tracing a camera shadow projected on the drawing board

[stan kern]

using a high accuracy drawing board I projected a camera shadow and will show how to trace it out for a perfect fit and cutting this dxf file with a co2 laser

https://stankern.vids.io/videos/069ed8b61510e2c38f/tracing-a-camera-shadow-projected-on-the-drawing-board

[Keith Outten]

Nice job Stan.

[stan kern]

thanks Keith, I am still looking for a different light source something that i can vary the focal length
Right now with this setup I can only trace items 18x18 in and the camera is overhead under 8 foot
but a camera that can focus is the trick , you end up with a sharp shadow edge and place a 1/4 spacer under the object

stan

[Glen Monaghan]

Based on context, I think when you said "the camera is overhead" and "a camera that can focus", you meant "light" instead of "camera". However, why not use an overhead camera to capture an image of the object (along with an XY reference scale) and then trace the outline of the object from the image?

[stan kern]

I did not mean camera but projector(using an old kodak projector , very strong light)
And yes an over head camera would work , in fact I have a video coming up showing this
but a few small companies were using this shadow technique for packing instruments and i thought
i would have a go at it, and i am quite pleased with the results, especially something quite shapely
or lots of edges and its quick
The video coming is I took a photo of an RV graphic and traced it out and cut a new vinyl graphic
worked perfect but the camera has to be perfectly level 90 degrees (no distortion)
stan