Vectric Aspire 115 Updated Review

The most significant addition in the 11.5 update is the introduction of the 3D Slicing Toolpath (officially labeled "Slice and Lamination").

Historically, Aspire users were limited by the Z-height of their CNC machines. If you wanted to carve a 12-inch-tall statue but only had a 6-inch Z-axis, you had to manually cut the model in half in a third-party CAD program, flip it, and realign it—a process prone to human error.

What has changed in v11.5? The slicer is now native. You can import or create a full 3D model (STL, OBJ, 3DM) and tell Aspire to slice it into horizontal layers. vectric aspire 115 updated

Use Case: A user carving a 3D bust of a lion. Instead of tilting the model (which requires 5-axis or complex fixturing), they slice it into three 2-inch thick slices, cut each on a flat table, and dowel them together. Aspire 11.5 handles the dowel hole placement automatically.

Vectric has rewritten parts of the graphics engine for version 11.5. If you have used previous versions of Aspire, you know that rotating complex 3D models with millions of triangles could result in stuttering or "jagged" rotation. The most significant addition in the 11

The Update:

Benchmark (Tested on a mid-range i7, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060): Use Case: A user carving a 3D bust of a lion

This is a massive quality-of-life improvement for users working with scanned 3D objects (photogrammetry).

The core calculation engine for toolpaths received attention in this update.