Engrave
At a glance
- V-carve engraving with depth driven by cutter angle and geometry
- Router tool library includes engrave end mills with tip radius and included angle
Engrave cuts decorative and marking geometry — text, logos, panel art — on closed contours assigned to an engrave layer. Set an operation's type to Engrave in the OPERATIONS list, then choose the Engrave Mode in the Passes tab: Contour for a fixed-depth trace, or V-Carve for variable-depth carving with a V-bit. Nesting is handled automatically, so letters keep their counters: a region inside another region is treated as an island, not double-cut.
Contour mode
Contour mode traces each engrave outline at a single Engrave Depth (default 0.05") — the straightforward choice for line art and single-stroke lettering with any cutter. Engrave accepts engrave endmills, chamfer mills, and flat, ball, or bullnose endmills from the tool library.
V-Carve mode
V-Carve fills the region with successively inset passes, deriving depth from the cutter geometry: each pass steps inward by V-Carve Step (default 0.01"), and depth follows the V-Bit Included Angle — the wider the region at that point, the deeper the V-bit sinks to touch both walls. Depth is capped at V-Carve Max Depth (default 0.25"), which flat-bottoms wide areas instead of letting the bit dive. The result is the classic carved-sign look: crisp pointed corners in tight serifs, controlled depth in open areas. Set the included angle to match your actual bit — 60° and 90° are the common choices — since the angle directly controls the depth-per-width relationship.