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Keith Outten
09-28-2003, 11:56 PM
Aaron just finished the graphics work converting the Christopher Newport University diploma to vector objects and true type fonts so we finally got his and my daughters diplomas engraved tonight. These are really nice, I wish I had a better picture to share, the one below just doesn't do the job justice. I missed cleaning Aarons fingerprints off of the left side of the plaque before taking the picture, oh well its very late and its been a very long day.

The plaque is western alder, 10" x 13" and about 7/8" thick. The finish is laquer, power buffed with paste wax using my ROS and a white Scotch Brite abrasive pad.

Jim Becker
09-29-2003, 9:13 AM
So...when will the Sawmill Creek University version be available?? :D

Seriously, that's really a great work of art! Is the process to get from the paper document complicated? I only ask due to your reference to font conversion with implicates you need to "reset" the piece prior to "printing" rather than just take a clean scan.

Aaron Koehl
09-29-2003, 10:54 AM
So...when will the Sawmill Creek University version be available?? :D

Seriously, that's really a great work of art! Is the process to get from the paper document complicated? I only ask due to your reference to font conversion with implicates you need to "reset" the piece prior to "printing" rather than just take a clean scan.

SawmillCreek University... hmmm..
Thanks for the compliments. Getting from a paper scan to wood
is not complicated at all--unless you want pristine results. (And seeing
as how this is hanging in my office... :D )

For those interested, here's what was involved:

The graphics work for this piece was very involved and time consuming. The CNU type at the top had a diagonal line border around it which had to be edited out- that stayed as a high-res raster image which was then vectorized and smoothed out. Wood, not being an engineering material, doesn't quite take subtle variations in shadow-- the wood is engraved, and thus fact that the text will appear embossed (3D) must be taken into consideration. (The laser produces such good results that Keith and I have to remind ourselves that we are still in fact using wood!)

The gothic fonts had to be matched with existing truetypes for the text-
most text can be scanned high res and left alone, but again, my eye is
discerning, and anything 'raster' is bound to have some degree of noise. Of course, the high-res raster scans can be edited by hand, but it is usually much quicker to do a little font matching. I wrote a small CorelScript to replace certain characters in the document with those that matched the original-- mixing and matching different characters from different fonts.

The CNU crest at the bottom (the ship's wheel) was actually a sparkly gold embossed seal, which had to be recreated in Photoshop after scanning. As we all know, reflective materials don't scan quite well (by the very nature of using light to scan).

The signatures also had to be 'thickened' for the wood, less they appear pixelated after burning. This was also done in Photoshop.

Graphics work like this is really enjoyable, much like woodworking. Like any project, the thrill is coming up with your own methods, learning new skills and tools for different tasks, and ultimately coming up with a great looking solution.

_Aaron_

Keith Outten
09-29-2003, 7:38 PM
Yeah...What Aaron Said!

When Aaron's not around I usually just scan the diploma and engrave it, and the results are almost always fantastic. Some diplomas or birth certificates will have a problem area that needs some touch-up work but for the most part I engrave them right off of the scanner.

Aaron is a perfectionist! There is an up side to engraving a diploma that Aaron has previously rebuilt graphically. I can pull up his drawing and make a few simple edits and use the pristine document over and over.

SawMill Creek University :) There's a thought.

How about a SawMill Creek "Woodworker of the Year " award, our members could vote in December and we could award the plaque in January.

Aaron Koehl
09-30-2003, 9:09 AM
How about a SawMill Creek "Woodworker of the Year " award, our members could vote in December and we could award the plaque in January.

Keith,

That's a great idea!
Instead of just a plaque, we should have an innovative, new
design--something these woodworkers would be proud to
display in their homes.

I've got a few ideas of my own--I am open for design considerations.

As a matter of fact, perhaps we could integrate a few elements from
multiple members' shops--a little bit of engraving, a little bit of turning,
or something along those lines.

Guys, let me know what you think-- I'm open for design considerations.

_Aaron_

Jason Roehl
09-30-2003, 10:01 AM
So...when will the Sawmill Creek University version be available?? :D



Good idea, Jim!!!

Don Farr
09-30-2003, 12:08 PM
I like it. :D How about a couple of different categories so us newbies might have a chance. Or do you think that might get out of hand.

Phil Phelps
09-30-2003, 2:18 PM
[QUOTE=Jim Becker]So...when will the Sawmill Creek University version be available?? :D
You mean this ain't skool :p
You do need to make a sheepskin of some sort, Keith.

mike klein
10-14-2005, 1:38 PM
I made my first attempt at engraving a diploma in alder and it turned out perfect, except there is a gold star seal with much detailed wording/graphics on it, in the original document and I am having problems getting this to engrave properly. It was scanned in at several levels (300-4800 dpi) with little or no change in the final output. Just curious if anyone else has had any luck doing these...Thx...Mike

Joe Pelonio
10-14-2005, 2:23 PM
Mike,

I scan not only for laser work but also for vinyl plotter signs. There are color combinations that do not scan well, the worst is shiny gold. People bring in things like business cards, letterhead and logos printed off their website expecting us to magically reproduce it. Something like your gold seal would have to be re-created in a graphics program, we'd charge $60/hour for it. Larger things are sometimes easier to do by hand tracing
any shapes, then scan the paper, and reset the lettering. Can't do it on
something that small, though in the old days before scanners we used an
opaque projector to put an image on a wall, then hand trace onto large
paper, and hand cut the vinyl. I suppose you could try that to get it
up to 6-8" and scan that.

mike klein
10-14-2005, 2:39 PM
Joe,
Basically its a very universal seal, a star aprox. 1.5" in dia., bright gold with the words Official Seal of Excellence wrote on it along with a bunch of akward designs. The words and the circles on it are not a problem, those can be duplicated real easy in corel, its all those little detailed lines which takes time to trace out. The rest of the engraved plaque looks so nice I am not going to ruin it with a scanned image of that seal. I already tested it on a scrap piece of alder and it looks terrible. I appreciate the offer but I have already began tracing it out in corel draw which as you probably know, is going to be a time consuming process, but well worth it. Hopefully in the future I may get more of these types of plaques to make and will already have the seal designed..

Joe Pelonio
10-14-2005, 2:47 PM
Mike,

Just to clarify, that wasn't an offer, I'm not looking for business from Creekers & wouldn't charge a Creeker that much, if at all. My point was that if this is a paid job make sure you get paid for all the time it takes. I find that many customers don't realize how much time goes into a project like this, especially with wither bad artwork or something like the gold seal.
I'd do it the same way you are, good luck.

Don Baer
10-14-2005, 3:29 PM
Guys, let me know what you think-- I'm open for design considerations.

_Aaron_

How about a nice lazer engraved platter. They guys doing platters are doing a real nice job. I haven't turned any yet so I can't volunteer this year but maybe next.

mike klein
10-14-2005, 4:40 PM
I found another angle to the gold seal matter...Office supply stores have the same identical thing...Qty. of 100 for around $7.00...

Pete Simmons
10-14-2005, 5:28 PM
Take a look at this thread.

I used gold foil for the seal.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=16836&highlight=diploma

Joe Pelonio
10-14-2005, 5:29 PM
I suppose if you wanted to get fancy you could use the gold laser foil on it, vector the shape of the seal and rastor thru with whatever is on it.