I am new to inlays. I made 2 inlay attempts in the past and both were unsuccessful when it came to them lining up. I use VCarve Desktop software. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
What method are you trying to use? [Edit to try and clarify: Are you milling pockets and pieces to fit in them, or are you doing a 'V' carve and a male equivalent and trying to sandwich them together? ]
You didn't say which method you were using: If you're trying to make two 'book matched' pieces to sandwich together (and then machine away the back of the top piece), then you're machine X and Y axes must be set very accurately at 90° to each other. Any error is doubled between the two parts of a book-matched carving. If you're struggling to line the halves up, then I would suggest checking this (e.g. machine a large rectangle and check the diagonals). (This isn't so critical if you're machining pockets and separate inlay pieces to drop into them since the error is the same for both pocket and inlay.)