Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234
Results 31 to 38 of 38

Thread: Vector Drawings with evenly spaced nodes.

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Marion, NC
    Posts
    20

    Smile Progress Update...

    Hey Jack, you are giving your age away there...

    That is pretty impressive piece, I like the added color. I hope to graduate to colors later.

    Just to let everyone know where I am in the process...

    I looked at the example Ari did that Bill P. and you pointed me to, his method is interesting and may help me when punching deep holes that a background would show through. I appreciate the tip.

    I downloaded and did a test with the HalfToner application. My take at the present is that it generates too much information. If I can figure a way to remove excess stuff so it only generates code for what I want to punch it could be very useful.

    I also tried the application Bill Young has developed VBit Artist, it also generates a lot of code and doesn't appear to be what is needed. If the application could be modified to just put circles on the subject and not on the entire picture then it would work very well. An application that would only use the black detail in a file is what I believe would work best. A better version would allow selection of several different colors, one at a time like a plotter does. The individual colors could then be assigned different spacings for more or less detail (punches) as needed. That is what I am doing now manually, by using Corel and ArtCam. Note: More detail = smaller circles without overlap for cleaner detail in the final piece.

    I am going to try 2 more punch files today one with more facial and hair detail, and another with a closeup of just the head punched out. I am also going to punch out one file on paper to see how that works, Steve G. put me on that thought with his post. I will post pictures later.

    Thanks for the help...

    SR

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    San Jose, CA, USA
    Posts
    685

    Default

    My take at the present is that it generates too much information. If I can figure a way to remove excess stuff so it only generates code for what I want to punch it could be very useful.
    Use photo editing software to mask out the background to either black or white. Make sure the minimum hole size is set to something larger than zero.
    - Randall Newcomb
    10 fingers in, 10 fingers out
    another good day in the shop

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

    Default

    why couldn't you use some photo editing software with certain filters to make line drawings of your photos then vectorize the line drawings?
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Marion, NC
    Posts
    20

    Default

    Hello Randall, to respond to your thought; I tried removing all the background with only the stuff I wanted to punch and ran that through HalfTone, it still generates circles for the entire photo. If I were to punch that file it would just be a completely covered punch out with nothing showing but holes. The modification I have made to the bot does not allow any Z moves so there is no way to determine what has been punched in the final piece. I like the idea of rastering the punches, but as yet haven't figured out how to do that.

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Marion, NC
    Posts
    20

    Default

    Hey Jack, I am using the photo copy filter in Adobe for the initial work, moving the file to Corel saving it as a jpg, opening it in Corel Trace & doing a trace. Reopening the file in Corel Draw doing any editing I need to then saving the file as a dxf for using in ArtCam. It takes about an hour to get a punch file this way. I am still looking at how I can make the process faster, but to get clean vectors that ArtCam doesn't fuss about this is what I have found works best. I am looking at upgrading to the newest version of Draw, but if I do I will also need a new computer, don't want to do either.

    Thanks for the help...this has been an adventure so far.

    Steve

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

    Default

    Sometimes there is no magic bullet program that will do all you want in one step and you might have to settle for doing it that way. At this point since you aren't deluged with orders and have to pump 50 out a day the only one who is inconvienenced by this pace is you!
    I even tried running it thru inkscape to trace the bitmap but did not look at any of the features or filters that you may have been able to use so you might check out www.inkscape.org . If it does more i suspect just learning the pgm may take away any time savings.....

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

    Default

    I'm not sure if i can attach it here, if not email me and i'll send it to you. It is a pdf of a pgm called bmp2cnc. I found it way back in a folder from 2007. I didn't read it thoroughly but it might do something for you.

    won't attach it is about 2 megs

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

    Default

    something else i came across that may or may not help:
    http://freedownload888.blogspot.com/...ketch-651.html

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 4
    Last Post: 04-23-2015, 12:07 PM
  2. Vector Drawings
    By mikek in forum ShopBotter Message Board
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 10-28-2014, 09:52 AM
  3. Toolpath Drawings
    By kubotaman in forum ShopBotter Message Board
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 10-31-2011, 07:25 PM
  4. Locomotive drawings
    By John David in forum ShopBotter Message Board
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 03-15-2010, 11:31 AM
  5. Reducing nodes (elements?) in Vector...
    By threadfx in forum Archives thru 2002
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-11-2001, 11:07 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •