Photo On Wood Help

[Anthony Scira]

First off HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all ! !

I have only had my machine for a couple weeks now and I am getting almost comfortable with it.

I have a little time to play with some new materials including wood. Its a lot of fun but the problems I am having is all with pictures. I can't get any that I am really happy with.

The 3 photos I uploaded are all of the same image. Two with the background removed. And of those one is with the picture inverted (whic seems to be the best) and one normal.

The one with the whole picture including the background just not good at all.

Speed Power
60 100 With Background
30 100 Inverted
60 100 Normal

The other question is it looks like the easiest solution to my problem is Photograv. If someone would be willing to process my photo for me it might make my buying decision a little easier.

Oh yeah and obviously the fourth picture is the original :)

[Steven Smith]

Anthony,
Check out this post:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=597772#poststop
Frank's example pertains to marble as it's reversed IIRC but in positive it should work on lightly colored wood.
I strive to make my images look similar to 'Millie' prior to processing. It's been pointed out that what looks bad on the screen may look excellent when engraved. I don't use Photograv because I can get very acceptable results without it. But I believe if you are doing many of these a week (or day) the software would be an excellent purchase.

[Ed Maloney]

I have a bunch of similar looking samples in my shop. Last year (damn, already 2008?) I offered picture Christmas ornaments for sale. I attempted to have a single setting so I could go into PhotoPaint, then into Draw, Power Clip the image into a template, and laser it.

Didn't work out. The quality of the digital photos I got to work with were of varying quality. Some were too dark, some were too light, and most needed crap (wheelbarrows, trees in the middle, and shadows) removed. Took a lot of time and I wasn't happy with the results. I took the sample images off my website so people would stop inquiring about them.


Maybe Photograv is the way to go, but the prep time with the pictures (with my technique) was way too long.

[Frank Corker]

Hi Anthony

The problem you are having is that you are engraving a negative. Change that and it will be an improvement. See your pictures here below to understand what I mean. I have made yours a negative. I think on wood your background colour should be white and your image should be positive and not a negative.

[Bill Cunningham]

It's only a 96 dpi photo, I resampled to 300 just to process it, but a phot with a natural res that low will never engrave clean... here it is in photograv Don't change the size, if you do it wont engrave properly..
A photgrav picture looks bad on screen, but engraves nicely Your screen is not compatable with binary photo files...

[Larry Bratton]

This one was done in Photograv 3.0. I took it into Photoshop and removed the background, res it up to 300dpi, changed to greyscale etc. Would be fine with a larger photo to start. I think Photograv is well worth the money. I might could do these without it, but the time is the thing. See what you think. (I could have taken more time and cleaned up more)

[Jim Watkins]

Anthony,
I was in the same boat you are in right now. I tried and tried to do a photograph of my kids and it never came out right. I tried to do the inverted thing too but to no avail.

I broke down and tried Photograv and I would never go back. I see your using baltic birch ply. I use it all the time and Photograv is the way to go.

I have one on the front of my web page which shows how good it can look when processed right.

If you click on my name in this post, you can go to my site and see how it turned out. It is of my son and my mother grabbed it and took it to frame.

Good luck

[Anthony Scira]

Wow if that simulation looks anything like it will on real wood I am ordering PhotograV tomorrow !

Now the question I have is why are my photos at 72dpi. They are original files taken with a 7 mega pixel point and shoot at the highest resolution.

Where do I cahnge those settings ? And wont most people have files of the similar type ?

Bill - what settings should I use for maple and a Helix 45 watt laser ?

So much to learn !

Thanks for all your input guys. This place is AWESOME !

[Larry Bratton]

Wow if that simulation looks anything like it will on real wood I am ordering PhotograV tomorrow !

Now the question I have is why are my photos at 72dpi. They are original files taken with a 7 mega pixel point and shoot at the highest resolution.

Where do I cahnge those settings ? And wont most people have files of the similar type ?

Bill - what settings should I use for maple and a Helix 45 watt laser ?

So much to learn !

Thanks for all your input guys. This place is AWESOME !
Anthony:
Nothing is wrong with your camera. They all record at 72dpi and more than likely gives you a jpg. The exception to that is that if you have one that shoots in RAW format. That would be something like a Nikon DSLR (with interchangable lens etc.)If you notice, your file is really big dimension wise at the highest quality setting. So the idea there, is to reduce the dimensions to a usable size for engraving. It needs to be re-sampled to 300dpi at that smaller size using your Corel Photopaint program. Resolution is topic unto itself. Lots of reading on the web about it. Just do a search.
Another thing also, all woods don't engrave well. Oak, for example is not good to work with. Alder is a great wood for engraving. I engrave on alder a good bit and lots of people use Baltic birch. I normally follow the guidelines on the Epilog power settings chart (which doesn't list maple). You'll just have to experiment some and see what pleases you.

[Larry Bratton]

Anthony:
Here is the Photograv file for engraving. It is a TIFF file. Import it into Corel and laser it. I used alder as a setting in Photograv but that shouldn't make much of a difference. Give it a try and see what you get.

[Richard Rumancik]

Anthony, I have found some helpful information on digital photos here. The author, Ken Watson, has prepared several papers listed on this page that may be useful.

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/

[Jim Watkins]

Anthony,
I know your using an Epilog Helix 45W. I have the mini 24 @ 45W, so on Baltic birch, I use 100 SP and 80 pwr to engrave and 27 SP and 100 PWR cut at 1000 PPI.

These settings seem to work well. I use that on all my jobs. Since you have the same manufacturer and wattage as me, give it a try. Baltic Birch engraves well but is softer than Alder. I found that this setting provides a good product and is fast so it is more cost effective.

[Anthony Scira]

Thanks for all the help guys. I am looking foward to giving your processed images a go. I already have run some that Frank has sent me with VERY specific instructions.

One was done with Franks recomended settings. And the next was done with PhotograV recomended setting. Those settings were as follows.

Franks SPEED 49 POWER 100
PG SPEED 99 POWER 100

So the first and the last picture is the Photograv settings. They are a little faded but seem to have a little bit more detail.

So the middle 3 are using the slower speeds. I think it is the better version since it has more contrast.

I think I will try and run it with some diffrent wood. The grain I think is just a little to contrasting for such a detailed photograph.

Thanks again everyone who sent me the converted files. This weekend I will line them all up on a board and do them all in one pass and see how they all come out. Looking foward to see the results.

[Bill Cunningham]

My settings are a bit different.. I like contrast, so I run at 600 dpi for a darker burn, and usually 30 sp/100 power on home depot 1/4" birch ply.. This is a wedding one I did a while back,
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=52446&d=1166046860
This is what paddling out of the Tim River in Algonquin Park with a LOADED canoe looks like.. (I don't travel light :rolleyes:)