Looking for advice

[Cowboy_Dean]

I am admittedly a newby when it comes to the Carvewright, but am having an absolute blast with the machine, and still trying to learn everything that it can do. I am really wanting to learn how to design patterns in the carvewright system. I have the basic software and the centerline options, along with the complete bit set. Is my next purchase the scanning probe with the pattern editor software? I am not sure yet, as I really don't know if I would ever use the scanning probe. Is there another way to design a pattern? I have tried to import some images off websites, such as the Air Force Logo and the MARS Logo, and have had no success with them. As far as actually designing a pic and putting on wood, I really don't know if that would ever happen. I am not the most artistic person out there. Are there some thing that I should look for when choosing pics to import in the carvewright? Is there another way to take an image, such as a logo and get it into the software. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cowboy Dean

[ladjr]

There is a program called paint net it is free and you can bring in picture clean them up and output for the CW. I also use Coral. I would say play with the patterns and machine. There are some every smart individuals on this forum and they are always helpful. Just decided want you want to do and when you come to a problem post it here and I bet someone will have a answer for you. The scanner is a great tool, but I haven't used it much. There is a site where you can down load 100's of patterns for free. Will some one please post the web I don't have it handy.

Good Luck

Leo

[ladjr]

The web for patterns is http://forum.carvewright.com/misc.ph...chments&t=2046


Leo

[eelamb]

Here is a place to start with for making patterns. PE is not necessary with this.
http://forum.carvewright.com/showthr...shader-map-pro

[DickB]

Cowboy Dean,

There are basically two techniques for creating patterns. One is to create a 3D model; the other is to create a height map. To import logos as you described, you would probably be use the height map approach. There are a number of tutorials that people have made to show how to do this. Unfortunately you may need to search in the forums a bit to find them. Generally speaking, there are several different drawing programs that can be used to convert images into height maps.

A height map is a grey scale image where white or light colors represent high points in a carving, and black or dark colors represent low or deep points in a craving. (Or vice versa if you use an invert tool.) If you simply import a black and white or color image into Designer and try to carve it, you may or may not like the result. You need to change the way that you look at an image that you want to carve. If it is a color image, I would suggest that you convert it to black and white first. Then, look at the image, keeping in mind that white is high and black is deep. Look for ways to change the shades of grey in the image to get a good carving.

Keep in mind that many images use shading to represent reflected light to give the illusion of depth. This looks pleasing as an image, but generally will not work well imported as a height map. You have to think differently when working with images and importing them.

While other drawing programs can also be used for certain techniques, I have found the pattern editing software to also be very useful. If you think you might used the scanning probe, might as well get it and get the pattern editor bundled with it. I have used the probe only a few times, but I use the pattern editor a lot.