Been playing with this...

[Bob Savage]

So, this would likely not engrave worth beans, but I've been tinkering today with a clock face and thought I'd post it here to get input on all the things that are wrong with it (no Mustang jokes... I think they stink too ;) ).

I'm pretty sure some of the jagged edges of the shadow need to be fixed, but the 3 minutes I spent trying to figure it out proved futile. I also believe that while I tried to eliminate much of the shading variants and joined (glue?) a lot of objects together, that it needs to be less colors and probably not in color.

In any event, I'd really appreciate having this thing picked apart as if I were going to engrave it on either wood or acrylic.

Thanks ahead of time...

[Stanley Waldrup]

[QUOTE=Bob Savage1;1210292]So, this would likely not engrave worth beans, but I've been tinkering today with a clock face and thought I'd post it here to get input on all the things that are wrong with it (no Mustang jokes... I think they stink too ;) ).

Can you post in v12

[Bob Savage]

[QUOTE=Bob Savage1;1210292]So, this would likely not engrave worth beans, but I've been tinkering today with a clock face and thought I'd post it here to get input on all the things that are wrong with it (no Mustang jokes... I think they stink too ;) ).

Can you post in v12

Whoops, didn't even think about that. Here you go...

[Steve Clarkson]

So, this would likely not engrave worth beans, but I've been tinkering today with a clock face and thought I'd post it here to get input on all the things that are wrong with it (no Mustang jokes... I think they stink too ;) ).

I'm pretty sure some of the jagged edges of the shadow need to be fixed, but the 3 minutes I spent trying to figure it out proved futile. I also believe that while I tried to eliminate much of the shading variants and joined (glue?) a lot of objects together, that it needs to be less colors and probably not in color.

In any event, I'd really appreciate having this thing picked apart as if I were going to engrave it on either wood or acrylic.

Thanks ahead of time...

The first thing I checked was whether you 12 and 6 were perfectly aligned......and they didn't seem to be.....it's a small thing, but can be noticeable.

Secondly, you obviously know that the laser can't engrave color....so there's really no reason to have it onscreen in color. Which brings up my third thing.....did you take a bitmap and use Corel Trace to make it a vector image? For this type of an engraving, whether it's wood or acrylic, the bitmap will probably engrave better than a vector that could take hours to get perfect. It needs to be in greyscale though.

Also, your center circle should not have fill.....only an outline.....and a hairline at that for most lasers.....since it's a cutout.

Not bad for your first one.

[Bob Savage]

The first thing I checked was whether you 12 and 6 were perfectly aligned......and they didn't seem to be.....it's a small thing, but can be noticeable.

Secondly, you obviously know that the laser can't engrave color....so there's really no reason to have it onscreen in color. Which brings up my third thing.....did you take a bitmap and use Corel Trace to make it a vector image? For this type of an engraving, whether it's wood or acrylic, the bitmap will probably engrave better than a vector that could take hours to get perfect. It needs to be in greyscale though.

Also, your center circle should not have fill.....only an outline.....and a hairline at that for most lasers.....since it's a cutout.

Not bad for your first one.

Hi Steve!

Hmmm... that's very strange that the 12 and 6 don't seem aligned, although without the guides showing, I think I see what you mean, because the 6 looks slightly tilted and now that you mentioned it, makes it look misaligned.

I did do a trace on the image.

I think I just figured out how to make the car grayscale. You have to do it in Photopaint? I poked around earlier and didn't find the option directly in Coreldraw.

And yep, the center cutout I set for the hairline to cut, but left the black i the middle for my own visual... would the fill in there cause an engraving issue? I'm guessing the laser would engrave it, only to cut it out on the vector routine?

I also streched out the text because it looked too jumbled as-is.

Thanks again for the input, I greatly appreciate it!

[Dee Gallo]

You also have some other hairlines on the colored parts of the car which will try to cut unless you set your driver to raster only. Then, those lines will not show at all, even if you want them to.

But keep playing with the program, it's the only way to learn!

My personal opinion on the layout is that a muscle car should be in the company of a more pumped up typeface - those numerals (is it Oz?) are a bit wimpy. I don't mind the script for the title too much, it works because of the curve shape... but it is kind of girly. And Mustangs don't need any help there...oops, sorry no car bashing, you said.

I also feel uncomfortable when a clock does not have a tick on the number's spot, especially if the numbers are not exactly spot on, which yours are not.

Try a few alternate choices and compare them side by side.

:) dee

[Bob Savage]

Thank you, Dee! Time to search for the hairlines in the graphic and get a manly font! The font is called Heavy Heap (how ironic). It looks very Hot Wheel'ish in the right context, which this obviously is not!

I agree with you on the ticks too. After looking around the house, I have no clocks without them by the numbers. Doh!

[Bob Savage]

Ahhh.... setting all the lines to .5 to remove any hairline in the graphic changes the appearance!

Young grasshopper have much to learn.

