Project Progress Tracking

Sharing and tracking your progress on your projects just got easier!

Save build photos, notes, and project settings as you go! Each step, workpiece, individual part, and the completed assembly can now be included in a project, making it easier for others to see the full story from first cut to finished piece when you publish to the Project Gallery. It’s also a great way to keep track of your own results and the changes you’ve made along the way.

Project Overview

Each project now has an overview page to view/edit the status of a project, add a description, list materials, add photos, add notes, and discuss in the comments.

This page is accessible to the left of the project's workpieces:

Post-Carve Screen

The post-carve screen has also been updated to allow you to add pictures to track the results of any new or overridden settings.

Once your project is ready, publish it to the Gallery to share what you’ve made! Everything you’ve collected along the way, your description, your materials list, photos, and notes, carries over automatically, turning your project overview into a polished showcase for other makers to explore, get inspired by, and comment on.

Save your progress, share it with the community, and inspire the next build.

V-Carve Inlay Application

V-Carve Inlays are now live with Easel Pro!

This has been one of the most requested features from our community, and we're thrilled to put it in your hands.

With the V-Carve Inlay application, Easel automatically generates two workpieces within your project that allow you to carve the perfect parts to fit together to create a multi-material inlay.

Butterfly Inlay project photos provided by Richard Campbell

Understanding the V-Carve Inlay Workflow

The V-Carve Inlay feature generates two separate workpieces:

Pocket

The pocket is the part of the inlay that is hollowed out to accept the plug. It is a V-carved recess cut into the main workpiece using a V-bit. Because the carve is made with a V-bit, the walls of the pocket are angled.

Plug

The plug is the part of the inlay that is cut out and is set into the pocket. It is carved separately—typically from a contrasting wood species—and uses the same V-bit geometry so it fits tightly into the pocket.

Using the V-Carve Inlay App

Start by opening a new Easel project. Add a design element that will serve as the template for your inlay.

Make sure the design element’s dimensions accurately match the size of the inlay you want to create.

It is recommended that you have your materials and bits available while setting up the project so you can reference exact measurements.

Important: Hardwood is strongly recommended for the Inlay Generator. Softwoods and plywood may not produce optimal results.

Once you have your design at the correct dimensions, select it and click on the V-Carve inlay option on the left-hand toolbar. This will open the V-Carve Inlay application.

The application window will include configuration options on the left side and a 3D preview on the right side. Under the configuration options on the left side of the application, you will see options for:

• Pocket Depth to set the depth of the inlay.

• Pocket Bits to choose the bits you intend to use for the pocket cut (roughing is optional).

• Plug Stock to define the material settings/dimensions for the plug. (Because the plug is imported with an offset, there is a minimum size requirement.)

• Plug Bits to choose the bits you intend to use for the plug cut (Roughing bit, Detail bit, Outline bit).

[The detail bit will already be chosen, as this is the same V-bit that is chosen for the pocket.]

For a full step-by-step guide on how to use the V-Carve Inlay application, check out these instructions.

Revamped User Profiles

Your Easel profile has a brand-new look! We've updated the layout and added new customization options so you can better showcase who you are as a maker.

Add a Cover Image

Personalize your profile with a cover image that appears at the top of your profile page.

Earn & Showcase Achievements

Achievements are now displayed as badges on your profile card. Visit the All Badges page to track your progress, discover new achievements, and see what you can unlock next.

Show More About You

Help others get to know you by adding:

• Social media links
• Your interests
• The kinds of things you love to make

These details make it easier for other makers to connect with you and discover shared interests.

Share Your Profile

Ready to show off your maker profile? Use the Profile Visibility toggle to make your profile shareable and connect with your network.

Start customizing your profile today and let the Easel community see what makes you unique!

Lake Depth Maps

Search tens of thousands of popular U.S. lakes by name and carve a depth map. Easel draws the shoreline and up to five depth passes as stepped pockets, so the finished carve reads like a scale model of the lakebed. Add the lake's name as text with one checkbox, then import the whole thing as a grouped stack, ready to cut.

The depths are a real bathymetry, not a stylized outline, so Tahoe comes out deep and steep-walled, Okeechobee wide and shallow.

You can use the app now by opening "Apps" from the toolbar and selecting "Lake Map" app.

Don't see your lake? Ask for it in the feedback box and we'll add it.

New Metadata Visibility Options

You can now temporarily hide the workpiece name and notes while designing in Easel.

Project > Show/Hide > [select an option to toggle]

Tip: You can still use the 'M' keyboard shortcut to hide measurement lines as well.

New Text Editing

Easel's Text Editing has received an update!

We’ve optimized our text editor to provide a smoother, more reliable writing experience.

Editing text fields now opens a separate text box to make it easier to read and edit. The text box also includes the ability to select Bold and Italic styles, as well as alignment options within the text field (left, center, right).

Simply Double-Click on the text field to open the Text Editor!

Double click on text in your designs and use the input field to edit the text. When you add new text to your designs, text-editing mode will already be active, so you can just start typing.

Tip: This makes editing and using rotated and vertical text easier!

Smart Values (Early Access)

You can now add smart values to your projects in Easel. These are named values that you can add, reuse, and easily adjust across an entire project. Define a dimension once, apply it to elements in your designs, and change it in one place to resize all of the elements using that smart value.

This makes it easy to adapt a design to different scales or use cases: swap in a different material thickness, resize a box to new dimensions, or rework a layout for a new workpiece without editing every shape by hand.

How to Opt-In

Smart values are currently available to users who opt in for early access. Click the button to enable the feature to start using smart values in Easel today!

Viewing & Creating Smart Values

Open Project › Smart Values, or the { x } smart values button in the toolbar.

Each smart value can be a number or a mathematical expression, and expressions can reference other smart values — so you can build dimensions like width / 2 or frame + 2 * border. Two built-in smart values are always available: the workpiece's material thickness and bit width. These values will always be set to the thickness of the material in each workpiece, and the thickness of the primary bit in each workpiece.

Using Smart Values

To use smart values in your designs, select a volume and type a smart value's name into a dimension field, or pick it from the dropdown. You can then add inline additive /subtractive math for a one-off dimension on a specific volume.

When a smart value changes, every volume that uses it updates automatically.

You can chose how the shapes are transformed when smart values are updated. Shapes can be resized from their centers, as well as any of the four corners of the blue outlines that appear on the canvas when shapes are selected. To change the direction that shapes will resize, select from the five "dot" options in the top of the Shape settings.

Share what you make!

Smart values make it easy to design, update, and remake projects in Easel. Opt in today, use smart values on your next project, and share your feedback with our team. We can't wait to see what you make with this new update!

Product Preview Update

Paint Your Project in the 3D Preview

Now you can try out colors and stains right on the 3D product preview, one surface at a time, so you can see what your design will look like finished and on the bench long before you load a bit.

Why we built it

The 3D preview has always shown you the shape of your carve. Now it shows the finish too. Can't decide between a walnut stain and a coat of bright enamel? Wondering how a two-tone sign will actually read? Paint it, spin it around, and you'll know in a few seconds.

A few things it's good for:

• Planning a finish, so you can audition stains and paints before buying a single can.
• Showing a client or a family member what the finished piece will look like.
• Posting a painted preview to a project or the community and asking other makers what they'd do.

How to paint

1. Open your project and switch the 3D preview to Product Preview.
2. Click the brush icon to grab the paint tool.
3. Pick a color from the palette, or open the color picker for something custom.
4. Click a surface to fill it. Dragging still spins the model the way it always has, so clicks paint and drags orbit.

Hover over a surface first and you'll see the color before you commit to it.

A few tools to speed things up

• Paint by surface is the default. One click fills the whole connected flat region under your cursor — a face, a pocket floor, the top of a raised shape.
• Paint by depth fills every surface at the same depth in one click, so you can do all your pocket floors or all your raised tops at once.
• Opacity slider lets you ease off for a translucent stain that lets the grain show through, or crank it to 100% for solid coverage.
• Custom colors if the palette doesn't have the exact shade you're after.
• Eraser and Clear all to take back one surface or wipe the whole model and start over.

Share what you painted

Got a look you like? You can send it out without leaving the preview. Attach to project drops the painted view straight into your project's gallery images.

Good to know

Does painting change my design or my carve? No. It's purely visual — it never touches your toolpaths, your material, or the cut.

Will my colors be saved with the project? Not yet. Painted colors live in your current session and reset when the preview regenerates or you leave the project. Easel will remind you of this the first time you paint. If you want to hang on to a look, use the share buttons to save it as an image.

Can I paint any project? Painting works in the 2.5D workpiece Product Preview. If you're not sure a surface is paintable, hover over it — when the color preview shows up, you're good to go.

How do I stop painting? Click the brush icon again to put the tool down, or hit Esc. Dragging always orbits the camera, so you can step back and look at your work whenever you want.

Recent Pro Design Icons

Your Pro Design Icons now keep track of themselves. Any icon you place on the canvas is automatically added to Recent, so the designs you've actually used are always a click away — no need to search for them again.

Recent fills in as you work. As you place the icon with any cut type and it shows up at the top of the Recent category in the left panel. Place it again later and it jumps back to the top, so your most-used designs stay within reach.

We only remember the icon, not the cut you chose, so you're free to place it differently next time.

You'll find Recent in the left panel right below Favorites. Starting today each icon you place is going to live there.

Drill Bit

You can now assign a dedicated bit just for drill holes in your design.

Previously, Easel always used your roughing or detail bit for drill holes. That often led to separate workpieces for drills.

Now, with Drill Bits, you can:

• Choose a separate drill-specific bit just for drill holes.
• Skip duplicating workpieces or manually hiding drills
• Keep everything in one carve with four distinct toolpaths: Roughing, Detail, Drill and Outline

How to use it:

• Click the “+” next to your selected bit and select a Drill Bit
• Simulate your carve — the drillpass will appear as a separate purple toolpath
• During carving or downloading G-code, you'll now see a new “Drill Pass” option when selecting toolpaths

Easel Pro subscribers can now add drill bits to the toolbox as well. Simply:

• Choose the "Drill" option when setting up your bit.
• Drill bits you set up will appear in a Drill section when selecting the bit for your drill pass.