With a range of shape creation tools available, you can produce circles, ellipses, rectangles and other basic shapes either by dragging directly on the screen or by entering exact dimensions where the size has already been determined. Each shape remains fully editable once created, allowing you to return to it and alter its dimensions at any stage. This gives you the ability to begin work before every measurement has been settled.

With the ability to import bitmaps into the software, you can further edit imported images using the 'Edit Picture' tool, allowing you to adjust the contrast, brightness and gamma of any selected image. Borders of different sizes and radii can also be added for aesthetic purposes, and bitmaps can be made black and white. This is of particular value when preparing a photograph for laser engraving, where the tonal range within the image determines how the finished piece will appear.

The software has the ability to crop images to any given vector, allowing you to remove the parts of an image you are not interested in. This enables you to frame a subject, take out an unwanted background, or fit a photograph within a shape of your own choosing.

Vectors are made from nodes and spans, and Spark’s node‑editing tools give you direct control over both — letting you shape, refine, and perfect your vectors at its foundation.

The Polyline Tool lets you draw vectors point‑by‑point, creating straight or curved segments as you click. Each click drops a node, and the software connects those nodes with clean spans. It’s essentially your “manual drafting” tool for building shapes with precision. The Freehand Drawing Tool lets you sketch vectors naturally by hand, following your mouse movements to create organic, flowing shapes. It’s essentially your “digital pencil” for quick, intuitive drawing.

Text can be created using any font installed on your Mac, with control over the spacing between individual characters and lines allowing you to seamlessly adjust your kerning.
You can constrain your text to a given vector where it automatically scales, fits, and manages your text so it perfectly fills a defined vector shape - no resizing, no hassle.
You can arc text, enabling you to produce curved layouts with ease.

The Boolean tools let you combine two or more closed vectors in different ways, giving you precise control over how shapes interact. You can weld multiple shapes into a single clean outline, subtract one shape from another, or keep only the overlapping area the shapes share. This makes it much faster to build complex geometry by combining simple primitives instead of drawing everything manually from scratch. A particularly useful part of this feature is the live preview. Before you commit to the operation, you can see exactly what the resulting vector will look like, helping you avoid unwanted outcomes and saving time on undoing changes.

The Interactive Trim tool lets you quickly remove sections of vectors by simply clicking on the part you want gone. When you activate the tool, Spark highlights all intersecting vector segments. You just hover over a section, and the software shows a preview of what will be trimmed. A single click deletes that segment while automatically keeping the remaining vectors clean and connected.

The software also lets you trim vectors to a chosen boundary, removing everything that falls inside or outside that boundary in a single operation. It produces the same result you’d get from snipping each intersection individually, but does it all at once—making it the far better option when you’re dealing with a large number of crossing points. When you activate the tool, Spark highlights the vectors that will remain based on your chosen boundary, giving you a clear preview of the outcome before you commit to the trim.

The offset tool creates a new vector at a set distance inside or outside an existing one, allowing for borders to be created easily. A rubber band boundary performs a related function for a group of shapes, wrapping around the outside of the whole arrangement as though an elastic band had been stretched over it. Both operations can be handled precisely by inputting exact offset measurements or can be applied more organically by dragging the resulting preview offset using the mouse for a more interactive approach.

The fillet tool allows you to modify the sharp corner where two vectors meet, either rounding it off or opening it outwards at a precise radius. You can enter this radius numerically for accuracy or adjust it dynamically by dragging the live fillet preview. There are three fillet types available: a standard radius fillet, typically used to soften corners for design purposes and smoother CNC machining; and two internal‑corner options; Dog‑Bone and T‑Bone fillets which extend the corner outward so a round cutter can fully clear an internal square corner. These are essential for designs that require slot‑together or joining fits, ensuring parts seat cleanly despite the limitations of round tooling.

The cut out toolpath is used to machine around selected vectors to release parts from the material. It’s designed to cut fully through the sheet, with an optional overcut that drives the tool slightly past the specified thickness to ensure clean separation. You can control how the part is cut by choosing to machine inside or outside the vector, and by selecting climb or conventional cutting to suit your material and finish requirements. Allowances let you fine‑tune the final size of the part without editing the vectors themselves. Additional options such as ramps, help reduce tool stress by avoiding straight vertical plunges, and tabs can be added to hold the part securely in place while the rest of the profile is being machined.

