First Coral draw project, Cribbage Board

[James Jaragosky]

OK, this is my first Coral draw project. I did it mostly from scratch to teach myself how to use Coral. I am to embarrass to say how long it took me to create and edit all the nodes that I did do. Please feel free to make suggestions on how to improve my node number and placement, or anything else you think will help me to get a better handle on Corel.
I have used Corel quite a bit for photo editing and currently feel comfortable enough with the process to move on to coral draw, and try my hand at creating my own stuff.
Thanks Jim J.

[Steve Clarkson]

James,

Great job! Thats a nice fish in the middle too....did you draw that or import it?

But come on.......fess up......how many hours did it take??????

[Angus Hines]

I didnt import it into Corel but it looks awesome in Rhino. So now how are you going to toolpath it?

.

[Steve Eide]

Excellent work! I've tried a couple of different types, but never quite finished them. After seeing yours, I may not dust them off and instead leave them filed.

[Phil Garcia]

Well done James, looks like it would give you lots of hours of good playing time.
I had a question about the S on the right side of the board, what is it or what does it represent??

[George Brown]

Looks very good James. Just a suggestion...

You probably spent HOURS aligning all the components. An easy way to do it is to move (duplicate) the components around an arc with the center of the component at the center of the overall design. You move it 360 degrees divided by the number of components.

To make it even easier, you record a macro while you are moving the first one. Then assign the macro to a keystroke. All you then have to do is hit the key as many times as it takes to duplicate the item around the design. (There's one additional step that I can describe later if you need it in the future.)

[James Jaragosky]

Steve C: all the art started as silhouettes that I traced. the time spent was around 15 hours, I could do it much faster now, with all that learned I think I could do it in less than two.

Angus. I have it saved as a dxf so I can run it on my laser or I can run it through Aspire and cut it on the cnc router.

Steve E. Do not give up, My work is amateurish compared to many projects I see here. I do not let this discourage me, but use it to inspire me to push to try harder to do better.


Phil G: I am not a cribbage player yet, I am told the "S" is to show the SKUNK point. that is to say if one player finishes the game and the other player has not made it to the past the 90 point mark the the losing player is skunked.

[James Jaragosky]

Looks very good James. Just a suggestion...

You probably spent HOURS aligning all the components. An easy way to do it is to move (duplicate) the components around an arc with the center of the component at the center of the overall design. You move it 360 degrees divided by the number of components.

To make it even easier, you record a macro while you are moving the first one. Then assign the macro to a keystroke. All you then have to do is hit the key as many times as it takes to duplicate the item around the design. (There's one additional step that I can describe later if you need it in the future.)

George B; Thanks for the good Corel tips. I actually found Asipre has a very easy and fast way to duplicate circles or objects in a circular array.
Some Aspire functions are much more intuitive than Corel, so I have taken to using both on recent projects. I feel like I get better trace results with Aspire but Coral has Aspire beat when it comes to editing nodes.
Jim J.

[Dee Gallo]

James-

Nice job and very ambitious for your first try at tracing! It makes a very unique cribbage board.

2 comments- first, is the "S" on the side upside down?

Second - from the many times I've done line drawings, I've found that :
1) just clicking on the corners of the object makes for the least number of nodes. Don't worry that your image looks bad at first.
2) select all nodes either by surrounding them with your cursor or selecting the shape tool and control-A.
3) select the "convert to curves" thing on the top toolbar... it looks like a curve with 2 arrows at the ends. Now you can move your line into whatever shape you like, from the middle or the ends. If you need another node in the middle, just double click and it will appear. To get rid of a node, just double click on it.

Usually I make the hairline red to differentiate from whatever I'm tracing and then alter the line color and thickness when I'm done.

Once you get used to this technique, it is very fast, easy and accurate. I do it while I'm watching TV, it takes that little grey matter.

Personally, I prefer manual tracing to auto tracing since you get a perfect job right away. I find I have to do a lot of work on autotrace jobs which makes me feel like it's a waste of time and sometimes harder to fix than to just do it straight away. Tracing with the click-drag technique works well half the time, but you still have to go back and fix things and sometimes you get a node that just won't act right no matter what you do.

Your drawing has a ton of extra nodes and I have found that sometimes they cause problems when engraving such as stray lines, pausing of the laser, extended lines, wiggly lines and longer burn time.

