First Photo V Carve

[mggraphix]

I don't remember the specifics but I will post them when I get to the shop.
Thanks,
Gene

[Joe Duplessis]

Picture looks great. I have tried to Photo V Carve a picture of my deceased dog twice but have not had any luck so far. Picture comes out with no detail of the image. Do you have any information that you would like to share?

[mggraphix]

Hey Joe,
I can tell you how I get my results, however I think most users are striving for a more photorealistic look. I like to have more "pop" in the image so I remove much of the middle grays to get more contrast between the image and background. First comes the photo. It has to be a good image with good quality. I look for an image with high contrasting elements in it. I also do a lot of screen printing and the rule applies to both when converting photos, " if you start with garbage you will end up with garbage" So good quality photo comes first. Second, your substrate need to be flat, perfectly flat. I only engrave about .035 max depth so any deviation will lose detail. I surface my substrate on the cnc, move the gantry, give it a quick sanding and start the engraving process. Third, size makes a difference. The larger the project the easier the detail will show up. Think of signing your entire name on a stamp with a fat marker then signing your name on the envelope with the same marker. Obviously the one on the envelope will be more legible and the one on the stamp will be a blob of ink. I use the bi-directional method when engraving and my project is about 13" tall and 11" wide.
The photo, I bring it into photoshop and convert it to grayscale (black and white) then I start working on the contrast. For instance, in the project with my 2 children I darkened some areas and lightened others. I darkened slightly around the left side of my son to give him contrast with the background or couch he was sitting on. I also darkened between the fingers. If you don't see the contrast in the generated image of photovcarve then you probably will not see it in your project. I have not used the contrast adjustment in the software itself but it may do the same thing that I do manually.
I hope this helps and I didn't steer you in the wrong direction. Again, this works for the type of results that I am looking for.
Here is one I donated to the SPCA. This was a cat they had that was special to them. I would not have chosen this photo due to all the grays but it worked out ok.

Good Luck,
Gene

[mggraphix]

Hey Joe, one more thing, I'm sorry about your dog. I too love my dogs, I'm sure he was lucky to have you...
Gene

[llwood]

That cat is impressive! I'm sure the people at the SPCA were very pleased.

I'm considering buying PhotoVCarve. I've been trying to understand how it works before buying, but am just not getting it. Could someone help me understand how a carving is finished to come out like that cat? Since it's darker than the engraved text, the cat was probably carved first, then stained with a stain that's darker than the color of the wood, and then the whole thing was sanded to remove the darker color on the flat surface. Please tell me if this is not the case!

But here's what I don't get. PhotoVCarve generates a toolpath that is of varying thicknesses that corresponds to the level of gray in the original picture. But how do you get levels of gray in the carving? If you stained the whole carving, wouldn't the same color get applied to the entire carving regardless of the depth?

I'm rather new to this, and I realize I may be asking a stupid question, but I'd appreciate if any of you experts could help me understand it.

Thanks,
--Andy

[FixitMike]

When you apply stain to a V bit cut picture, more stain stays in the lines than on the surface. This makes the lines darker than the surface. Therefore, the wider the V cut line, the darker it will look in a scanned picture. I suspect that if you used a white stain on a dark wood, the effect would be reversed.

[bill565]

Here is another way to look at it. The deeper and wider it is, creates the visual effect with the vcarving.

The attachments do an interesting job in showing what it might look like without substrate. I was thinking about something like this if you could cut on the exterior of the created lines rather than v carving,

Anyway, hope this visual helps.

There are other ways to produce different results, Lithos and multi height relief also are possible. The key will be the quality of the photo, and the process used to create the final product.

Good luck, I like the program and have been able to achieve some decent items for profit. It is also fun to play.

Bill

[llwood]

Thanks Mike and Bill, I appreciate the explanation and especially the pictures. We'll give it a try. Thanks, --Andy