[Randy Walker]

Hi Bob
I'm a newbe too so I took a shot at it just to practice. The first thing I did is to dump the color and check the nodes. There's a million of them. Loose a bunch of them and use the arrows to adjust the lines so they look better. I also change the color of the lines and background. You will be amaized at what shows up on some pictures when you change colors. As to the numbers the "align and distribute" tool has helped me out a lot in aranging things. Ive only been working with Corel for about 6 months so I could also be way off base. Pay more attention to what others say than my rambelings.

Good luck
Randy Walkerhttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Bob Savage]

Hi Bob
I'm a newbe too so I took a shot at it just to practice. The first thing I did is to dump the color and check the nodes. There's a million of them. Loose a bunch of them and use the arrows to adjust the lines so they look better. I also change the color of the lines and background. You will be amaized at what shows up on some pictures when you change colors. As to the numbers the "align and distribute" tool has helped me out a lot in aranging things. Ive only been working with Corel for about 6 months so I could also be way off base. Pay more attention to what others say than my rambelings.

Good luck
Randy Walkerhttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon10.gif

Hi Randy,

Actually, that's excellent input. Compared to me, you're an experienced pro. :)

It's time to crack open the manual and figure out how to decrease the nodes (I tried this, but was doing something wrong because it wasn't working) and color conversion to grayscale.

Thanks for taking the time to help out.

[Randy Walker]

Sorry about not giving any instructions last night I had a long day and my brain was turning to fuzz.
First select entire clock and un-group all.
Next select the car and right click the X at the top of the color bar (right side of screen in x4) to get rid of the color. Now select the shape tool on the left side or use f10 and click on an area of the car. It will light up like a Christmas tree with nodes. Zoom in tight and start double clicking nodes to make them go away. Leave a few so you can adjust the shape of the line by single clicking on a node to get arrows. Put the curser on an arrow, right click and hold now you can move the arrow to adjust the line. Now its play time, and you will have plenty to play with in this pic.

Have fun
Randy Walker

P.S. I would get rid of the clock and re-make it. Thats not too difficult.http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon12.gif

[James Stokes]

Another way to reduce nodes is click on the shape tool then click the line you want to reduce the nodes on. Look up to the top of the screen and it will have a reduce nodes slider

[Peter Meacham]

Bob

There are a number of tutorials on youtube on how to design a clock face. Just do a search with Corel Draw + Clock. There is a very comprehensive tutorial by Alexis Galvez.

Pete

[Brian Robison]

I like Mustangs! :p

[Bob Savage]

Another way to reduce nodes is click on the shape tool then click the line you want to reduce the nodes on. Look up to the top of the screen and it will have a reduce nodes slider

Thanks James. I've actually tried that, but the slider shows a 0 in small dialogue above it, and when I use the slider it appears to have no affect. I'm probably doing something wrong, but not sure what, yet.


Bob

There are a number of tutorials on youtube on how to design a clock face. Just do a search with Corel Draw + Clock. There is a very comprehensive tutorial by Alexis Galvez.

Pete

Thanks for the tip!


I like Mustangs! :p

Yeah, they're not bad. I'd certainly take a Shelby! ;)

[Garrett Nors]

If you need it grayscaled I can do that too..but I think it should turn out fine if it's in color :cool:

[Bob Savage]

If you need it grayscaled I can do that too..but I think it should turn out fine if it's in color :cool:

Hi Garrett!

That's good to know that it should engrave O.K. in color. I don't have a laser yet, so I can't experiment. If you don't mind me asking, how do you convert to grayscale, but retain the relative shading within the colors (if that's even possible)?

This is really just Corel practice for me. I've got a ways to go before I'd be ready to cut anything. Plus, that whole not having a laser yet thing. :)

[Garrett Nors]

Hi Garrett!

That's good to know that it should engrave O.K. in color. I don't have a laser yet, so I can't experiment. If you don't mind me asking, how do you convert to grayscale, but retain the relative shading within the colors (if that's even possible)?

This is really just Corel practice for me. I've got a ways to go before I'd be ready to cut anything. Plus, that whole not having a laser yet thing. :)

I took the originating photo (found here (http://www.wallpaperdojo.com/cars/mustang_roush_yellow_black_supercharged/Exotic-Car-Wallpapers.html)) and pulled it into photoshop, messed with desaturation, curves, brightness and contrast, and that's about how I did it.

I've attached one that may look a bit better once engraved, since there's more white space throughout the photo.

Then I took it into VectorMagic (my all time favorite program in the whole wide world) and voila!

[Bill Cunningham]

Thanks James. I've actually tried that, but the slider shows a 0 in small dialogue above it, and when I use the slider it appears to have no affect. I'm probably doing something wrong, but not sure what, yet.

Once you have clicked on the line with the node tool, select all the nodes (hold down the left mouse button, and drag the tool over the entire area) then move the slider from left to right and you will see the numbers in the window increase, as their increasing, watch the selected area change.. Depending on the shape, the numbers may have to go quite high before you see the image start to change. You want as few nodes as possible without changing the original shape..