Image Carve

[waltie]

Anyone using ImageCarve software ?

[Brady Watson]

Ouch! $295!!!

Ray,
Have you mastered the TIF converter yet? That looks like a glorified version of what you already have...aside from a fancy interface...

-Brady

[waltie]

Brady, I have never been able to get the TIF converter to work. Maybe you can give me some pointers.

[paco]

The TIFF file must be "prepared/formated"... look at the provide info. in HELP...

[Brady Watson]

Ray,
There are some baseline parameters that the TIF has to meet before it will sucessfully work with the converter.

1st of all, not all pictures are good candidates for the conversion. You want to select a file where the subject has a high degree of contrast to the background. A nice clean background without a lot of noise is preferred.

Secondly, you must convert the TIF file over to an 8-bit grayscale image. The reason being, each 'bit' is assigned a Z value. In this context, '8-bit' refers to 8 hexidecimal values of color depth that can be translatd into Z values. Typically, Blacks are low in Z and Whites are zero with shades of gray varying in the middle of the scale. If for some reason you want the opposite (whites low) you can convert the grayscale image to a negative in your favorite picture editing software. I like PaintShop Pro.

Read the SB3 Control Software Help file using 'TIF' as the keyword. You will find everything that you need to know in there. I'm sure that if you played with the converter a little and tweaked some parameters that you'll be cutting nice files in no time. Keep in mind (stated in help file) that these files can get quite large. They are essentially 3D files with lots of data in them due to the high number of Z moves needed. So when trying out your 1st few files, keep them small by resizing the TIF to a reasonable size.

Hope that helps!
-Brady

[waltie]

Thanks Brady
will try it tommorrow

[lin]

I'm trying to get from a scanned photograph to a ShopBot file that will result in a relief carving. ImageCarve looked good but it would be nice to be able to use the included (free) tif converter in the ShopBot software instead. First I'm converting the scanned color photo to a gray-scale 8-bit .tif file in the freeware Pic2Pic. When I try to convert the .tif file using the SB3 conversion feature, I get error messages. I have loaded the new 3.5.5 version and still no success. I'm a little confused because I think I'm reading here that it actually is working in the Windows Software. Am I missing something?
p.s. Just got back from Camp ShopBot in NJ - what a blast!

[paco]

Had you save it as non compressed? I think that the file must be in the sbparts folder too...

[Brady Watson]

Lin,
You are correct. I had similar issues last night while using the Windows version of the converter...I had always used the one in DOS since that's what was loaded on my machine.

Hang tight...I think we will arrive at a solution soon that is well worth the wait.

-Brady

[paco]

The TIF file MUST be in the sbparts folder. I just did it and it woked for me.

[paul_n]

Here is another option. I have used it, and like all of the controls it presents when working on your artwork.

http://www.imagetogcode.com/

Paul

[jsfrost]

Brady, Paco,

Thanks for the very useful posts. The SB TIF converter is something I've wanted to explore. Earlier I was told by SB that it did not yet work with the windows SW, so I explored elswhere. Last night I had it working, with your help.

What Bits and total depth are you using? With a 1/8 bit, my smallest, Toby (my dog) looked a bit ragged, but it's a start.

I had a few thoughts while I waited a long time for Toby to appear. I’m inexperienced and guessing, correct me where I’m wrong, but it seems that the bit size determines the smallest pixel that can be cut. There’s no point converting a high resolution TIF to a large file where the cutter center follows all the detail and the cutter edges chew up most of it. I expect a little math and TIF resizing can achieve the desired finished cut image size with fewest lines of cut file. More on this after I complete a few more experiments and firm up my thinking.

Jim Frost

[Brady Watson]

Jim,
You should ideally be cutting with a ballnose bit. Most likely you'd do best with an 1/8" ballnose spiral...since the toolpath is considered 3D. This will make a HUGE difference in cut quality.

I may be wrong, but I believe that bit size is referring to the depth of the white and black. The greater the Z distance between the white and black values, the more detail (to a point) you will get. This gives all the greyscale in between enough room to be distinct from the white and black. This is one reason why a high-contrast picture is preferred.

-Brady

[billp]

Jim,
As Brady says above a ball nosed bit would be the preferred tool for 3D work of this kind. If I remember my earlier experiments with the Tiff converter I think there WAS a bit of trial/error to get the black/white pixels, & depth established. Also the overall size of the finished image seemed to change the resolution as well. We occasionally got good files, and at other times it was not a very pretty sight. I think that if there were a way to standardize your shots, or a way to go into a photo processing program to further separate the blacks and whites ( contrast), you'd be able to cut down on the "testing" runs.
If enough people were to do the same we might be able to figure out some "formulas" that would generate good cutting files...

[daniel_carr]

In general, I've found that images taken with broadly-diffused lighting and no harsh shadows provide the best results.

Here is an example image carving using VS3D:
http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d/examples/img_emboss.html

[waltie]

I'am new at this, but let me put in 2 cents worth
I tried the 1/8 ball cutter, pic was ok. then I used a v-bit cutter, same photo everything else be the same and the v-bit photo was 100% better.

[paco]

Should'nt the bit size be choosed by the pixel size setting?! Depth of cut (black and white cut depth setting) would'nt only affect... the depth of the finish cut relief?! I did'nt test much the process though but seem logical... but I plan to...
By the way, I did got very good result in 3D part with 1/16" "end mill" bit... I plan to test a new one I received yesterday; 1/32" 10deg. tapered bit... P'etty small and pointy! I did'nt yet found any 1/16" "ball end" bit with a 1/4" shank though...
Hey Daniel! Thanks for the tips on photos!