Help In making this Stencil

[Loriblackdog]

I was given this several years back. I took picture of it and I am trying to make this into a stencil that I can use for other occasions. I can't figure out how to only have the trees on top and stars on the bottom, with the Saying in the Middle. I watched the ask bud on removing noise, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Would really appreciate any help, technique, or advise. Hope everyone has a Safe and Merry Christmas':confused::confused:

Loriblackdog

[bergerud]

That is simple enough that I would just trace it.

[SteveNelson46]

I was given this several years back. I took picture of it and I am trying to make this into a stencil that I can use for other occasions. I can't figure out how to only have the trees on top and stars on the bottom, with the Saying in the Middle. I watched the ask bud on removing noise, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Would really appreciate any help, technique, or advise. Hope everyone has a Safe and Merry Christmas':confused::confused:

Loriblackdog


Lori,

I manually retraced the photo and made it into a pierced project. The board thickness is .25.

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Steve

You are a life savor....That is exactly what I wanted, I am not sure of the steps that I need to do to get it to look like yours. If you have a spare moment and would like to do a video with the steps that I need to do to achieve your finished product. Many Thanks and as always your are a great teacher. I am truly in awe how you know what I don't even know what I want.

Have a Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year.

Thanks
Lori

[SteveNelson46]

Hi Steve

You are a life savor....That is exactly what I wanted, I am not sure of the steps that I need to do to get it to look like yours. If you have a spare moment and would like to do a video with the steps that I need to do to achieve your finished product. Many Thanks and as always your are a great teacher. I am truly in awe how you know what I don't even know what I want.

Have a Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year.

Thanks
Lori


Lori,

I didn't use the Designer to create the pattern. The import image for tracing in the Designer doesn't work very well and when you import the image directly it creates a pattern that is difficult to trace. With Aspire or Corel Draw you can place the image directly on the surface and use the line tools to trace around the perimeters and they are much easier to use. Making flat surfaces between outlines can be done in the Designer but requires a lot of extra steps and, in my opinion, is a royal pain in the a**. I did the whole thing in Aspire in about 10 minutes.

[bergerud]

I disagree. I think that tracing in Designer is easy with the 2D add on tools. The smart spline tool, after a little practice, is awesome.

[oscarl48]

Lori,

There are several ways to go about creating these stencils. As both Steve and Dan have shown using different tools. It all depends which tools you own and the familiarity you have with what you own. The 2d add on tool makes this type of pattern making easier but it is not mandatory. Even without the 2d add on tool you can still create these type of stencils. Its just a little bit more labor intensive but not by much probably once you are familiar with the designer software. With out the 2d add on its a multi-step process (at least how I know how to do them).

I don't own the 2d add on and it took me about 15 minutes to create something similar to the stencil. I did it by eye so its only an example (Steve's and Dan's are way better). Using Corel or blender it would have taken me 5 minutes but I am more familiar with those tools.

Keep at it. It can be a little frustrating in the beginning but there will be a moment where it will all make sense. It took me almost a year before I could make a pattern that didn't embarrass me. I also had horrible misconceptions on how easy it was to do advanced patterns. A good pattern just takes time.

[SteveNelson46]

I disagree. I think that tracing in Designer is easy with the 2D add on tools. The smart spline tool, after a little practice, is awesome.

I stand by what I said. I'm not trying to be a smart *** here but it's just the way I see it. Although I have considerable experience with the Designer, Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Aspire and a few others I don't consider myself as an expert but I can make a relatively good comparison.

[bergerud]

Sorry, I did not mean to imply you were wrong or anything like that. I just like to do things in Designer whenever I can. It is nice to have only one, easily editable file in Designer. I also hop, skip, and jump between programs to get things done. I used Corel trace for the gymnasts the other day. Some things just seem simpler to me if I can stay in Designer.

[fwharris]

It is great to have a tool box full of different tools to choose from, even more so when a lot of them have very similar features. I will often bounce my work back and forth between programs in order to use the tools that I am more comfortable working with.

