what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

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basecircle
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what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by basecircle »

Hi gang Well i have the pvc and have been cutting alot of photos.This software is great.Having some trouble with black and white photos.I put them in gimp mess around with contrast,using newspaper filter.Cant seem to cut a good photo.what is the best way to attack this.Should the photo be darker or lighter?could use any help.Thanks Basecircle

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P.Passuello
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by P.Passuello »

basecircle wrote:Hi gang Well i have the pvc and have been cutting alot of photos.This software is great.Having some trouble with black and white photos.I put them in gimp mess around with contrast,using newspaper filter.Cant seem to cut a good photo.what is the best way to attack this.Should the photo be darker or lighter?could use any help.Thanks Basecircle
Hi Basecircle,

It may just be me but I'm having difficulty following what you are trying to do.
You mention having PVC.
Do you mean you have PhotoVCarve to create the GCode or do you have PolyVinyl Chloride to cut the photo into?
You don't mention what type of cutting you are trying to do.
Is it Lithophane, VCarve or a Pseudo 3D engraving?

What is it you are trying to do in Gimp? I imagine a newspaper filter would really screw up any photo you were trying to cut but am not sure. Most people use the likes of Gimp to remove unwanted background and leave PhotoVCarve to do the rest.

If you can give some more details it will help.

Cheers
Peter
The ingenuity of idiots is unlimited.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cncnutz

basecircle
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by basecircle »

Sorry peter.I have just bought photo v carve.I will be cutting this image in birch plywood.When i ran the image.It came out with the outline only.without much detail.I am sending the photo so you can look at it. thanks Basecircle
Attachments
test - Copy.jpg

basecircle
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by basecircle »

Hi peter here is the image I cut.Filled it in with shoe polish.Iam not worried about the knot in the leg its just a test.Thank you Basecircle
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142.JPG

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P.Passuello
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by P.Passuello »

Hi Baseline,

The best advise I can give is to look at this thread

http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8991

It gives excellent guidelines to cutting VCarves in wood. I strugged with it for ages getting ok but only rarely excellent results. reading the thread above sorted it out right away.
It looks like you are using MDF. Your stepover also looks too close or you had your zero setting on the Z below the material surface.
Are you able to post the PhotoVCarve file so we can see your settings?

Cheers
Peter
The ingenuity of idiots is unlimited.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cncnutz

basecircle
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by basecircle »

Hi peter thanks for the thread.I used birch plywood (cutting 0ff the venner) here is my cutting info.
v bit 60 deg. .250 dia.
carving depth .030
line space 112
30 deg. line angle
contrast 0
I did notice when i increased contrast the pic faded out. thanks hope this helps. Basecircle

K6JEB
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by K6JEB »

Correct me if I'm mistaken but think the line spacing is to wide to capture the detail you're aiming-for.

I had the same experience when I tried Photo V-Carve with out of the 'box' settings. Once I adjusted the line spacing I had terrific results. Basically, think of it the same way as printer resolution, you're running the bit in a much more detailed way when you decrease your spacing.

In your carve you can see the basics are there, but the detail isn't. I also wonder if you didn't just send the roughing toolpath to your machine (you have to tell Photo V-Carve if you want to do it in one fell swoop).

Good luck!

Jack, K6JEB

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P.Passuello
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by P.Passuello »

basecircle wrote:Hi peter thanks for the thread.I used birch plywood (cutting 0ff the venner) here is my cutting info.
v bit 60 deg. .250 dia.
carving depth .030
line space 112
30 deg. line angle
contrast 0
I did notice when i increased contrast the pic faded out. thanks hope this helps. Basecircle

Your cutter is good and the carving depth looks good. I use 60 deg and 0.8mm
Line spacing I would go for 120% to 130% until you are confident with what you are making. A smaller like space gives more detail but no room for error. (you cannot go below 100% and if you got below 110% I would be surprised.
Your table and stock need to be flat and your cutter needs to come to a sharp point.
Change your cutting angle to 20% and rotate your wood 90 degrees so you are cutting in the general direction of the grain not across it.
Seal the wood first with several coats.
Sneak up on your cut.
You have to have the cutter exactly the right depth or you will not get the result you are after. I cannot stress this enough as slightly too high you will get a faint image and too deep you will get what you have in the photo.
Start a little higher rather than lower and let it cut. Get into a position where you get the light coming across the cut and you can see the image. If it is too high drop your cutter 0.01" or so and try again until you get the required result.
Then take it off the table and stain.

Hope it helps

Cheers
Peter
The ingenuity of idiots is unlimited.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cncnutz

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RoutnAbout
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by RoutnAbout »

Hey Basecircle,
Could you post the original photo prior to photoediting.
I'll see if I can dig up my PhotoVcarve.
I tried to changed the background color and gave the subject some contrast.
You can use PhotoVcarve to remove all of the background by selecting the background color.
Attachments
MarinePVC.jpg
Roll of Honor <-- Never Forget
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Don

basecircle
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Re: what is the best way to cut a black and white photo

Post by basecircle »

Thank you to all Jack,Peter,Don I will try this and run it and post it.You all have been so helpful. Thanks Basecircle

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