newbie help!

[dragon27]

Hi All!

I haven't purchased my machine yet, but have been fooling around with Designer making sure it can do want I want it to do. I would like to make wooden toys with curvy shapes. For the life of me, I can't wrap my head around how to do it. Can you guys lend a hand?

Attached is a quick sketch with dimensions of two things I would like to try and carve. You can think of the first as a rounded off rhino horn. The second, a robot finger. Is it possible to use Designer to make these items or should I turn elsewhere?

I really would appreciate a detailed explanation as to how you arrived at an mpc instead of just posting a completed version, that way I can learn what tools you used to achieve what. This program is driving me mad!

:D

Thanks! You have a great forum here!http://www.deanheid.com/carvetest.png

[ChrisAlb]

Hi All!

I haven't purchased my machine yet, but have been fooling around with Designer making sure it can do want I want it to do. I would like to make wooden toys with curvy shapes. For the life of me, I can't wrap my head around how to do it. Can you guys lend a hand?

Attached is a quick sketch with dimensions of two things I would like to try and carve. You can think of the first as a rounded off rhino horn. The second, a robot finger. Is it possible to use Designer to make these items or should I turn elsewhere?

I really would appreciate a detailed explanation as to how you arrived at an mpc instead of just posting a completed version, that way I can learn what tools you used to achieve what. This program is driving me mad!

:D

Thanks! You have a great forum here!

Sure it can be done. One question though. On the "rhino horn" and other one that's 1" Tall....Were you looking to have them "Rise" that 1" from the board or carved liying on it's side 1" Long?

[dragon27]

Yes, "rising" is how I envisioned them being carved, but if there is an easier way, I'm all about that too!

I'm just finding the whole idea of 3D vs. 2D very confusing using Designer. I'm used to doing things in a CAD and Sketch Up enviroment and have never tried this kind of carving before. It's pretty intimidating.

Any ideas or help is appreciated!

[Amonaug]

Yes, "rising" is how I envisioned them being carved, but if there is an easier way, I'm all about that too!

I'm just finding the whole idea of 3D vs. 2D very confusing using Designer. I'm used to doing things in a CAD and Sketch Up enviroment and have never tried this kind of carving before. It's pretty intimidating.

Any ideas or help is appreciated!

Do a google search for height maps, displacement maps, distance maps. Designer uses a greyscale map to determine depth of cut. The greyscale is 0-255 with 0 being the highest part of the carve and 255 the lowest (reverse that for the pattern editor).


So a cylinder will look like the attached

[dragon27]

Well, my mind just exploded!

I don't know if I did things right or not, but the cylinder png came out looking like a loaf of bread after I inverted it in Designer.

After poking around the forum, it appears Corel is the tool of choice to develop heightmaps. Is there a tutorial available showing how to take something from greyscale step A to greyscale step Z so you can wind up with an outstanding finished product? I know there's a learning curve with everything, but I'm a little surprised to find that I may have to hone my knowledge on another magical collection of code to get the results I want.

I see the amazing work you guys produce so I know this is all possible, but how can I get there?

As always, Thanks!

[ChrisAlb]

Do a google search for height maps, displacement maps, distance maps. Designer uses a greyscale map to determine depth of cut. The greyscale is 0-255 with 0 being the highest part of the carve nd 255 the lowest (reverse that for the pattern editor).


Actually, 0 = transparent (no information for the CW to see).

This is how we can eliminate the background from the image. You know, the square page the image is drawn on that everybody wonders how to get rid of so the pattern doesn't carve with a square around it? Make it 0 or transparent.

1 - 255 are actual shades of gray.

[Amonaug]

Actually, 0 = transparent (no information for the CW to see).

This is how we can eliminate the background from the image. You know, the square page the image is drawn on that everybody wonders how to get rid of so the pattern doesn't carve with a square around it? Make it 0 or transparent.

1 - 255 are actual shades of gray.

Are you sure? Most programs 0,0,0 is pure black and 255,255,255 is pure white. The transparency is a seperate channel in the .png/.gif file.

