How do I go about drawing heavy rococo carving artwork to turn into an STL file to run to a CNC machine? This forum won’t let me post images of the type of work I want to do. Here’s the link- https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d6/0d/3b/d60d3be37cf9bd98f44075bd38603975.jpg.
are you a sketchup beginner? or, what do you consider your sketchup skill level? are you familiar with using extensions? this is some pretty advanced stuff to do in sketchup… especially if you need to gain the same level of detail as seen in the picture.
beyond sketchup skills, it will also require a certain artistic or craftsperson skill set i imagine…
just trying to determine a launching point for further advice
Also how detailed does your CNC require - some people are happy to get a basic 2.5D outline then let a carver take over.
I know how to carve by hand but that takes way too long and I’d rather let the machine do it. Faster product = more $$$. I am a beginner in Sketchup, meaning I can draw and design house floorplans and some objects. This is something that is quite a bit different. If this is too much, I would need some sort of 3D Laser scanner to scan what I do have access to. I guess they make a handheld laser scanner gun that reads things pretty well. Anyone know of something like that?
I’d rather have the machine do it all. The machine can do around 1,000 steps per inch. Handcarving is among the highest labor rate charging arts in the world because only a few can do it well. A door will run $5k easy. My hands simply can’t do it anymore.
iPhone 6s …maybe? or the 7
A Look at LinX Camera Technology That Could Appear in Future iOS Devices - MacRumors
[quote]
Depth Mapping for 3D Models
With multiple apertures, LinX camera modules are able to calculate “ultra accurate sub pixel disparities” between images, letting them create detailed depth maps of a scene. With depth information on a per-pixel basis along with RGB information, LinX cameras can create 3D point clouds of objects from a single frame or a complete 3D model by combining several frames captured from different angles.
Outdoors, depth can be calculated even in direct sunlight or in complete darkness with flash lighting (either visible or infrared).
This is interesting technology because it can be used in several fascinating ways. Depth mapping like this can let people create 3D scans of objects from simple photographs taken at multiple angles, and it can also determine the size of an object that’s been photographed and its distance from another object (potentially useful for indoor mapping). [/quote]
i get it that this won’t help you now… just showing something that we can possibly look forward to
Google’s Project Tango uses a smart phone too. One of the Trimble guys scanned his house with his android phone and used their scanner data extension for SU. The results were ‘passing’ - if one was OK with sorta accurate.
The shear number of points from a laser scan may be an issue not only in handle the huge number of point and faces/edges that are expected to be produced, but also determining which points are really needed. So for projects/expectations with tighter tolerances, the error rate may not be acceptable as it is with large buildings.
Also photographs can be scanned and 3D models created based on grey-value.
The carving model can be done in SU. It will need to be over-sized so no edge would be less than 1/16". Break the task down to manageable parts. Some modeling steps are easy, P/P and Follow Me would work on some elements. Some parts are more sculptural and some of those at least repeat. Look over Tweaking Tool Tips for ideas on manipulating the native tools.
This can be initially model lowish-poly followed up by subdividing the surface with either Subdivide and Smooth or Artisan.
I can work on a demo example if you don’t mind me posting your image on the SketchUp Sage site. I wanted to do a section called something like All Together to demo a bunch of techniques all together.
Thank you catamountain. Please do. I think that would help put everything in perspective. I found a site where Autodesk was used and the technique looked easy but $3700 is a bit steep so doing it here would be preferable.
What you can start with is importing the image into SU and Scale it to the size of the door. By the way, what size is the panel?
You can import the image by dragging the file (from a browser tab at my end) into the SU workspace. R-click and select Explode. This will let you use the image as a full-sized pattern you can draw on to start modeling parts, and the image is now a Material. You can liter the workspace with copies as you go.
Might be a good idea to make at least 2 Scenes. One with the face style Shaded with Texture and the other Monochrome. And disable Camera Location in the Scenes window. That way you can switch between those two views without moving position.
Get BezierSpline (join SketchUcation for free to download.) It’s useful. Not only can you start drawing curves with it, but if you start drawing profiles with the native tools, you can select the profile (don’t have any stray edges teeing off profile) > r-click and convert it to a Bezier curve by selecting BZ - Convert to.
Get Joint Push Pull and Tools on Surface while your at it. All 3 are by Fredo6.