Texturing in Partworks

[sevans]

Hello Everyone. Does anyone know how to create the texture all the way to the edges of the material? It seems that no matter what I do, it dips in the middle and tapers out toward edges...???? Any thoughts? PS. I'm working on creating a grain frame sort of appearance.

[myxpykalix]

It might help if you post a picture of what you are trying to do. It may just be me but i'm confused as to what you want based on the description.

[sevans]

I'm trying to create wood grain pattern.

[sebago_signworks]

Are you trying to get a sandblasted look? Ray Chapman did it, it looks great, not so sure he will give his secret away! He is a great guy to ask. I would also like to know the anwser.

[joewino]

Thanks Devin. There are no secrets. Everything I know I got from someone else and I'm more than willing to share that with anyone that wants to know.

I'm not sure what "dips in the middle and tapers" means, but I would be glad to tell you how we achieve our woodgrain (Grain Frame) appearance.

We use ArtCam Pro and just about any texture can be easily duplicated within that program. By importing a black and white bitmap image of a piece of sandblasted wood, the software converts the darks and lights of the photo into tool paths. We simply select the area we want to have the woodgrain, set the depth, and send the information to our ShopBot.

I'm not sure how it could be done with other softwares, but with ArtCam it is a breeze.

[robtown]

A less pricey alternative would be photo Vcarve, made by the same people that make Partworks.

[blackhawk]

The only thing about Photo Vcarve is that it cuts in straight lines. It will only vary the z-axis height based on the grey scale. This probably wouldn't look as natural.

Sarah - I think that you are wanting the texture to run completely out to the edges of your sign. Offset the outer dimensions of your sign by .25" and then toolpath the texture only to the larger outline. You will be cutting air around the edges, but this will make the texture go fully out to the edges. I had to do this exact same thing on a sign that I did.