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Steve,

I like what you say, however until I can prove to my Husband that I can learn this I hate to keep raising the price?, He was able to see where the Designer Pro would benefit me, but now I have to ask to add another $199.00? Is this Corel a free program? If you think the 2d will really help me, let me know. I appreciate your helping me. THANK YOU.............THANK YOU

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Oscar,

Thank you for the pointers, I am really trying to learn, is there any way you can show me how and what steps you did to get this finished product, which is exactly as I wanted it. Or is there tips and tricks that would show me? Any further assistance would be greatly appreciated. I just don't want to add expense to my carvewright, until I can prove what I can do. Thanks to All for any help and knowledge you can send my way.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Loriblackdog

[bergerud]

Lori, I do not think we really knew what you were asking for. We all have our resources and ways of doing things and we all like to jump in and solve the problem. Many on the forum who ask for help just want the final result.

If, on the other hand, you are asking for advice on how to do it yourself, that is different. You have to explain what tools you have and what you want the end result to be.

You could be trying to make the graphic into either something to carve or something to cut out. Advice would be quite different for each case and would depend on which tools you have.

Edit: By stencil, did you mean template?? Something like:

[oscarl48]

Lori, after the holidays I'll make a short tutorial on how I went about making the stencil and maybe show a few other techniques to get the same result.

All the add-ons are great but they are not strictly necessary to create patterns. They do make life a little easier. I only have one main add-on (stl import) and it suffices for all me needs. I did have to learn several other software tools to compensate for not having the add-ons but in most cases I have a lot more options and capabilities because I use those different tools. Several folks have mentioned its about having different tools in the tool box that you can incorporate into your pattern making pipeline.

My normal pipeline is Corel Paint or Draw (expensive) or Inkscape (free) and then Blender 3d (free) and then back to Corel Paintshop Pro (relatively inexpensive) and then finally Carvewright designer pattern editor that I got with the stl import add-on.

Inkscape will sometimes give me a better svg format image than Corel Draw to use in Blender.

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Oscar

That would be great.....I am really trying not to add anything else to my bill, until I can prove to my husband, I can learn this. I am truly a newbie, I don't see things in 3d, and I only know enough to be dangerous on the computer. So even if I had to add several free things to help, I would not mind. I hope you have A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR. I need to know what the STL import is and will I use it often?

Thank you

Loriblackdog

[oscarl48]

Lori,

good morning. The stl import is another add-on module in designer. So another $200.00 when not on sale. It allows you to import stl files into designer. stl stands for stereolithography and is a common 3d file format used by many different 3d graphics programs. Like all the add-on's its nice to have if you are working with 3d graphics but again it is not mandatory. There are other methods of importing the 3d images into designer (though not as cleanly or easily). Typically you have to render the 3d graphics into a 2d image with the right gray scale levels.

learning 3d graphics has been a really fun and gratifying process for me. Now, it has taken me 3 years to get where to I am now. It has been really challenging but also a lot of fun like I said. It is not easy or fast, again.

I'm now off to north Houston to drop of the kid with her grandparents.

Merry Christmas,
Oscar

[oscarl48]

Lori,

I made a very crude and basic video showing how I made the stencil. I was not focused on the final result but wanted to show more the steps I used to make the stencil. The final stencil in the video would not work since the stars are not completely connected. The fix would be to go back and position them a little higher or increase their size slightly.

Some things I would highlight are:
Using merge functions and clip carving functions. I struggle with these and I usually have to try several permutations to get them to do what I want but they are mandatory with multiple shapes working together.

Outline pattern(s) is really finicky. You may have to resize the pattern either larger or smaller to get it to trace correctly. You need closed areas for the cut path or choose bit to work.

There are several ways to do one thing. Pick one you are familiar with and develop it further. Youtube is great as a teacher.

