First experiments with PhotoVCarve

[sbjensen]

Yesterday I took my first foray into using Photo VCarve. This is our new (to us) Vectric software for the Multicam CNC. It’s designed to take photos or other relatively high-definition images, and carve them into various materials, including wood. Basically, the software uses what I would call a “rastering” approach to carving images. It divides the image into parallel lines, which it carves at a diagonal angle across the piece.

The bottom-line: I think the software is capable of producing some impressive results, but it’s not going to be easy to get them. The process of getting top-quality results will involve several steps, including both finishing and sanding.

I’ve attached photos of the finished versions of three carvings I attempted. Of these three, only the Abbey Road carving had a recognizable image at all before I stained it. The photo of my son, his girlfriend, and our dog looked like a blank piece of wood (actually, it was melamine-coated particleboard), because the carving was so shallow. The third piece (does anyone recognize this image?) was completely unrecognizable.

[Ian_Jaeger]

This is awesome… I had been trying to get the photo part of the regular V-carve to work, and never had great results.

Was tying to get this to work but when I launch it, it’s asking me for name and license. Is this something that should come up automatically when I log into the Jump server or do I have to request it specifically?

[sbjensen]

I believer @Tapper is working on sorting out permissions for multiple users. Apparently the software was not designed to accommodate that.

Meanwhile, I’m going to develop a class that works on using both V-Carve Pro and Photo VCarve software to carve images into wood. The two software packages take very different approaches to the problem. Both approaches have issues. Which one you should choose depends on what type of look you’re going for with your project.

I hope to submit the class in about 30 days. So, realistically, maybe early April.

[LisaSelk]

There’s a YouTube channel that I was watching one day not too long ago where the guy was posting videos of his attempts to use the software. It took him a few tries, but he finally got it figured out. I think your pieces came out pretty good - especially for your first attempts! I imagine the quality will improve as your knowledge and experience comes along.

Don’t forget to post some of your favorites in this month’s Show and Tell thread - so they can be included on our Blog for all to see what type of awesome stuff we do at the Space!

Dallas Makerspace Show and Tell - February 2017

Post a picture and description of anything you are working on this month at the 'Space here! It can be anything from a small craft project to a large CNC router project to building a table to 3D printing to a science experiment and so much more. There are lots of people doing cool things at DMS all the time, but most of us don’t get to see it. Post it here and share the interesting things you are doing at Dallas Makerspace this month! Posting here helps not only promote Dallas Makerspace, but …

Edit to add a link to the very first of the videos I watched on that YouTube channel that I mentioned above. The guy accidentally noticed that the attempt in this video was better than he realized lol. He's got a pretty good sense of humor for being so frustrated. ;)

I watched the other related videos on his channel after finding this one. He does end up changing his bit and settings for a completely different look. I like that he shows the bad with the good, and takes time to mention the settings he’s using.
(there are probably better “tutorials” out there, but this is one that stands out to me because we get to witness the learning process… keeping it real!)