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View Full Version : Photovarving with a vengance



ironsides
05-10-2011, 09:24 PM
This carving required a lot of photoshop editing, but it was fun.

I also had to do al lot of dentil work with ASPIRE. White teeth in photocarving usually stick way out.

Usually each person will say "Well that looks like you but that's not how I look.

Made from 9 X 12 Cherry wood plaque from Michales.

I used one coat of Tung Oil.

Sorry for the green tone, in the image, the real part does not have any green at all and the cherry wood grain is terrific.

George

myxpykalix
05-10-2011, 10:38 PM
I'm just guessing and as i recall someone saying in a photovcarve you have to invert the light/dark areas to cut it as a lithopane. But opposite that to cut it as a regular carving. The problem is that you want it to look more like a vectorart 3d file without having to model it if you are cutting it in wood.

This may take some experimentation but it would seem to me that you could make some "masks" (black and white "covers") in your photoediting program so that you could model parts of the person seperately (hair/face, eyes, nose) so that you are not processing the image as a whole but by processing the different parts will have better control over depths so it doesn't look like they have a sunk in nose or hair. Not sure if i can explain it better or not.

jhedlund58
05-11-2011, 11:35 AM
Jack remembers correctly as it is in the tutorials as well... i, as a newer member, bought the aspire with the shopbot and soon thereafter bought pvc mainly because of the tutorial with the little boy.. i spent a solid month playing with it, bringin into aspire etc... look at george washington tutorial... u almost have to make the underlying vectors etc... someone has a large forehead make that stick out... big nose etc... not all pictures lend themselves 2 this process... maybe one with less teethe. i like using the kids school pics as the subjects are less animated. i also went to some old basic drawing books of animals etc and began with basic shapes. helped me learn..

i did have a problem using pvc alone as its shopbot toolpath did not start my spindle. i never noticed until a little later when i tried it without importing into aspire. that's fixed now.

ironsides
05-11-2011, 12:32 PM
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
Every time I do a photocarve, I swear I'll never do it again, but I keep trying.
I am still trying to learn the tricks of masking, etc, in Photoshop and hopefully, eventually I can improve.

George

jhedlund58
05-11-2011, 12:44 PM
One of my earlier ones was for a realtor friend. when i gave it 2 him.. his co-workers said Hey that's Joe.... Joe said... those r my old glasses...u definitely on the correct path...

good luck a enjoy

tuck
05-11-2011, 02:20 PM
George,

I've never done photo-v-carving but I think it's a fascinating application and I applaud your efforts.

I may be mistaken, but it appears to me that your attempt was more in line with a 3D relief than a v-carving. I have seen examples of great detail on photo-v-carving and it appears that the bit doesn't plunge down very deep and stays on the same Z for the entire carving(s).

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f332/Superfan52/PhotoVCarveColumnImageLarge.gif

Photo-v-carving and 3D reliefs are 2 entirely different animals, me thinks.

Keep trying! Practice makes perfect, right? :)

ironsides
05-11-2011, 07:53 PM
Vectric does offer "PhotoVCarve", which I own a copy of, but I am trying to master 3D Relief carvings of photos as the image in my first post shows.

George

myxpykalix
05-11-2011, 11:10 PM
Mark,
Regarding lithopanes you are kind of right, but not entirely. The idea behind them is that with .25" corian you cut around .15 at its deepest point. The idea is that the lighter portions of the photo are cut deeper to allow more light to pass thru the material and the darker portions not cut as deep to allow less light to pass thru and turn it into basically a black and white photo.

I have always used a 1/8th" ballnose and the idea is to increase your line count and stepover to make it resemble a photo instead of a bunch of scratched lines.

But you are correct that it doesn't resemble a 3D relief.

tuck
05-11-2011, 11:32 PM
Nice work Jack!!! :)