The "My First Laser" thread

@spike has suggested CAM/CAD software - which I know nothing about and can’t comment on. And if you are a true beginner I suppose learning that might be as easy (or hard) as learning anything else. But don’t forget that you can use “simpler” 2D image software like Photoshop or Illustrator. If the hefty $ attached to Adobe’s puts you off, there are open source alternatives: GIMP and Inkscape respectively.

I taught myself, and almost exclusively use, Illustrator. So I’m going to be using it for most of my designing. I’ve never been entirely been comfy with Photoshop, so using GIMP isn’t a hardship for me – though there are people here who seem to loathe with the heat of a thousand white hot stars. This post discusses some software to try.