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Thread: An alternative for Photograv?

  1. #1
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    An alternative for Photograv?

    Well here is one straight out of the OMG folder. I recently got a new filter for Adobe Photoshop works just as well in Corel so no fears there. It's called Andromeda Etchtone. You can read about it here (http://www.unleash.com/kurt/andromeda/index.asp).

    Select any photograph, colour or otherwise, bump up the contrast and brightness, select Etchtone, alter the lines per inch to 300, choose extreme sharpening of 800,5 and click go. Result is a picture that is ready to send directly to the laser. Choose your recommended settings for wood/metal etc and that's it. No brainer and simple to use with an excellent result.

    This is a picture of my neice Lucy, taken from a colour photograph doing exactly what I said above, only graphic work was to crop the photo. The whole 'processing' less than a minute from crop to laser. 12 mins to engrave at 300dpi 33 speed 100 power. Good result? I think it speaks for itself. This is on a mirror (our nightmare usually) but results on wood are just as tremendous.

    With the new version of photograv coming out this is something that you should consider if you are on a tight budget. I was impressed.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  2. #2
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    Lovely!
    And thanks, on behalf of all us Photoshop people!
    Marc Myer
    Epilog 35 mini

  3. #3
    Frank, any idea if this works with Elements or only the full version of Photoshop?
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  4. #4
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    Yes Steve it does work with elements and Corel and half a dozen other programs too
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Corker View Post
    Yes Steve it does work with elements and Corel and half a dozen other programs too
    I could find no mention of Corel compatibility on their website.

    Mark
    ULS X-2 660, Corel X3, Haas VF4, Graphtec vinyl cutter, Xenetech rotaries (3), Dahlgren Tables, Gorton P2-3, New Hermes pantographs (2), and recently, 24" x 36" chinese router. Also do sublimation, sand blasting, & metal photo. Engraver since 1975.

  6. #6
    Thanks Frank, it made me Google them and look into it a little more. Here's the list :

    EtchTone Filter v2.0
    Windows:
    Adobe Photoshop 5.5 to CS2
    Adobe Photoshop Elements 1.0 and up
    Corel Photopaint 7 and up
    Jasc PaintShop Pro 5 and up

    http://www.andromeda.com/main/compat...y.php#etchtone


    Actually, the "Screens" filter that have looks more impressive to me. Frank, have you tried that one? Here's the link :

    http://www.andromeda.com/main/screens_big.php
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  7. #7
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    Scott,

    That is the one we use and it works great!! (screens)

  8. #8
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    Frank:
    Hummm..looks like another addition to my growing Photoshop filters. I can see how that could produce some nice stuff.

    Frank-do you print directly to the laser from Photoshop or do you save in greyscale and import into Corel?

    I might add here, that I think Photoshop is one of the best values in graphics software out there. I am currently using CS3 and I love it! I recently got a Canon ipF8000 printer. It came with a plug-in for Photoshop that handles all the stuff that RIP (raster image processor) usually does in wide format printing. My print output from this machine (12 colors of ink) is drop dead gorgeous ..right out of the box.
    Epilog Legend EXT36-40watt, Corel X4, Canon iPF8000 44" printer,Photoshop CS6, Ioline plotter, Hotronix Swinger Heat Press, Ricoh GX e3300 Sublimation

  9. #9
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    Hi Larry, I don't actually like Photoshop that much, I find it to be over-complicated to get effects which I can do easier in other programs. That said, I do have CS3 and it is improving. I don't print anything to the laser from anything except Corel. When I was given the demo from Identify where I bought my laser, that was what they were using with results everytime, why change a good thing. Corel is a relatively easy program once you get used to the minor differences to other art packages so I always stick with it. I do all my image work with Photostyler 2.0 which I bought when I was using Windows 3.1. It's old (so am I) but I had learned it backwards and forwards so I still prefer using it even now. It was a forerunner to programs such as Photoshop and one of the leaders in it's day to most of the graphics packages around today.

