The mesh widget now supports moving things around using the mouse. http://chilipeppr.com/prismatic
I’d love to drag a mesh in, size and position x y z on the work through the camera widget so I can see exactly where it will cut, like the hand held thingy you posted and other machines have done. The STL becomes a Z height map for raster cutting, rough cut then fine cut. Flip it and cut the other side. Artists want to do real 3d not just 2.5d. They want to mold forms like clay and then have a machine do most of the work. Curved forms are the most desired.
This is a requested function by someone who ended up getting the Roland jewelry stuff. Auto wrapping and sizing rings is big. ArtCAM also has a Jewelry version that is very expensive but very cool. That market could be big if the price was not so high to get in and the CNC was well instrumented and enclosed so it was safe to use in middle school programs.
Other programs will take in bitmaps and run facial algorithms on it to make great mesh reliefs that can be further tweaked and is way better than simple z scaling. This is also an expensive upgrade from the entry level programs. Interactive mesh manipulation is even more expensive and if you want to go crazy iterative parametric algorithms.
The CNC world is a lot of nerd and not a lot of artist, like before graphic used interfaces on computers. Artists don’t care how hard something is for the programmers they just want to use their skills to do what they do best. We need more STEAM input if this is going to be something usable for people who have no idea what Github is no that a breadboard is not a cooking tool.
@Steve_Anken , for sculpting, have you tried any of the online stuff, e.g. http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/ ? I’m definately no artist; my random squiggles ended up like this: https://plus.google.com/photos/photo/101442607030198502072/6277261392295216242
Todd thanks, looks way cool. I will play with it some more, and your “art” is really cool. 
A lot of reliefs are really 3d meshes that we set the Z height and smooth by playing with tools like this but for ArtCAM it’s very expensive software to do this direct manipulation. Taking it into Chilipeppr and adjusting to cut a relief is something sign cutters and wood workers could really use to make their signs stand out.
This is a MDF test but I will be doing softer metals because a client wants to do jewelry. Reliefs are one way wood and metal art/craft people can make their work stand out.
