What's the software?

[hardly]

There are many patterns for sale. Some are complicated designs I am guessing are not scanned in. There must be some sort of software used by these few companies to produce either the patterns or gray scale pictures one can import. I have many designs I would like to make but I can not find software to do the job, either make pattern files or gray scale images. Would the makers of the carvewright machine or those commercial sites that sell patterns share with me what software is being used and where i can get it?

Thank you.
Terry

[cnsranch]

Do an advanced search for "patterns" "software", etc. You'll find a lot of info - pretty highly specialized software, very expensive, and not easy to use.

[Amonaug]

I beg to differ. You can use free software to do a lot of things. Depends on the designs you have in mind and what format they are in. BUT it's not a simple click and poof there is your design ready to use in the CW, it requires learning the software and skills to get good designs.

[hardly]

You are right. A lot of info and after many pages, nothing of value. Those that mentioned the carvewright machine refered me back to this site. I already have cad software but they do not do the gray scale shading based on heigth of the object required for the machine's software. I was told that the software that came with the scanner would allow editing but it turns out only for things one has scanned in to begin with. So, again, would the makers of the carvewright machine or those commercial sites that sell patterns share the name of the software is being used and where i can get it?

[hardly]

Hi Kevin,

I agree with what you are saying but what sofware is being used. I've even tried two good 3D programs, Rhino and Carrara, but they can not produce the required gray scale image in a usable form either. Rhino was close but there was no control over the ouput file resolution or size. My problem is not in drawing an object it is in getting it out of the program in a form the machine can use.

Terry

[cnsranch]

Give carvepic a try:

www.opitw.com/carvepic.htm


Free to try, $45 to buy ( I think that's right). I don't have the time, if you do, please let me know what you think.

Regards

[Amonaug]

I use a combination of programs, mostly 3D program which can render a height/depth map such as Bryce (version 5.5 is free for download). You can't just do a straight render, you have to place a 2D plane either halfway through the model or just behind the model otherwise it considers the infinite distance as the lowest point and you don't get the definition you need. Then I bring it into Photoshop to clean it up and combine the object mask with the greyscale render to just get the model with no background.

There is also a program created by one of our members called Carvepic which takes a model and creates the heightmap straight from that.

Several people also use Corel Draw or something similar to manually draw patterns. There are tons of free image editing programs that can be used to convert photos, logos, etc.

Basically if you have CAD and can export the model out in a format useable by say Bryce you should be able to get decent greyscale maps. Otherwise Carvepic may be something to look into.

[hotpop]

hardly,

I found "paint.net" a great program for creating patterns. It's free from www.getpaint.com. It uses a gray scale of 0 (black)to 100 (white) instead of 0(black) to 255(white).

[Dan-Woodman]

Mel
I clicked on you getpaint thing and it came up page cannot be found.
Is there something missing on that . Thanks

I got it now it's www.getpaint.net

later Daniel

[hotpop]

Glad you found it.

[hardly]

Give carvepic a try:

I don't have the time, if you do, please let me know what you think.



Thanks. This is a good start. At least it produces gray scale from several 3D formats. It has minimal manipulation controls though. I will have to try some of the settings next to see how the resolution, size and depth of the gray scale of a 3D object can be manipulated. If they can that is.

Terry

[hardly]

I use a combination of programs, mostly 3D program which can render a height/depth map such as Bryce

Several people also use Corel Draw or something similar to manually draw patterns.

I have not used Bryce but it is advertised as a scenery generation program. It can do 3D objects like flourishes or eagles?

I have Corel Draw X3 and have used it for simple signs or plaques where one can easily decide what shade of gray to use for a particular depth of cut. I would not want to create something like an eagle or even a flourish with it though.

Thanks
Terry

[hardly]

hardly,
I found "paint.net" a great program for creating patterns.

Hi Hotpop,

I got it to see what it was about. It seems to be a just a straight painting program. I didn't see any 3D tools or distance mapping for producing gray scale or am I missing something?

BTW I did a double take on your screen name. I have an email address ending in @hotpop.com. You can get one too and maybe have hotpop@hotpop.com unless it is already taken. Or perhaps I_am@hotpop.com. All sorts of play on words to use.

Regards
Terry,

[Amonaug]

I have not used Bryce but it is advertised as a scenery generation program. It can do 3D objects like flourishes or eagles?

I have Corel Draw X3 and have used it for simple signs or plaques where one can easily decide what shade of gray to use for a particular depth of cut. I would not want to create something like an eagle or even a flourish with it though.

Thanks
Terry

Bryce isn't an actual modeller but can produce models using boolean and metablobs. It can import many 3D model formats and then render a greyscale from either depth mask (from the front or sides) or an altitude mask (from top down view).

There are many places on the internet to find models and a great resource for models, tutorials and info is http://www.renderosity.com

[hotpop]

hardly,

You are right. It is just a paint package but has lots of the features of the high end paint programs. I use the "V" scale of the HSV color range to control my gray scale.

[hardly]

I thank all of you that have responded to my question but after rereading all the posts I see that there still is no reply from the maker of the machine or from the sites that sell patterns.

Gentlemen?

Regards
Terry

[Lin]

Terry, I'm pretty sure that alot of the pattern sites use ArtCam to make/or tweak their patterns. The program is very $$...but it does what is needed to make a file that can be transformed into a gif/png file for the designer software. Its sorta overkill for the CW but I'm sure that is the prefered software for the regular CNC routers for taking a pic to pattern.
Lin

[hotpop]

Terry,


I thank all of you that have responded to my question but after rereading all the posts I see that there still is no reply from the maker of the machine or from the sites that sell patterns.

I have over 100 patterns for sale at the CW Pattern Depot. As I mentioned in an earlier post I use Paint.Net for most of my work. The price is right, if you want to get into creating your own patterns.

[hardly]

I sit corrected on that part but no, I am not interested in selling patterns. I just need to create some patterns so I can make some items for my wife and our house.

Again I thank you for your replies.

Regards
Terry