Keep at it. It took me a year before I had a few eureka moments and I am still learning basic stuff still. I love using the stl importer because it forced me to learn 3d modeling and the patterns I create can be used with any cnc machine plus 3d printers if I wanted. There is also 2d graphics processes that also work really well. Alan Malmstrom has some older videos on youtube that really helped me out trying to figure out how that process works. In the end, with the idea of picking one technique and learning that one way well, I made the decision to go with 3d instead of 2d because it was just more challenging. I had no idea what I was chewing off but I think I would pick it again knowing what I know now.

https://youtu.be/jpiuByGXwxI

Please let me know if there is anything confusing or problematic. I am not very good at making the videos yet and also trying a new screen capture software which I don't know how to use it well yet.

[Mugsowner]

Morning and Happy New Year, Oscar I am trying to view your video, and there may be an issue. On your video I get no sound, could be on my end, but others work fine. Enjoy

[oscarl48]

Good morning and happy New Year. Unfortunately there is no sound. I can't find my mike so I added some music and of course I screwed that up. I think I did the actions slow enough that it can be followed though. Like I said very crude video.

I use other software for pattern creation so I don't use many of these techniques for pattern making (with the exception of clip carving and merge function to composite different patterns together). I just wanted to make sure that new folks didn't feel they can't accomplish basic and intermediate pattern building with the base software. Designer basic has good basic pattern building capability though it can get a bit laborious with more complex pattern.

Maybe we can suggest to CW to produce or sponsor some additional professional tutorials on their software. They do have some basic ones that are great for starting up but more examples and techniques would be nice when starting.

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Oscar,

Happy New Year

Thank you, however I was not able to see the areas that you were clicking on, and with no sound I really could not follow. I would appreciate it if you could do it again, and mabe have some sound? Also I thought you were gonna show me how to do this in inkscape? I have been watching some of the video's. As always would appreciate help from anyone who could show me the step by step.

Thank you
Loriblackdog

[oscarl48]

Lori,

It may be a while. I moved 6 months ago and I can't find half my stuff. Do you have the designer pattern editor? Just so I know how what to make.

Oscar

[bergerud]

I may be missing the point here, but if making a stencil, do you not want to draw the holes?

[oscarl48]

Dan,

That is the beauty of this stuff. I did it backwards. I traced the objects and then "joined" them using merge and clip carving and then inverted to get to the holes. Slightly convoluted but I am not very good with splines so for me doing it my way was a lot easier and quicker.

Lori,

Dan is highlighting a slightly different method to get the same results. Again it depends on what you are comfortable and proficient at. I traced the objects and then inverted to get to the holes. Dan simply traced the holes. Doing it Dan's way is more straight forward and if you have snap to grid extremely precise. I am not as proficient because I use other tools to do the same. All these different techniques need to be added to your tool box though. Practice and experiment. But since Dan pointed it out I am also going to practice using splines more often as well.

[Loriblackdog]

Hi Bergerud,

Yes you have exactly, Was this all done in Desinger? If you so could you possible put together a short video with the steps? Right now the only thing I have is Designer Pro, centerline text I need to prove I can do this before my husband will let me add on. Like I said I am new to this but really trying hard. I have installed Inkscape and Blender. I would greatly appreciate your help.

Thank you

Happy New Year
Loriblackdog

[bergerud]

It is done in Designer. It was simply a trace. For practice do this:

Open the mpc below. (I have deleted the carve regions so that there are dotted lines you can practice tracing.) Using the connected lines tool, draw a connected line to each vertex. Once drawn, convert any segments which should be curves to spines. Then adjust the control points on the splines to make them fit the dotted curves. You can also, by zooming in, tweak the vertex points for a better fit.

[Loriblackdog]

Morning,

I must explain that I am new to this designing? I can figure out the connected lines, but I am not sure what vertex is? Could you maybe do something video or step by step with screen shots. I would greatly appreciate anything you can send my way. I only have designer 3, & centerline,

Thank you
Loriblackdog

[bergerud]

The vertices are the red dots. The places where you click to stop and change direction while drawing connecting lines.

It is mostly trial and error learning! Just play around to see how things work.

[henry1]

burgerus you have another message a private message