Keep up the practice, you'll find it's equally easy to trace over photos, scans or other artwork, which will extend your image sources.

cheers, dee

[Steve Clarkson]

you'll find it's equally easy to trace over photos, scans or other artwork,

Oh yea? Well I just put you on the agenda to teach tracing at the first annual NYS Laser Engravers Conference!!!!!!!

[James Jaragosky]

Dee you make it sound so easy. I will give your method a shot tommorow on the golf themed cribbage board.
Jim J.

[Dee Gallo]

Oh yea? Well I just put you on the agenda to teach tracing at the first annual NYS Laser Engravers Conference!!!!!!!


THAT, Steve, I would be happy to teach at the conference. At least I'm sure I know what I'm doing there!

cheers, dee

[Steve Clarkson]

the golf themed cribbage board.
Jim J.

You better post THAT one!

[Steve Clarkson]

THAT, Steve, I would be happy to teach at the conference. At least I'm sure I know what I'm doing there!

cheers, dee

So I've got Frank to do my photos and Dee to do my tracing.....now who can I get to do my actual engraving.........any volunteers?

[Scott Erwin]

James-

Once you get used to this technique, it is very fast, easy and accurate. I do it while I'm watching TV, it takes that little grey matter.


Dee,

If you get to CA, I will get a BIG screen TV, and tune it to any channel you want, and feed you your favorite breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, of course with any drink(s). Additionally I will provide you with the most comfortable resting location complete with rose pedals, if you show me your technique that you have down to that fine of an art, that you can do it using "that little grey matter".

I have tried and tried and just get more and more frustrated....

[Dee Gallo]

Very tempting, since we are getting snow right now and CA sounds nice and warm!

:) dee

[James Jaragosky]

Here is my revised file cut by on my cnc into a piece of .5 Corian.
The laser is currently making money and is not available for non revenue producing projects. When it is free I will do this file on the laser to compare.

[Steve Clarkson]

Jim, you must be proud of that one!

White corian with red paint or vice versa?

[James Jaragosky]

Jim, you must be proud of that one!

White Corian with red paint or vice versa?

Steve; white Corian filled with metal fleck Cheery Red car paint.
I am pleased that it came out well. but it could still be tweeked for the cnc tool pathing.
I have the golf layout about 80% complete but I am not sure I like it. I will post it and let you judge.

I am not sure why, but the auto paint adheres to the Corian much better than standard lacquer paint.
Jim J.

[Kal Robinson]

I am with you guys...Dee makes it sound so simple! I am going to try her technique tomorrow also. I might even raise the ante on convincing her to visit. I am still trying to figure out how I could be competitive with all the nice offerings....hmmm, how about some Wyoming snow Dee...some of mother nature's finest ya know! Maybe I will attend her upcoming lecture.
Glad to see you all making use of that corian, fun stuff to work with!!
Nice cribbage board...send it on out here, I will make sure it gets some use.

[Kal Robinson]

OK Obie Wan...
Car paint huh? Did you mask off, cnc, and spray with a cup gun? Sand of overspray?
I am telling you, it looks awesome!

[Dee Gallo]

Kal, you're a riot - I live in the northern most part of NY, by Canada.... we've got plenty of snow, thanks.

But you are certainly welcome to come to the NY Laser Engraver's Festival... er ... Conference if it ever happens.

cheers, dee

[James Rambo]

James, Where did you get the paint? I am working on a red '64 Chevy Chevelle SS and am trying to get just the right red to make ther car screem 'LOOK AT ME', and that might be the one. Is it a stock Ford, GM, Chrysler,... color? I have a local paint dealer that can look it up for me if it is. Thanks

[James Jaragosky]

James, Where did you get the paint? I am working on a red '64 Chevy Chevelle SS and am trying to get just the right red to make ther car screem 'LOOK AT ME', and that might be the one. Is it a stock Ford, GM, Chrysler,... color? I have a local paint dealer that can look it up for me if it is. Thanks

It was actually some very old touch up paint; left over from a old car project.
I was amazed that it was still good. The color was RUBY RED METALLIC FLAKE
It was a custom mix for a 67 Chevy pick up.
I shot the whole thing; let it dry and sanded off the over spray.
I did another board with a black lacquer that sanded off easy compared to the auto enamel.

Nice old Chevy; I can remember the 70's, when people were selling those to buy pintos.
Jim J.