Getting cross-eyed from testing demos and reading reviews but bottom line for what I want seems to be vectric or artcam.  The free bmp2gcode programs seem to be more involved time-wise than a $150 investment is worth.  The PhotoVCarve and ArtCam Express are both in the $150 range.  I'm concerned mostly with desktop CNC g-code of images for the time being.  PhotoVCarve seems simple and adequate while the ArtCam Express seems more than adequate and offers more CAM features (for future use).  Has anyone else evaluated or compared these 2 programs lately (2015)?

Thanks,
Paul Tonini
 

Photo V-Carve is very limited, as it mainly only does one thing. Carving photos using a V Carve technique. It also can do Lithophanes.

While ArtCAM Express can do a LOT more than Photo V-Carve, I do not believe that it can do photos like Photo V-Carve can.

Thank you for the feedback.   It is pretty hard to tell from the demo programs because neither one will let you save proper g-code to test with.  The ArtCam interface appears to handle photos but I was hoping to find out before purchasing.