Re: Turning photographs into something usefull for our hobby

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "andrew.mathison" <andrewdavid.mathison@...> wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> if this advert is out of place here, please accept my apologies immediately.
>
> I was looking for some software to turn pictures of my Dog into something that I could cut into wood with my CNC machine. (Would be usefull for Laser Engraving too I feel!)
>
> Price IS important for me.
>
> I found two useful pieces, both from the same company and one is free, the other is available as free or as a bought Pro version.
>
> They are called:-
> Instant Sketch, which turns any photo (colour or B/W) into a pencil sketch. Totally free.
>
> Instant Mask, which helps you to remove the background of any photo.
> There is a -pro version which needs to be paid for, but it is also still VERY cheap!!!
>
> There is also an interesting piece of software to remove wires/cables and similar from Photos. Could also be useful to someone in our area of hobby I feel too.....Its called Instant Wire Cleaner.
>
> The web address is:-
>
> http://clipping-path-studio.com/instantmask-pro/
>
> Prices lie between $15 and $30 and there is a "dual" offer which really saves money.
>
> All versions can be downloaded, even the pro versions may be used for 2 weeks for free....the other versions are free all the time.....!!
>
> I hope:-
>
> a) nobody is upset by the ad and me posting it here
> b) it helps someone further with our hobby.
>
> regards
> Andy
>
> PS. I have not as yet tested the software for viruses or Malware, so please be careful when using for the first time as "you never know!"
> If anything like that is found, I will come back and post a proper warning here on this blog!
>

Andrew: There are several issues in taking a photo and turning it into something that will run on a CNC machine and produce acceptable results.

1. If the photo is "busy" or of low resolution (like a web image) the results of any auto conversion are usually poor at best.
2. You have to decide if you want to simulate the photo on wood using a method called photo engraving (actually a halftone process). It breaks the photo up into dots. Better conversion software converts it to different sized dots to simulate lighter or denser areas of the photo. The smaller the image and the closer you plan on the viewing area the more dots per square inch you need.
3. If you want a more line art approach like hand engraving or wood cut then the photo has to be converted to vector (line) files that can be turned to toolpaths on a CNC.
4. Time is your enemy. On a laser you can pulse the beam, burn the divots in the wood rapidly so doing a halftone photo goes pretty fast. Consider there will be thousands of dots. Now think about cutting all of them with a conventional rotary tool and the cycle time a CNC table would take to move, plunge, lift and move for each one. It's something you would not want to sit and watch. A smaller cutting designed to be viewed at arms length to 3 ft would require closer dots, lots more dots and smaller dots....thousands of moves.
5. Cleaning up the photo (in any bitmap to vector or halftone conversion) is essential and any tool you can get to help is welcome BUT in the end it will be you sitting at the monitor doing some level of hand editing and clean up.
6. One of the marketing tools some vendors use is to show an image being scanned, a button being pressed and the part being magically cut out. If you get past the wow factor and watch, the image is simple with defined lines and good contrast between the different edges. Those images convert pretty good BUT in the real world you seldom get nice clean images like that to work with. If you have to spend several hours cleaning up a bitmap BEFORE you even do the auto trace then it's often faster to hand trace the master. Either do it with tracing paper and a sharp pen or learn your drawing tools and do it on the computer and save the extra steps.
7. Although I have not used it myself (don't have the patience to cut photos on my CNC router) the PhotoVCarve application gets good reviews (http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectric/pvc/pvc_features.htm) and at $149.00 is at a level most hobby guys can deal with. Once again the quality of the master would be important. A high contrast B&W photo would work better than a busy color scan or digital camera output.
8. There are some free drawing programs that will let you work in vectors and import bitmaps for hand tracing and several have built in auto-trace. Most notable is Inkscape.

There are tools in packages like CorelDraw and Corel PhotoPaint that will let you do things like dropout backgrounds and do interesting effects like Edge Detect and Hand engraving simulation. Any version from 12 up works good. You can find older versions like X3 on the web for less than 80 bucks for the suite. (includes CorelDraw, PhotoPaint, CorelTrace and several other utilities).

In the end you have to get from a bitmap to a toolpath and that can be the challenging part.

One of the biggest advantages of a program like Corel is it's ability to import virtually all bitmap and vector formats and use just about any Font for Windows. There are sources for high quality vector clipart that can be sized and used like it comes in or broken apart and used in something you create. With any computer application there is a learning curve. IF you are new to computer drawing and working with bitmaps and vectors then the curve gets steeper.

Whatever you do, have fun! I just got a copy of Cut3D and can't wait to start doing some carving for fun. The router stays busy all week in production but on the weekends its MINE!

TOM caudle
www.CandCNC.com