computers: Every activated computer with its date, a License file button and a Free seat button.
Activate a computer with no internet: See the section above.
Orders: View your orders lists every purchase. Each order has its own page with the license key, what you paid, and an Invoice button that opens a printable invoice. Use your browser's Print command to save it as a PDF.
Downloads: The installer for each platform, as on the download page.

Updating

Choose Help ▸ Check for Updates…. The window says which version you have and asks the server what is available.

Under Choose a version to install you see the newest release and the two before it, each with its date, size and release notes. The newest one you are entitled to is already selected. You can pick an older one; installing an earlier version is supported, which helps if a new release does not suit a job in progress.
Press Download & Install. The progress bar shows the download, and Cancel download stops it.
When the download finishes you are asked whether to open the installer. Press Open.
You are then asked whether to quit Carvect Pro so the installer can replace it. Press Yes. Anything unsaved is offered to you first.
On Windows, the installer replaces the old version in place. On macOS, drag Carvect Pro onto the Applications folder in the window that opens and choose Replace.

Updating keeps your projects, settings, machines, tools, post-processors and license. On Windows the installer's last page before installing says so, and names the version being replaced.

Your license includes twelve months of updates from the date you bought it. A release published after that is shown with the reason it is locked. The version you already have keeps working, and every version released inside your twelve months stays yours to install.

Where your own files and settings live

The application keeps its settings, libraries and logs outside the program folder, which is why updating and reinstalling leave them alone.

Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\CadCam\ (the folders Config, Data, Logs and Cache).
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/CadCam, with logs in ~/Library/Logs/CadCam and caches in ~/Library/Caches/CadCam.

Your job files are wherever you save them. Projects default to a Carvect Projects folder inside Documents.