    The Andromeda filters are just so damned easy to use, the example I posted is from a colour photo and all I had to do was sharpen and brighten it up. I used it directly in Corel which most of you have found out has 'issues' when it comes to dpi settings on pictures, it didn't cause me any problems on this piece as you can see.

    If you do a lot of lasering you soon get to realise what the average brightness is for engraving, after that a little bit of experimenting and away you go. I always keep scrap pieces of wood, glass mirror and granite for that purpose. When I have my image ready to send to the laser, I cover the whole picture with a box (no borderlines) make it white. If that gets sent to the laser, nothing would happen, because there is no visible image. I make a small cutout on the white piece so I am able to see an important part of the finished image showing through from underneath, such as the nose and eyes. I place my scrap wood/glass/mirror on the laser bed in the same position that the cutout is in Corel and I engrave. Corel will only print the visible cutout to the scrap, if those parts engrave well on the scrap then I 'go for it'.

    Oh well, works for me!
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  10. #10
    An excellent find Frank. Photoshop is complicated, yes, but I've not found anything else anywhere that comes close for output quality, particularly when it comes to resampling images. I've not grauated to CS3 yet, as I heard there's no imageready and I do enjoy making the odd gif animation for fun. Plus the thought of reinstalling plugins.
    Photoshop is fun:

    I'm going to give etchtone a go...photoshop is munching through a test image as I type.
    Last edited by Darren Null; 09-15-2007 at 12:02 PM.

  11. #11
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    Darren;
    Ha..I like the kitty kat!
    Yes complicated..but VERY sophisticated. I do a variety of things other than engraving. Frank is right about Corel too. Everything has good and bad points. I like to engrave from Corel and I can create things in Corel that I can't in Photoshop and vice versa. Sometimes I start with X3 on a graphic, get it to a point where I feel Photoshop would work better, then I export it to PDF and open in Photoshop and finish there. It's nice to be able to use both to create what you need. I'm into wide printing and laser engraving, I find both programs invaluable.
    Epilog Legend EXT36-40watt, Corel X4, Canon iPF8000 44" printer,Photoshop CS6, Ioline plotter, Hotronix Swinger Heat Press, Ricoh GX e3300 Sublimation

  12. #12
    Thanks. My daughter likes cats and the image resulted from a silly conversation about the Bond film where the chap is stroking the cat:
    "Ah, Mr. Bond, I've been expecting you"
    Between us, we decided that the cat was the real villain and the baddie was just another minion. Hence the image.

    I'm beginning to like CorelDraw again, now I've found out that all my problems with it were caused by CorelDraw just not liking JPEG images. For laying out pages, it's excellent. Bloody silly, of course, a major graphics app choking on the most popular format in the known universe, but that's life. Mind you, even when I'd given up on Corel, I still used it to make masks for photoshop.

    I can confirm that Frank's Etchtone method is excellent. And a quarter of the price of Photograv. I'm still looking for something freeware, just on general principles, but etchtone does very well. Just as a note, I etchtoned an image and saved it as a bitmap (BMP) without dropping it to 1-bit, and the act of saving added a 3rd (midrange grey) colour, so some caution there for everybody's information.
    Last edited by Darren Null; 09-15-2007 at 7:25 PM.

  13. Great Job Frank, thank you for the tip. I'm sure a lot of people out there with a tight budget will be looking into that.

    PS : Is that a regular mirror or do you purchase them online? how about a run through on how you set that up ( power , speed, etc)

    Thanks
    Tom
    Explorer II 30W & Corel V12

  14. #14
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    Tom it's a regular mirror, I engraved it at 300dpi 33 speed 100 power from the back, then painted it with black acrylic paint (dries very quickly) that's about it really
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  15. Thanks Frank ,I guess I will have to play around with my settings. I have in the past used mirrors and engraved logos and the like and then spray painted the back but it usualy takes two passes on my 30watt explorer to remove the backing material ( what ever it is ?). I have never tried a photo and look forward to having a crack at it.

    Thanks
    Tom
    Explorer II 30W & Corel V12

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