[mx_race]

I have corel draw and corel photo paint but I'm honestly not overly familiar with them..

Since it's my anniversary today and my wife and I just had our second child (Evan).. I'd like to do a portrait of him on wood with his name below it..

Any info you can give me on how to make this work would be great.. I converted the portrait to grayscale but I'm not sure what the next step is

I guess I should mention I use newly draw with a artsign 3060U and a jsm40 .. But the 3060U is gonna be doing the work..

Thanks
Rich

[Litografa]

Use Photograv - this is standart tool for lasering raster graphics.

[zax15uk]

Photograv is the easiest method but you can certainly do it with CorelPaint.

The best results are achieved through trial and error, and will be different based on material but here are the basic steps:

Set the size to the correct resolution (so if you are using 150dpi on the laser and want it 4x6, 600x900 pixels or a factor of it 300x450, 1200x1800 etc)
Increase contrast on the image
Adjust brightness or use the eraser to remove unwanted areas
Sharpen the image
Convert to 1-bit (B&W) by dithering - Floyd–Steinberg or Stucki work well

Burn it!

Zax.

[mx_race]

Hey Zax,
I know you use newlydraw..

When you put a bitmap in the software it has options for single - 2 lines - 2 lines enhanced - 4 lines - 4 lines enhanced

What does this do and which one do you use??

Also is the gap setting related to dpi?? So do I try to match the dpi of the picture the the gap setting??

Thanks for your help.. I'm just trying to get a idea on how to do this

Rich

[mx_race]

I tried a little sample and it didn't turn out to bad. I'm using some pine sample pieces I have. One thing I noticed is I'm not getting a dark burn so that the photo shows up good. I get good depth just not the dark color.

Thanks again everyone for all your help. I do plan on getting photograv in the future but it's just not in the budget as of today.

Rich

[mx_race]

Is there somebody with experience out there that is willing to edit the photo for me for engraving on wood if I email it to you..?? I'd just like to see if what you do to the photo is even close to what I've done.. The engraving are is 3"x5"

Thanks
Rich

[zax15uk]

Rich,

I don't use Photograv so perhaps someone else can help, if not I can use my manual method in Photoshop.

To improve the contrast slow down the speed to get a darker burn, although I've found some Pine just won't darken much.

Zax.

[mx_race]

I sent ya a email zax..

Could you give me some basic speed and gap settings that you use for wood?

[zax15uk]

Rich,

Here are my 'standard' settings, although it varies based on the image and the material:

Mode: 2 lines enhanced (these options set the screen preview only and do not effect the output)
Scan gap: 0.1mm = 254dpi
Speed: 10cm/sec

If you only have a small input image it may be necessary to use 0.2mm = 127dpi or lower. This can still produce excellent results, especially on tile or harder materials where the fracture site is larger. Higher dpi does not always result in a higher perceived resolution of the final engraving.

Zax.

[adayofjoy]

Rich,

Here are my 'standard' settings, although it varies based on the image and the material:

Mode: 2 lines enhanced (these options set the screen preview only and do not effect the output)
Scan gap: 0.1mm = 254dpi
Speed: 10cm/sec

If you only have a small input image it may be necessary to use 0.2mm = 127dpi or lower. This can still produce excellent results, especially on tile or harder materials where the fracture site is larger. Higher dpi does not always result in a higher perceived resolution of the final engraving.

Zax.

then are you engraving on mono, screen 1, 2 or 3.
my engraver does not have gray relief option.
sorry for butting in guys but this is great . thanks

[zax15uk]

Mono - as you've already dithered the image before importing.

The screen options are inferior methods of doing the same so would not be appropriate on a 1-bit image.

The gray scale option is only available if your machine supports variable power control (which it does not). If the option is available it usually provides the best results and would be used with 8-bit images.

Zax.

[mx_race]

Mine has the grey relief so I will try that too.. Thanks for all your help.. I'm gonna mess with it some tonight..

What DPI do you usually make your images??

Rich

[zax15uk]

If you are using grey relief it is less important, but my default is usually 254dpi on wood and 127dpi on tile. It really does depend on the image and material though.

Zax.

[mx_race]

I tryed gray relief but it didn't work. I'm not sure wha I was doing wrong. I'll play with it more when I get some more time.

Thanks again for all your help