Centerline Drawing??

[redeye_joe]

Is there anyway to draw on a project and have it carve centerline like the text? Like for simple drawings like stick figures..?

[brdad]

You can apply the "outline pattern" feature to a pattern, then hide or delete that pattern and assign a V bit to the outline. Not exactly like centerline, since the line width will be dependent on the depth setting. But it works. You can also draw something on the board itself with the vectors and assign a V bit to those.

I used the outline pattern technique to make this train.

[HighTechOkie]

To get true centerline of a graphic would require converting that graphic to a TrueType font. Designer does have a limit to how many segments/vectors it will accept in a font. I don't have specifics yet on what that limit is but in testing I have found some large graphics as fonts won't display on the board or carve.

Rob

[Kenm810]

Do you mean these kinds of stick Figures?? :wink: --Literally

[Grampy122]

Is there anyway to tell if a bit has been selected for a mpc like in the train.mpc and which one?

[Kenm810]

If you click on one of the Cut Paths and ask,
it will show you which bit was used "60-V Groove Bit" & The Depth "0.050

[brdad]

That's the good thing about using the vectors - if you wanted to get real fancy you could use different bits and depths.

I have yet to carve the train, I am not sure how great it'd come out. I created it a while back just so I could learn hands on how to accomplish it. But, it looks pretty good to me in Designer.

It would be great if Designer could directly import any line drawing and carve with a V bit, adjusting the depth to create the matching line width like centerline does. And hopefully, you'd be able to do it in a carve region!

[bjbethke]

You can apply the "outline pattern" feature to a pattern, then hide or delete that pattern and assign a V bit to the outline. Not exactly like centerline, since the line width will be dependent on the depth setting. But it works. You can also draw something on the board itself with the vectors and assign a V bit to those.

I used the outline pattern technique to make this train.
Thanks for the drawing, I made a PTN from your MPC.

[HighTechOkie]

BJ, I think you are missing the point of vectored drawing. The vectored train would carve in ~1hr, while your pattern would take ~3hr @ Normal. Also if you look at the pattern, it invert's the pattern so all the lines are now raised. While I have not actually carved the pattern created, if the preview in Designer is even roughly close, there will be quite a bit of cleanup involved And the final reason for doing v carving is to quickly fill in the "v" with paint and once dry sand the top surface. I would have a finished sign and cash in hand before that pattern was even finished carving in raster mode :).

Rob

[bjbethke]

BJ, I think you are missing the point of vectored drawing. The vectored train would carve in ~1hr, while your pattern would take ~3hr @ Normal. Also if you look at the pattern, it invert's the pattern so all the lines are now raised. While I have not actually carved the pattern created, if the preview in Designer is even roughly close, there will be quite a bit of cleanup involved And the final reason for doing v carving is to quickly fill in the "v" with paint and once dry sand the top surface. I would have a finished sign and cash in hand before that pattern was even finished carving in raster mode :).

Rob
The PTN I made is Raster pattern, I was just thanking "brdad" for his post. I made a few changes to his MPC and made a PTN from it.

[Kenm810]

I made a few modifications, But this is (brdad's ) Pattern,
As a Vector Carving into 5/8" Birch Plywood 9" x 18".
I used my 60-V Groove Bit set at .032 for the Engine and Track,
and set at .063 for the rectangle border.
The carving took 1 Hour and 22 Seconds, with no clean up
other than a few passes with a brass Wire Brush.

[gumbo]

Hwo do you take it from the picture to the line carving? I can't seem to follow how it is done.

[sewpeck]

Go out on the internet and check out Sigmaker. It converts a drawing to a font. www.fontlab.com

[Kenm810]

Hi gumbo,

The way I started, was to find the outlines of all the elements in a picture I wanted to carve,
and eliminate the ones that weren’t necessary.
Most any basic graphic program can aid you with this.
Then up load what you have left as a .png file into designer
I would trace all the elements I wanted using the designer’s line segment tools and the 60-V groove bit.
After I tweaked it a few times I would delete the .ptn pattern and save all the Vector cuts as my final .mpc file.
I'm sure there's plenty of other ways to do it, this one just happened to work for me. :wink:

[cnsranch]

Ken, out of curiosity, how long did that process take you?

[Kenm810]

Hi Jerry,

It wasn't to bad, maybe a few hours on a Sunday after noon,
with a couple caffeine breaks tossed in to unscrew my eyes.
I've done a few before so I knew what I was getting myself into. :razz:

[Digitalwoodshop]

I needed this logo for a sign and took a scan from a return address on an envelope and turned it into a .ptn and placed it on a very large board.

I then hand traced the simple lines and assigned a depth. Deleted the .ptn leaving just the lines I hand drew.

I am sure there is a program that will help but I just do stuff like this by hand.

AL

[Chief38]

A rather inexspensive (when on sale $40.00) program called ArtRage Deluxe works like placing a piece of tracing paper over your picture and you can draw on the covering layer. It is sold by smithmicro.

I have toyed with their sample release and i seems easy to use.

Herb

[rickyz]

I used the technique used by brdad to make a lot of craft projects easier for me.

[Kenm810]

Rickyz,

Great example of how to use the Vector Line Tools to make all kinds of Holiday or Party Craft projects.
Start with an idea, find or make a drawing, trace it in Designer with Vector lines,
Then carve and cut them out on your CW/CC Machine.
A simple, fun process, -- See if you can get the Kids or Grand Kids involved -- Quality time for all!! :grin:

Thanks for sharing your photos

[pkunk]

Go out on the internet and check out Sigmaker. It converts a drawing to a font. www.fontlab.com (http://www.fontlab.com)
A word of caution here. I tried Sigmaker and made a font. I got in a world of hurt! I should have known better. I did know better, just didn't listen to myself. Anytime you mess with a font that resides in your system folder you open yourself up to trouble.
I made a sig, used it in an email and my Mail app froze up my system. I deleted the font, the Sigmaker, etc and still had problems, no mail for days. Once I finally found the offending email I got back to normal. I'll not go there again!