The cut along toolpath lets you machine directly along your vectors at a chosen depth, giving you precise control over where the cut sits in relation to your design. You can follow the line exactly or offset the tool to either side, making it ideal for creating grooves, channels, and decorative detail with the cutter you choose.

The pocket toolpath clears all the material within a closed shape down to a set depth, leaving a flat-bottomed recess. This is perfect for creating parts that have recesses such as simple trays and for designs that require raised text in simple signs. For efficient machining, you can pair a larger clearance tool to remove the bulk material with a smaller finishing tool that cleans up the tighter areas the larger cutter can’t reach, giving you faster cuts and crisp, accurate results.

The drill toolpath drives a drill vertically at the centre of selected vectors to a specified depth, with the hole diameter determined automatically from the tool’s geometry. It’s ideal for dowel and pin locations, or for adding simple hanging holes on the back of signs. For deeper holes, the toolpath can break the cut into multiple pecking passes, retracting between plunges to clear chips and prevent waste material from packing inside the hole.

V‑Carving uses a V‑shaped tool that moves up and down as it follows your design, adding crisp depth and definition to your work. The software automatically calculates how deep the tool should cut based on the angle of the bit and the width of the vectors, giving you precise results without any manual tweaking.
Beyond simple V‑Carving, the toolpath supports advanced options such as flat‑bottomed V‑Carving for controlled recess depths and chamfered edges, as well as multi‑tool strategies that speed up machining and reduce wear. You can clear bulk material with a larger tool and finish the detail with your chosen V‑bit for clean, accurate results.
This toolpath is perfect for sharp lettering, decorative lines, and pointed corners that standard end mills simply can’t achieve. It’s one of Vectric’s most popular toolpaths for signmaking thanks to its quality output, versatility, and minimal setup.

The laser picture toolpath converts a photograph or greyscale image into an engraving, varying the power of the laser as the head sweeps across the surface so that darker areas of the image are burned more heavily. This allows portraits, pet photographs and family pictures to be reproduced on wood and other materials. The appearance of the result depends on the material as much as the image itself, since different woods darken at different rates, so a small test piece on your intended stock is worthwhile before committing to the finished panel.

The laser cut toolpath follows a vector with the beam, either cutting through the material or scoring a line across its surface. Because the beam is considerably finer than any cutter, detail is retained that machining would lose altogether, allowing fretwork, intricate patterns and small delicate parts to be produced. Thicker material can be cut using a number of passes, and the option of scoring gives you the ability to mark a fold, a border or a detail without separating anything.

The laser fill toolpath fills an enclosed shape with closely spaced passes, allowing an area to be darkened or cleared away. The spacing between passes gives you control over the result, with closer spacing producing a darker and more solid finish at the cost of additional time. Filling can be carried out in a single direction, or cross-hatched by adding a second set of passes at an angle to the first, which enables a denser and more even area of tone where a solid block is required.

The tool database holds your cutters along with their diameters, feeds, speeds and cutting depths, allowing a toolpath to be created by selecting a tool rather than by entering figures each time. The database is supplied with sensible starting values that can be edited, and you have the ability to add your own tools as you acquire them. This means that settings you have proved on your own machine and materials are recorded and reused, rather than having to be recalled from memory.

Vectric helps you manage your CNC setup by organising your machine configuration, supported add‑ons like lasers, the correct post‑processor, and a library of default cutting feeds and speeds for common materials. Everything is fully customisable for users who want complete control, while still offering a solid starting point with sensible tool settings and an up‑to‑date online list of popular machine brands and models to make setup quick and straightforward.

The software supports a wide range of machines as standard, allowing your toolpaths to be saved in the file format your particular controller reads. Toolpaths can be written out individually or in groups, enabling you to organise a job in whatever way suits how you work at the machine. Support for multiple formats also means that projects are not tied to a single manufacturer, and that a machine purchased later can be used with work you have already prepared.

One of the most important productivity tools available in the software is the realistic 3D toolpath preview support. The results of each individual or the combination of all the toolpaths can be previewed cutting into a 3D preview model. This means that whether your job is a simple toolpath with one tool, or created from a complex combination of tools and strategies at different levels you can be sure that when the job is cut, it is right first time.
As well as showing that the toolpaths are correct, the high quality rendering and ability to use real world material textures and fill colors is a very valuable vision tool. Using the simulation you can evaluate design options without actually having to cut anything!