Photo Silhoutte (Profile) in VB
I would like to write a VB program that would write GCode to cut a Silhoutte ( I don't know how to spell Silhoutte) from a digital photo. Please don't suggest buying software to do this. I built JGRO's router. SWMBO (for yall who still don't know what that is She Who Must Be Obeyed) does not share nor appreciate my enthusiasm for the CNC router. She says we need new carpet, the bathroom remodeled, and our 30 year old oven replaced. And in fairness to her the router has not done much more than take up space in my already cluttered wood working shop.
I have some expericnce in VB. I have written extensive applications in MSAccess which uses VBA. I have a program that was free on the internet that does a good job of edge detection and the person who wrote it was good enough to allow public access to the source code. The way the program works is after determining the width in x pixels and the height in y pixel it starts at X1 and moves across the entire photo one x pixel at a time. At each x pixel it moves up the y pixels for the entire height of the photo. If a pixel need to be turned on it does it. I can capture the xy position of those turned on pixels. The big problem is that they are far from cnc order. I have begun to try to figure out an algorythm to compute the logical order for cutting and write the Gcode. I would assume that each pixel is a unit. Of course it would have to be scaled down drastically. It seems that there are seven possible positions (9 minus present and last positions) for the next point. This seems relatively simple but there are times when I have seen gaps when zooming in on the edge detection and I have have seen multiple lines. I can imagine the program hanging up looking for a nonexistant point or going back and forth between multiple lines. I have not really started on this project and very possibly might never. I would just like to hear some ideas from others if you would be willing to share.
Re: Photo Silhoutte (Profile) in VB
Quote:
Originally Posted by
IMSlo
fkaCarel I appreciate your suggestion but honestly I have no inkling of what you are saying.
At least the thread is getting a little discussion now and that's what I wanted from the start.
I would like to take a moment to state my goal/dream for this project. I stated in my opening post that my router has not earned its keep. I invision making a smaller more portable router and carrying it to craft shows, malls, etc for the purpose of cutting silhouttes on key chains, small wooden blocks, and even etching in granite. The target market ( I just about made a rhyme) for this would be young unmarried couples drunk on romance who might be willing to pay to have their silhouttes on a keychain that would be constantly with them. Another market might be parents/grandparents of small children. The procedure would be to take a picture with a digital camera, down load it into this program, make a suitable outline, make a G Code file and cut the outline. Of course the customer would be invited to look over my shoulder at the whole process and approve the outline before running G Code. The time limit for the whole process should be under 10 minutes. I keep talking about scaling the coordinates because these items will probably be no higher or wider than 1 1/2". Maybe yall can understand more about what I am up against after this explaination.
Now back to the task at hand. It probably seems that I am bent on putting these coordinates in a database file. I am for at least two reasons. First I think it must be done in order to perform the vast amount of manipulation required. Secondly it has become a personal challenge. I have said several times that I would never try to learn another computer language. I have dabbled in GWBasic, QuickBasic, Pascal, dBaseIV and V, Clipper, MSAccess VBA, Bentley Microstation VBA, VB6 and now VB.Net. I don't claim to be an expert in any of these and in fact have forgotten most. I am very excited about and challenged by VB.Net. I want to at least scratch the surface of this powerful language.
Will this program every really be used? Probably not. It's really a dream but even if it is not used I will have the satisfaction of having struggled with it until I conquered it.
Please excuse my longwindedness.
BTW I have my database set up but am having problems connecting to it.
Hi you can share with me your project of Silhouette in VisualBasic language?
you need help ?