Best design software to use for a beginner

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I am a newer Glowforge owner and have greatly enjoyed using the catalog designs. I would like to make my own and am interested in knowing the easier beginner design software I can use. Any suggestions? Thank you!

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When I started out, I didn’t know much about design either. But I did know about web development and XML files. I knew that an SVG file was just an XML file with given nodes. So I started out by coding all my SVGs in Notepad. (I do NOT recommend this method!)

Then other users on this forum directed me to InkScape! A free drawing program that can create SVGs. It took me a bit to learn it, but it is now my tool of choice to create designs quickly!

So that is my recommendation. I suggest finding tutorials on YouTube to help learn the application. They can be quite helpful.

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I second the use of Inkscape, however, while Inkscape is great with vector lines it kinda falls flat with raster images. For that, I use Gimp which is so complementary I use them almost as the same program.

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Third for Inkscape. Tutorials on YouTube will get you going quickly.
The time and effort you put into learning it will come back in spades. :sunglasses:

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What designs did you like from the catalog? What kind of designs do you want to make?

Some software is better for one type or the other.

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Inkscape for me. Does require some work to learn but there are loads of tutorials and it is very powerful and makes great svgs.

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You have gathered by now, that Inkscape is the logical place to go right off. Free, works pretty well, great place to learn the difference between a vector and a raster.

After that, it will depend a lot on what you want to make and how you approach problems.

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I’m a fan of illustrator but free is always a good place to start

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I started with Inkscape knowing nothing. Didn’t take too long to learn. Now have purchased Illustrator and I’m usually too busy to take the time to ‘learn’ and default back to Inkscape!

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As @bwente asked, what do you want to do?

And I’ll add - what software do you already own? You can do some basic stuff with Powerpoint and WordArt if you’re a Microsoft Office user.

There are lots of CAD options if you want something more technical.

And there are the drawing programs that people have mentioned (Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator) plus a lot more.

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inkscape is a good place to start. consider cuttle as well.

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Thank you for your Inkscape reccomendation. I appreciate it and, based on several other responses, it looks like Inkscape is a good starter design program.

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Thanks for the Gimp suggestion along with Inkscape. I am still getting familiar with the various terminology such as the vector and raster images and what that diffrence really means designwise. I’ll get there…might be a little while though.

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Thank you for the Inkscape reccomendation. That seems the way to go for beginners. Have not heard of cuttle until your suggestion. I will check it out.

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This might help with your understanding :slight_smile:

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There are also many good webpages out there that describe this as well, with really clear illustrations and definitions.

Here’s one:

Adobe has a page like this, among so many others.

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Inkscape! Yes, and be sure to give Cuttle a look.

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