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JuicyCarp
01-07-2013, 08:04 PM
Good evening! A week ago when I introduced myself to this forum, I said one of the challenges of being me is that my ambition sometimes goes far beyond my ability! This might be one of those times! I am taking my first crack at creating a pattern, and I think I may have chosen a rather complicated one to begin with! I would like to carve a CID badge, but I dont want the final product to look like a router traced some lines on some wood. I have been working with several different images of the badge to see how each behaves when placed in the pattern editor and I am running into some challenges, i think in part due to how shiny it is.

1. My biggest frustration for the last couple hours has been the head and legs of the eagle. When you look at the badge you can see that they are raised more than the area surrounding them. Is there a way to select these elements to raise? Inverting doesnt work, and i thought the magic wand could do it, but i find the magic wand just highlights the whole darn thing!

2. The feathers! when imported into the editor they are either raised outlines, or carved outlines, and I dont like either! I would like to make them carve as they are on the badge. I worked with the blur tool and the paint brush, but it seems incredibly time consuming for the produced results.

I am open to any tips you may have. I am not by any means asking anyone to make this pattern for me, part of the fun of this machine has been learning how to do things! The tutorials and manual are pretty vague. So if you have a spare moment or two and dont mind taking a look at the image and giving me some pointers, that would be awesome!

58715

JuicyCarp
01-07-2013, 08:07 PM
Oh yeah, and I also tried another work around for a really clean looking badge by perusing the pattern depot and forum for all the elements of the badge as seperate patterns that I could just add together and have a clean carving, but I could not find the eagle or a banner in that shape, otherwise that may have been an option.

DickB
01-07-2013, 08:37 PM
You have indeed chosen a complicated image to begin with.

My first advice is to think like Designer and what it does with images. When Designer uses an image, it is interpreted as a height map. It does not know color, only shades of grey. White will be high, black low, or vice versa (you can easily invert). Take a look here ate the example I gave a while ago: http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?21868-software&p=189977#post189977 See the difference between a photo and a height map?

Your badge is a photo, not a height map. You cannot get good results by carving it directly.

Now take your badge image, import it into a paint program, convert it to black and white, and take a look. Interpret your image as a height map. Do you see the sharp contrast - white and black - in the detail of the feathers? That is why it will carve as you have described, if you try to use the image as is.

To make a good pattern, you must transform the image into a height map. For the image you have chosen, it is not easy, it is time consuming, to derive a good pattern from it.

At your stage, if you want to carve this, I would suggest that you ask someone more experienced to make a pattern for you. But to learn, I would advise that you start with a simpler beginning image, such as a simple logo. You would benefit from using a simpler image that you can more easily convert by painting areas with shades of grey and then observing the results. BTW I myself am not accomplished enough to do a good job of making a pattern out of the image that you have chosen. I can do simpler items, but not that one at my experience and skill level.

There are actually a number of tutorials on this subject, although they are not so easy to find. We could benefit from an index of some kind.

JuicyCarp
01-07-2013, 08:47 PM
Dickb,

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I think you are right. At the moment its a bit out of my league! I have yet another course of action (determination is almost a fault of mine!). This whole project stems from a CID badge carved from mohogany that hangs on the wall of our polygrapher at the office. He is an older, retired Agent who still works for the Agency, and he picked up the badge in Honduras, and everyone has always tried to buy it from him, EVERYONE wants it! So he talked to me today and let me barrow it from his wall to see if using the scan probe I could recreate it, and he could use it as gifts for other agents. So thats going to be this weekends project, build a sled, scan his badge, and see what happens. But i seen an oppertunity to learn here, but I guess its best to learn to walk before running!

DickB
01-07-2013, 08:52 PM
That sounds like a good approach.

Another recommendation for a pattern beginner (like myself!) is to start with clip art. It is easier for beginners to paint and manipulate clip art into fairly decent height maps. For example, this one: http://aaavectorgraphics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=216_8622_8623&products_id=57745

dehrlich
01-07-2013, 08:58 PM
58718Easiest way to do it is try and find something like the image I have attached. The pattern software works much easier with stuff like this. Put it in a photo program like Paint.net, add about 2 percent of Gassian Blur, save as a png file, then import that. Works for me every time.

BTW, I was with the CID in Ft lewis in late 90's. Stressful job.

lawrence
01-07-2013, 09:05 PM
One more thing- make sure to cover the tip of the probe with one of the gluetips or your polygrapher's carving will be covered in scratches -

Good luck!

