SU.886 Router carving add-on: V-carve, engrave and relief from a depth map to G-code, with an editable post and a program check

Asked (#886, Oct 21): an open-source, agent-friendly CAM for hobby CNC routers and laser cutter/engravers: 2D (DWG, DXF, SVG, image) and 3D (STEP, STL, depth map) in, G-code out; cutting, V-carving, engraving, tool library, nesting, simulation, editable post-processors, agents that can check the G-code. Suggested name CamCraft or CarveCraft.

Answer (owner 2026-11-04): not a ninth app. Most of it already existed: PartCraft CAM (contour, pocket, adaptive, drill, chamfer, 3D finishing, material-removal simulation, editable posts, LC.15), laser cutting and engraving incl. picture engraving (SU.772), nesting (LC.17), cabinet G-code (SU.1035). The gap was V-carving, relief carving from a depth map, and a G-code check, so it is one add-on over a DOM-free engine in lib/carve (so SuperCad Studio and the other apps can host it).

Built in /lab (CadCraft add-on `carving`, off until switched on in Settings > General > Add-ons): V-carve of closed outlines (medial-axis V-bit pass with the depth set by the width, every axis point moved onto the exact bisector; flat floor at a maximum depth cleared by a flat mill or the V-bit), engraving at a depth, relief from a grey picture (drop-cutter finishing with ball, flat or V cutters, layered roughing with a leave); G-code through an editable post-processor (GRBL, LinuxCNC, Mach3, Fanuc style, inches or millimetres); a checker that reads any program back (no feed, no spindle, rapid across the work, outside the table, too deep, no unit, no end); preview of the cut block; commands CARVE, CARVEDRAW, CARVEGCODE.

Not built: text to outlines (CadCraft has no such command yet), picture to vector tracing, a tool library, tabs and lead-in arcs, arcs in the G-code, 4/5-axis and lathe, PartCraft / ModelCraft / SuperCad Studio hosts (the engine is shared, an adapter each), the Library listing. Hand checks on a real machine are the owner's.