Splitting an image

[carrothers]

I have read everything I can in the "large signs" category but I still am a little confused. I am trying to carve this mpc for our local town hall and the sign needs to be aboiut 16 inches in diameter. The logo isn't exactly symetrical; so I was trying to split the mpc into a top half and a bottom half but can't get the hang of getting it locked with the grid lines. Any help would be appreciated.

[DickB]

There are different ways to do this, but here is my method, assuming you are not using a sled. I've done oval signs this way.

I like to start out with a 1/2 scale layout, so in your case using a 9 x 9 board simulating an 18 x 18 board. Circle 1 is the sign cutout and Circle 2 is a reference for alignment. Line 1 is a reference line splitting the project in half. I used the Layout - Center tool to center the circles and the pattern in one direction, but after centering them remove those constraints. Then I grouped the pattern and the horizontal reference line, and copied the group, selecting the group and components (pattern and line) both.

Next make a new project, the top board to scale, allowing some extra room, so I used a 9-1/4" wide board. The radius for the top semicircle is placed 3/4" from the bottom edge, but the cutout extends another 1/4" for some margin. Now paste the group you copied from the 1/2 scale layout. Next, selecting only the group and not the components, enlarge the group 2x by dragging a corner of the group. You can temporarily click only the pattern to check the dimensions against the scale pattern to get exactly 2x, but always adjust the size by selecting only the group, so that the reference line scales with it. Center the group using the yellow triangle and the black dotted construction lines. (I had snap turned off.) Align the horizontal reference line with the radius of the arch, 3/4" from the bottom of the board. Finally, add a rectangular mask, carve region .001 deep, at the bottom of the board to give the rollers something to grab.

Do the bottom half in a similar manner, cutting and pasting the group and components from the top half. Do not scale the group after you paste it into the bottom half project - just position it.

The finished boards will be 1/4" oversize. I like to cut them down, a fraction of an inch at a time, on my table saw for a perfect match. I did not complete the arch cutouts for you. If you want the machine to cut the arches, use plenty of tabs and do not cut them out until you have trimmed the boards on the table saw and glued them together. That allows you to use the straight edges of the board for sawing and clamping.

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[carrothers]

Thanks Dick...I will try that technique today.

[carrothers]

61114I followed the instructions but still couldn't get it right...meanwhile the Farmers Market Committee changed the design and size. I am attaching a 12x24 design that they want a 24x48 finished sign. Any help in splitting this vertically would be greatly appreciated.

[DickB]

It would be helpful if you described what didn't work for you. I did the following steps, with View - Toolbars - Carving List checked:
1. Selected the four items that you had centered and removed centering. (The objects do not move, they stay in place.) This is the step where you must remove constraints.
2. Selected everything and pressed the Group button.
3. Selected everything including Group and clicked copy.
4. Created a new project 48 x 12.5.
5. Clicked paste.
6. Selected only Group. Clicked and held on the upper right yellow triangle and drug it up and right.

Try again and tell us where things go astray.

This makes the left half. Save As the project naming it Left. Then, with Group only selected, drag the group down to make the right half, and save as Right.

You will get a complaint about carving at the edge of the board when you upload. I don't think it will be a problem for this sign. But, I avoid this by masking off any carving within 1" of the edge of the board with a rectangular carve region .001" deep placed over that area of the board. (Most will say to use a 0" depth carve region, but that generates another warning message. .001" has the same effect as 0" but no warning). I attach a 1" strip of wood to my stock to avoid waste.

Because you are using centerline, the machine is going to act funny. It will air carve the centerline text that is off the board. At least it did for me first time I tried it. Weird. Since then I have always split centerline text into two parts, and deleted the half that is off the board. Of course you have to arrange the text with no letters dead center. Sorry, I don't have time to do it for you. Maybe someone else has a better teqnique.

BTW centerline is often not a good choice for large signs with large letters. If you look closely at the large letters on the projects I expanded, you'll see that the v bit can't be lowered enough to achieve the necessary letter stroke width, so it was done in two passes. Doesn't look good in my opinion. I think your patters could be improved for so large a sign as well, again my opinion.

[carrothers]

6183561836Dick, I made the changes to the original artwork and removed all centerline and some other minor changes. I am attaching the left and right mpc.s hoping that you have time to pull them up and see if I have the carve regions where they should be at .001. I think I have about .5 inches on each adjoinging edge that I will rip off and hopefully everything will mesh up. Appreciate your patience.

[DickB]

The one thing I see is that you have outline text spilling into the other phantom half of each project. The zero-depth carve region will not cancel that out. When I did this with centerline on my first big project, the machine air carved that phantom text off to the side of the board. It caused no harm, but it was a little weird and cost unproductive machine time. That was a long time ago; not sure what will happen now in your case. You may want to try a scaled-down sample of text like that on a small board to see what will happen. Other than that, I think your project should work as desired.

[carrothers]

Thanks to Dick B for all of his help in splitting the image. The finished sign is 28 inches wide and 48 inches tall...it's made from 1 1/2 inch cypress which carved very nicely. Dick was right the outline text carved into the 1/2 "no fly zone" on the middle edges but when I trimmed that off everything fitted up nicely. I can now turn it over to the Farmers Market Committee that said they will paint it (and or stain most of it) and install it at our little roadside park. It was a real learning experience.... 61900

[Cabinetdesigner]

I think the design would look better if you invert the fruit pattern. just my honest opinion.

[DickB]

Looking good! Did the outline text "air carve" off the side of the board at all?

[carrothers]

Yes the outline tried to air carve off the board; but since the board took up the full 14 inch width it could only carve up to the edge of the board about a half inch into the "01 carve out region"...I think cabinet maker is right; I need to invert the cornucopia and it will look more realistic. I'm not happy with the way the Town logo came out and so I have played with changing it. If I make these two changes I might turn the boards over and carve them again. Anyone have any advice on how to turn split images over..I know both tops have to be on the right side of the machine (facing the handle) but then the right side gets carved on the left side's back I presume. Again, without this forum I would never have tackled a project this big and complicated. Thanks to everyone.

[DickB]

If you're going to do it over, consider hiring someone to make patterns for you. There is an art to pattern making and like most things it is a skill that takes time to develop. I think the town logo and the cornucopia could be made into very nice patterns. alan@patternhelp.com does a good job for a reasonable cost; there are others. For such a prominent project as yours will be, consider getting some assistance with the pattern making.

[carrothers]

Dick, I took your advice and had Alan at the Patternshop do a professional pattern and I carved it today....it only has a coat of sanding sealer before I paint it62150tommorrow. Alan put a feather on the pattern and I put it in a carve out region. I'm real pleased with how it came out.

[DickB]

Lookin' good!

[carrothers]

Thanks to Dick B for all of his suggestions and to Alan (alan@patternhelp.com) for cleaning up my artwork and making it into a pattern. My wife did the painting and we will give it to the Council tonight62263 for their chambers.