[jdbaker]

Does anyone know where to get that pic to pic program mentioned in step #4? I can't seem to find it.

step #1 scan picture around 300 dpi with scanner.
Step #2 save scan as jpg or bmp
Step #3 edit picture as needed like removing background, lightning, removing red eye etc
Step #4 convert jpg to a grey 8 bit pgm file using pic to pic a free program
Step #5 get imagecarve open the pgm and sellect the size and depth of cut usually .030 works beautiful.
Step #6 click the convert button in imagecarve
Step #7 run g-code

Like I say if anyone needs help with imagecarve I will be glad to help you achieve results you are looking for!
Proof is in the pudding look at some of my pictures I have carved.

[High Seas]

Try snapfiles.com
http://www.snapfiles.com/downloadfin...&lc=1&action=s
you might find something there....
:cheers: Jim

[Aksess]

http://www.wavelsoftware.com/

[mcmmach]

"Does anyone know where to get that pic to pic program mentioned in step #4? I can't seem to find it. "

jdbaker, what kind of image processing program do you use ?
Most of the newer ones will convert to grayscale and or allow you to save as a grayscale image.

Dean

[CJL5585]

"Does anyone know where to get that pic to pic program mentioned in step #4? I can't seem to find it. "

jdbaker, what kind of image processing program do you use ?
Most of the newer ones will convert to grayscale and or allow you to save as a grayscale image.

Dean

http://www.imagecarve.com/

There are several. I think this is the one that was referred to by Aksess in post # 5 or # 6.

[jdbaker]

it makes sense that the pic2pic program was linked to on imagecarve.com, I should have checked there.

I was also wondering what everyones experience was with stain and sanding after a piece like this is done. Do these things work better with a darker stain, or a ligher stain? What grit of sandpaper do you suggest (I would imagine that you would want a very fine grit)? I read somewhere that someone used an electric sander, but it seems like most would just sand it by hand (I would be worried that an electric sander would take too much off), is that true?

[Tony Mac]

Have you looked at PhotoVCarve.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ht=photovcarve

This ia a very different approach to machining photographs that doesn't rely on the lighting and shading being correct to build a realistic height map, which the other techniques do and this often causes a problem (unless you are petty good at using PhotoShop or similar).

PhotoVCarve machines fine lines or grooves to represent the picture, which allows the design to be cut very quickly.

A couple of examples,





Holding to the light reveals the Lithophane magic!



Painting with black paint produces the finished result.

Process



Hope this is of interest,

Tony

[fizzissist]

There's free engraving software at this site, along with a lot of design help for building your own machine.

http://www.majosoft.com/engraving/

Disclaimer....I haven't been able to make the software run on my computer, but it apparently runs.

The VS3D software looks pretty good, especially for the price! Comparable products from the big boys are a LOT more expensive.

[cadcam]

There is also Mastercam Art that will do most of this to.
http://www.mastercam.com/Products/Art/default.aspx

[dertsap]

http://www.imagetogcode.com/
this is what i ve tryed and plan to buy , these are two pics that i did to test my system

[Tony Mac]

Hi Derstap,

Impressive pieces - What size are they and how long did they take to cut?

Here are a couple of carved pieces made using PhotoVCarve from scanned pictures. The plaque is 18" x 12" and the complete piece was carved in around 30 minutes.

To enhance the design the machined grooves were simply stained using the kids water colour paints.







Also worth noting that PhotoVCarve does a great job of machining Lithophanes.

Tony

[dertsap]

i tryed v carve and couldn t get a decent step over ,
, image to g code works great , the only real factor in the quality of my pics is the tool i used , i need a good v point bit, that was done with a 1/4 spot drill , and these were to test my system , which showed some flaws that have to be dealt with ,
as far as the sizes go the trooper is 12 x8 and the other is10 x 10 ,both are .15 deep ,.02 step over
they both took 5 - 6 hrs each , roughly 480,000 lines of code
but on a good solid system i think that simple software will out perform a lot of softwares out there , anyone that knows the maiden posters knows the amount of detail in them , those were hard pics to throw at that software

[dertsap]

http://www2.fwi.com/~kimble/scispec/scispec.htm

freeware program , i haven t tryed it on the machine but it backplots ok

[jimini]

Profiler works very well, just play around with it to figure it out.

[Tony Mac]

Derstap,

The default settings in PhotoVCarve are designed for machining pictures as quickly as possible using groves, and the stepover range is typically between 100% to 200%.

If you are cuttng a 3D version (as your images) then you simply enter the percentage stepover required - ie 20% for cutting with a Ball nose cutter as shown in the image below.

The toolpath Preview mode shows you exactly what the finished job will look like and also calculates the Estimated cutting time.

Tony

[dertsap]

maybe i ll try it again

[Dman]

Another point I would make for PhotoVcarve is that you can block out certain colors if you want. In other words, if you just want to carve a face out and leave out the background all you have to do is edit the picture to have a solid background that is not shown in the face and block it out. Then PhotoVcarve only machines that area, which saves alot of machine time. In my experience, the others do not allow for this. You can change the background to white in the others and it will machine to zero but it still will make the full line which costs time. PhotoVcarve will just cut your shape, others seem to have to cut a square or rectangle. Someone may say otherwise but I think PhotoVcarve is the only one in its price range that allows this to be done.

[dertsap]

the vcarce appears very 2 dimensional , am i wrong ,
if i want something carved out iwant to see a full 3d image , you know what i mean ? ,something you can run your finger down and feel every bit of detail

[Dman]

Like Tony mentioned above, just enter in a small stepover (10-15%) rate and a true 3D image will be carved. PhotoVcarve lets you have the option of doing a true 3D engraving or as you mention a 2D engraving (which takes very little time). The choice is up to the programmer.

[Transam]

There are quite a few different programs that will take an image, convert image brightness to surface height, and lay tool paths over it. However, there are fewer programs that will also show you a material-cutting preview (predicted tool grooves in surface), and even fewer still that allow you to perform free-form sculpting on that surface before cutting it. And since image brightness almost never correlates perfectly with the desired surface height, I think the sculpting tools are very important.

What is the best free bitmap (grayscale) to g-code converter out there? Hopefully it also takes into account mill diameter.