Lawrence

JuicyCarp
01-07-2013, 09:10 PM
Its always fun running into former CID agents! its a small world!

eelamb
01-07-2013, 09:11 PM
Lawrence beat me to it, cover that probe or the gentleman that loaned it o you will not be happy with the scratches the probe leaves as it touches the surface.
Glue tips work great and get the at hobby lobby.

badbert
01-07-2013, 09:12 PM
Give us good clear sharp focused pictures of the carving. And we can try from that. But a scan might be better... I don't know, I have no experience with the scanner.

JuicyCarp
01-07-2013, 09:18 PM
Where should i look in hobby lobby?

lawrence
01-07-2013, 09:34 PM
in the glue area- the tips look like these and just fit over your probe

http://www.amazon.com/Testor-Corp-8805-Glue-Tips/dp/B0006MZOPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357616037&sr=8-1&keywords=glue+tips

my local ace has them too

Lawrence

mercer57
01-07-2013, 09:58 PM
Best I could do, it might suit you.

Alan Malmstrom
01-08-2013, 08:41 AM
Here's a sample screen shot of some work that I have done on wings etc.

58727

JuicyCarp
01-08-2013, 09:46 AM
Gentlemen,

I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone for thier help, when I scan the badge this weekend I will post it for comparison!

jpaluck
01-08-2013, 12:42 PM
WOW Alan that looks incredible..great job

chief2007
01-08-2013, 12:49 PM
Here's a sample screen shot of some work that I have done on wings etc.

58727

Awesome work - They carve just as good as they look!

DickB
01-08-2013, 12:51 PM
Here's a sample screen shot of some work that I have done on wings etc.

58727

That is a quality pattern.

fwharris
01-08-2013, 01:10 PM
Alan,

Great job!!!

eelamb
01-08-2013, 02:11 PM
I agree with everyone else, Alan great job.

Alan Malmstrom
01-08-2013, 02:19 PM
That's a sample of a pattern I made on commission for Chief2007. I'll be trying to add it to the pattern depot if anybody needs it.

DickB
01-08-2013, 02:58 PM
Hey, Alan, can you give us a 2 minute tutorial on how to make a pattern like that? ;)

JuicyCarp
01-08-2013, 03:07 PM
DickB is on to something! Lawrence had a webclass the other day that was pretty cool, it would be great to see a few more of those! Right now with my experience, I could probably offer a webclass on how to plug your machine into the socket, but there is a plethera of knowledge on here!

lawrence
01-08-2013, 03:27 PM
DickB is on to something! Lawrence had a webclass the other day that was pretty cool, it would be great to see a few more of those! Right now with my experience, I could probably offer a webclass on how to plug your machine into the socket, but there is a plethera of knowledge on here!

I appreciate the words of support! If there's interest I plan to do a few more that are more specific to certain operations- like "making a DXF from a image you find on the internet with coreldraw and then turning it into a pattern"

I'm certainly not an expert but I'm always more than happy to share what knowledge I do have. The software (anymeeting) works OK (though my upload speeds are a bit slower than they could be) but I'm looking into boosting that.

Certainly let me know if y'all are interested in more live sessions- I'll try to be more organized next time (syllabus, etc)

Lawrence

mtylerfl
01-08-2013, 03:30 PM
Hi Lawrence,

Sounds like fun. How does one find out the weblink, date and time when you hold these sessions? I wanna attend!

b.sumner47
01-08-2013, 04:15 PM
Allen, Step up and take a bow. OUTSTANDING !!!


Capt Barry

RogerB
01-08-2013, 04:27 PM
Lawrence I would be more than interested.Please let me know when .

olsenla
01-08-2013, 05:48 PM
Lawrence, I would really be interested in anything to do with DXF importer and Corel images and text. I would also like to see some help on how to take a image from Sketchup Warehouse and turn it into a pattern with STL importer and pattern editor. Most troubling to me is how to orient the warehouse image and how to slice it and then what to do with it in Designer to make a nice pattern. Thanks for all the help you have given already---I have watched and enjoyed your videos on YouTube.

Larry

Alan Malmstrom
01-08-2013, 06:05 PM
Hi DickB

LOL! I could give a two year coarse on how to do that. It's done with raster stuff. I used to try and show people how to do stuff but it wasn't really that popular. And it's a lot of work. But if you need a pattern made I can do it for a low price. I'm going to try speeding up my work flow to lower the price. I was thinking well if I just draw all the shapes first real fast then make all the layers and masks real fast and then meticulously fill all the shapes with what they need etc. I could offer lower prices. I can give the price of a project for consideration beforehand to those who need something done.