converting pictures

[linkintiger]

is there a software that change pictures from google to g-code for mach 3?

I want to cut POW MIA and monster energy drink out of wood

[PEsystem]

But these softwares' converting result is not very good. You may try to get more information from Artcam, Type3, Ucancam softwares. If you understand Chinese , you can try to learn JDpaint software, with this software, for the common 3-axis machines, anything will be easy.

[ger21]

Try Inkscape

[mishka]

Originally Posted by PEsystem But these softwares' converting result is not very good. You may try to get more information from Artcam, Type3, Ucancam softwares. If you understand Chinese , you can try to learn JDpaint software, with this software, for the common 3-axis machines, anything will be easy.

Why Chinese?
If you understand English, u can learn JDPaint 5.55 ENG software.

[Torchhead]

Originally Posted by linkintiger is there a software that change pictures from google to g-code for mach 3? I want to cut POW MIA and monster energy drink out of wood

Most images (photos or web pictures) are just dots (bitmaps) and CNC machines don't cut in dots, they cut in lines (vectors). To get from a bitmap to vector you have to do a precess called auto-trace. It is a software program that tries to figure out where the lines should be and puts them in. For router work they need to be closed objects (contours) so you can select and cut at different depths or cut out the background and leave an "island" . You run into problems where the bitmap is low resolution (like any image from the web) or the photo does not have high contrast between the parts. Sometimes with auto trace what yoy get is pretty good and other times it looks like a 2 year old drew it!.

So what to do? Well, the sign industry figured it out a long time ago. You either draw in vectors with a program like Inkscape (free) or CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator, OR you find the art you want already in vector format. Ther are thousands of vector artwork collections (make sure they are in AI or EPS format). If you go to EBay and look for :Vinyl Cutter" you will get all kinds of clipart collections. Some are good and some are just a bunch of bitmpas that have been auto-traced and left ragged so beware. There are also websites that sell nice clean vector clipart (Vector Art by Holmes & Cottrell - highest quality electronic clip art, clipart, for sign industry, vinyl ready, easy to color fill for large format printing, great results for routing and engraving. and their various megacollections is one) I have seen several versions of the POW MIA designs. There are some free Vector logo sites (There is one called Brands of the World that has hundreds of corporate logos and brand logos.

To use any of the vector clipart you need a drawing (NOT a CAD) program. Inkscape is pretty powerful.. Older versions of CorleDraw (version 12 or higher) can sometimes be found for cheap.

It almost always works out better if you start out in vector format than if you have a bitmap and want a clean file for CNC cutting.

Some of the more advanced CAM programs like VCarve Pro will let you import AI or EPS files but the drawing tools to edit and change an import are not as rich as a pure vector drawing program.

So Inkscape does have an auto-trace and it's as good as most but none of them will work well with low resolution (DPI) bitmaps or with complex grayscale or color photos.

TOMcaudle
www.CandCNC.com