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And here are the apps I’m still experimenting with:
Image to Height Map
Import an image and use the settings to generate a height map of your image. Max Height / Width - Resizes output to fit within these bounds. Resolution - Granularity of the resultant shape. Smaller values = more detail. Layers = 1 to 255 layers possible. Each layer is comprised of all the pixels that fall within that color range. (High number of layers will likely crash your EASEL session. Use with caution.)
(All images are resized down to 1024 pixels max within the app.)
Shape Smoothing
Smooths the sharp corners of a shape to give a smooth continous curve.
Convert to World Space
Absorbs all transformations to a shape (rotation, scaling, flipping, etc.) and converts the shape to world space removing the transformations but leaving the shape where it is.
TSP Art Generator
Create traveling salesman problem paths from pictures. this generates a single line that represents your image.
Stippling Art Generator
Similar to halftoning, stippling uses consistent depth holes that are more densely packed in in darker areas.
Modify Paths
Gives the user the ability to close open paths to generate closed shapes. Also can combine multiple lines into a single open line or a single closed shape. Allows for smoothing the resultant curve.
V-Carve Inlay
Create v-carve inlays. Generates a positive and negative shape for generating the inlay.
If you all have anything else you would like to see that an app could accomplish, let me know! I have fun making these apps.
You’re busy. Thanks for being the unofficial Inventables developer.
It is too bad that they can’t give you access to modifying the web interface. You’d probably be able to get us a G28, G30, Origin, and jog controller buttons (along with some quickkeys for it) added to an “advanced user” area pretty quickly.
Coming up with a way to adapt the carve depth to the actual material height variations is definitely something that would be interesting (you started a thread on that). For the things I have carved that would benefit from it, giving about 5 total inputs of places around the carve would be more than enough to be able to correct the carve depth so that width created by a v-bit doesn’t vary too much.
The 1x pine material I use varies by about 0.02" and the thing to carve is too big for me to plane flat before carving. Right now I go back to Easel and “cover up” with 0 depth rectangles what carved fine, and then run the remainder with z rezeroed at the low spot.
Your method is exactly what I’ve been doing to get “ok” carves. But it’s a pain having to do that. If this new method works out with the auto-probing and applying a height map, I’ll post how to do it.
It should work. I’ve done it with a few different programs. bCNC has a built-in option. Usually, when I v-carve something that I know will have small detail, I face the stock. I realize that won’t work with plywood, though.
As always, thanks for the work put into these apps. I don’t use Easel for much, but my students do. I’ll have to play with some before the new school year.
Can you explain this one?
Here is an example. I have two identical shapes. The first one i stretched and rotated then copied over. I used the convert to world space on the copy. As you can see by the bounding box on the second shape, the transformations have been removed but the shape stays in the same location.
It might be my Noobness, but something that I have struggled to figure out that seems like it might be right up your alley is creating the paths / layouts for simple joinery. Perhaps the Inlay app is the solution… I am trying to create a solution for a small side table that I’d like to “snap” together with a relief in one piece that pairs with a relief in another piece… like a half lap joint…I can’t figure out what the right mix of apps in easle / layouts in sketch up or fusion make the most sense.
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