Hello…
I am trying to engrave on Alder wood photo frames.
What is the best SW to use to get my designs to my Glowforge
Thanks!
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Vector illustration or vector design software are what the whole category is called. They include Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Silhouette Studio Business Edition, CorelDRAW and Affinity Designer. Depending on what you’re hoping to engrave on the photo frames, almost anything that can make an image file or PDF is an option, from Photoshop to PowerPoint. Once you have a design, you go to https://app.glowforge.com and upload the file.
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Thanks Dan
I was wondering which of the vector design software listed above is prefered
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I’d use Adobe Illustrator if the subscription wasn’t so expensive, but it is, so I use Inkscape myself. Free and powerful, just a bit steeper of a learning curve.
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To quote someone smarter than me “the best software is the one you know”
If you don’t know any, start with Inkscape because it’s free and powerful. Folks here will happily answer specific questions, plus there are so many tutorials in the Tips and Tricks section 
Inkscape isn’t very good when it comes to raster drawings, so once again - if you already know one that’s great. If not GIMP or GetPaint.net are both fabulous, plus there are a lot of both kinds as apps on phones now if that’s your preference.
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I knew nothing about vectors when I joined here and downloaded Inkscape. I have been able to do what I want with it and everyone here is super helpful. I do have a subscription to Illustrator but haven’t taken the time to learn it yet…on the list of things to do!
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I’m the one guy here who hates Inkscape.
Most vector design programs kind of share a common way of doing things. If you know Adobe Illustrator you can pick up Affinity Designer pretty easily and vice versa.
Whoever designed Inkscape seems to have made it a design goal to make it as different as possible. Since I knew other commercial vector apps when I started Inkscape, I had a hard time with it. And if I started with Inkscape, I would have had a hard time moving to the other apps.
But I have to admit that Inkscape is an effective tool and you can find a lot of help for it here.
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You’re not the only one. I feel the same and for the same reason.
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You can count me in as #3. I knew zero about lasers not to even mention vectors, rasters, nodes, etc. so downloaded Inkscape to learn. It didn’t take me very long to feel that it wasn’t very intuitive nor user friendly, so I bought Affinity and have stuck with that the entire past 6+ years.
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LOL. That word! Intuitive to who?? I happen to be one for which Inkscape is brilliant, but I 100% get that software is almost random on who it works for. My sister is absolutely in love with GIMP while I find it completely obtuse and use Paint Net instead. I really really want to understand Fusion but so far…
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Haha, glad I am not alone in the Inkscape matter!
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Well, to me of course…I’m the one stating my opinion about it. 
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Yupper
Everytime I see an ad using that word I finish the sentence with “to the engineer who designed it.”
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I’m Inkscape through and through.
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Hi Everyone….I went with Illustrator.
Thanks for all the responses
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Illustrator and Inkscape, are like Swiss Army knives for artists. They’re versatile graphic design programs that can help you create all kinds of artwork.
I like Cuttle.xyz, which is more like a specialized tool designed specifically for working with laser cutters. It’s a bit more specific and can be super useful for laser cutting projects.
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