Confused about Software

[Scooby]

I am new to Designer and just have the Basic software for now. I have been doing a lot of reading and experimenting and I'm getting more confused. I understand that if I import a picture into the CW it will carve a drawing w/ limited height (still looks like a drawing). If I import a gray scale pic it still looks like a drawing was carved on the board w/o any height. What program are patterns designed in that you can import a drawing and have it carve a 2.5D figure? I want to be able to take a picture, JPG, PNG, etc. and carve it with shape & depth. If I understand, a picture needs nurbs, mesh, etc. for the CW to follow, correct? Why does it need to be manipulated with another program before it can be carved? Wouldn't the gray scale be enough instruction for the CW? Why are people turning a design into gray scale, using a 3rd party software to change it and then using Pattern Sculptor to make more changes? This is confusing and seems like a lot of work.

[fwharris]

Lets see if I can confuse you a little more ;) ! And probably myself.

A true "gray scale" image is one that has been manipulated to make it a 2.5/3D image. It has been smoothed/blended out to make the surfaces even/smooth. These are done is other programs that are just for this purpose, modeling/relief making.

A normal image, jpg, png, etc. has a lot of highs and lows, white to black, areas that result in a rough looking carve. To make this carveable with just the designer program you can reduce the roughness by lowering the height setting to bring the high areas down. There are several carves who do images carvings this way and with the right kind of staining/finishing techniques have done some fantastic results.

And yes to transform an image to a 2.5D pattern it does take a lot of work and practice. For me the simplest to carve an image and have the WOW factor is to carve a lithopane.

[Scooby]

Thanks for the reply, I have been out of town working and have not had a chance to get back to this. What program do you suggest to model images to make relief patterns (I have a lot of ideas) and possibly add them to the CW store? I had AutoCAD but lost it when my computer died. I have been looking at MOI3D but don't want to spend the money if there is a free one out there.