[dragon27]

Did some fooling around and got most of the finger to come out using Wolfie's Gradient Designer (which is great for simple "side view shapes", for lack of a better definition). Any advice on how to make the fingertip gradient/height map? I still need to have the cylinder, but with a half globe resting at one end.

Is their another program that can render what I want in 3D? Am I missing something inside Designer that can do this using the pattern I made?

I am attaching my mpc file so you guys can check it out.

Dang! This is fun!

:D

[Amonaug]

Well I personally use Bryce for some of my pattern making. It renders both distance (from the side) and altitude (from directly above) mask/maps. Some times it's easier to use the altitude mask, just lay the model on it's back/side on the ground. Otherwise if you use the distance you delete the ground and place a 2D plane right behind or halfway through the model.

You can get Bryce 5.5 for free (and maybe even some earlier versions) as the newer versions really are only needed if you plan on making color renders, etc.

EDIT: Is this more what you are looking for? Created in about 20 minutes using Bryce, consists of 1 cylinder, 2 tori and a sphere placed half in the ground then used top down view and rendered both the altitude mask and object mask. Brought those into Photoshop and with some tweaking to the levels produced what you see.

[cnsranch]

You're a genius (at least us computer illiterates think so, if I can speak of us).

A tutorial on how you went about making Bryce work would be terrific, but might make some of those who sell patterns somewhat uneasy.

I've downloaded Bryce, and can't make heads or tails of it.

[dragon27]

WOW! That's even better than what I was going for! Amonaug, you are the man! I appreciate the time you are taking to help this newbie out.

I'm going to check out Bryce asap. I have to learn how to do this stuff!

[ChrisAlb]

Are you sure? Most programs 0,0,0 is pure black and 255,255,255 is pure white. The transparency is a seperate channel in the .png/.gif file.

Yep, Positive. Take a look at this picture from PSP. The background is Zero or nothing as represented by the color numbers below. (The yellow is not a color. Just a background identifier). The CW does not see it.

[ChrisAlb]

A tutorial on how you went about making Bryce work would be terrific, but might make some of those who sell patterns somewhat uneasy.

I wouldn't be worried about that...lol Pattern making is an art and no two visions are the same. Go for it!! http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Amonaug]

Yep, Positive. Take a look at this picture from PSP. The background is Zero or nothing as represented by the color numbers below. (The yellow is not a color. Just a background identifier). The CW does not see it.


Now you see different programs read it differently. In Adobe Photoshop the transparent part reads as blank (ie no numbers) while the rest reads from 0,0,0 (pure black) to 255,255,255(pure white). It could be that for PSP it just defaults to 0 instead of showing a blank space.

[Amonaug]

You're a genius (at least us computer illiterates think so, if I can speak of us).

A tutorial on how you went about making Bryce work would be terrific, but might make some of those who sell patterns somewhat uneasy.

I've downloaded Bryce, and can't make heads or tails of it.

I'll see about a tutorial but not sure when I'll have the time. Realise I've been messing with 3D programs for years so transposing that to the CW isn't hard for me. If you have never used a 3D program it can be a bit hard to get your head around it.

There is a lot of info out there on the net if you search for Bryce tutorials (or most any 3D program, they all use the same basic concepts. http://www.renderosity.com is a great resource as well for tutorials and the forums. All you are really interested in is the simple modeling, rendering is something you can forget for now as it's no use in the CW. Bryce also has a terrain editor that uses height map info, and can probably find tutorials for creating to the maps to create models, you can simply forget the model part and just use the map info.

Truly creating good patterns from programs like this isn't something you can just jump into BUT Bryce is one of the 3D programs with the lowest learning curve, it's interface is simplistic and intuitive. Click the sphere at the top and a sphere appears on the screen. Go to the edit menu by clicking edit at the top and resize, move, rotate, etc or simply drag the object in the screen.

[jpaluck]

other program to check out is zbrush..look at the alpha grab..learning curve is up there but not too bad..pricey though at 600