New to CNC Machining

In responce to @Zach_Kaplan and the lattice project in Easel, I was curious what a test could be that I could create in Illustrator and import into Easel…

Thought I would share what I came up with:

http://app.easel.com/projects/8EzhwXsk4WZeCJPURew9kw

I’ll try it out and post results once my X-Carve clears customs and I get it built. :smile:

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I’ve never tried illustrator, but in Inkscape I don’t think I can trace an existing bitmap and end up with a smooth gradient like you have on your dolphin. Of course I could always draw a vector with a smooth grayscale, I suppose. Does illustrator allow you to convert standard images to grayscale for example, and directly to vector form with smooth fades from black to white? The banding in the sky would be an example of what I don’t want. I’d like to be able to produce smooth curves with a gradient

Yeah, Illustrator has the ability to “vectorize” a pixel based image, but I’m sure there are other apps out there that can accomplish the same goal. I was just using what I had handy.

Speaking to the image of Himeji Castle that you posted @CalvinGo and specifically the sky in it, you would just need to specify more steps to the gradient. When making a set of vectors that Easel will understand there will always be steps to the gradient and won’t ever be perfectly smooth. So, if I were making this image as smooth as possible, then I would specify maybe 30 to 50 steps to the gradient in the sky instead of the 4 to 5 that are present.

Well, don’t I feel like an idiot… I thought I’d read everything available about Easel and I didn’t know about grey scale depth control… This is awesome!

wow wow wow. this is like finding the coolest easteregg ever. runs off to play with B&W images in EASEL

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@AndrewBishop, I use this super simply in my clamps project, you should go see how it cuts to get a feel for it… I used a gradient in Illustrator and then expanded it into 50 sections to get it simi smooth.

still waiting on mine to ship. ordered the 17th of april so its getting close. i’m going to explode before it gets here. can’t wait to get milling!

I use this super simply in my clamps project,

Where can I find that?

I posted about it here:

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Just joined the Forum, hoping to get some questions answered before I order an X Carve. I am a Mechanical Engineer, and I design in 3D using Solidworks. In the past, I have been able to take Solidworks files to various CAM programs to generate G code depending on the machines used (Trackmill, Haas, etc.). What CAM programs have been verified to work with Solidworks and the X Carve? Thanks in advance, Ron Gibson

Most CAM programs that generate G-code should be compatible with the X-Carve… which CAM programs did you use specifically?

@sketch42, I tried recreating what you did on my own. I went into inkscape with a picture I grabbed and tried putting some gradient on it to do this like you did with the shark but once I thought I had figured it out and saved it then went into Easel and did the import SVG option Easel just sits there attempting to load but never finishing. I think I didn’t do the inkscape portion properly.

I’m very new to inkscape, well pretty much everything to do with CNC, but I’m trying to absorb and learn as much as possible to step up my game. Is there any chance you could give a tutorial on how you made the gradient picture in inkscape and got it to be supported by Easel? Thanks!

Sure, I don’t mind.

When I get a little time, I’ll try and put together a video.

The trick is to get the gradient “expanded” into separate vectors and not just 1 vector with multiple shades in it.

@sketch42 Awesome, thank you because I have no idea how to do that, I probably did the latter.

Here is a walk through video of what to do in Illustrator.

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I’m right there with you. New to cnc and got my xcarve a week ago. I’ve been making a bunch of signs using easel and have been reading everything I can about 3d carving. This is the first time any of it made sense and I can’t wait to play with grey scales in easel!

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After a while it all starts to gel in your mind then becomes clear and make almost perfect sense…

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wish it would jell already…why do fonts not carve instead easel puts holes in the wood?

I would most certainly spend some hours learning OnShape if I was you @RyanBell - it is a fantastic CAD especially when you consider it is totally free :slight_smile: Good for 2.5D (export faces as DXF) or 3D (export as STL). I have used Sketchup for many years now but recently switched to OnShape - the key here is parametric drawing, you can adjust your measures on the way. Things that took hours to create in Sketchup takes minutes in OnShape.

For CAM I recently bought Estlcam - just starting to learn the CAM but it is really great with a lot of features. @ChristianKnull also frequently updates the software with new stuff. It is much more feature rich than Easel - and it is easy to switch from one to another (you can restore to grbl settings in the setup of Estlcam).

Good luck carving!

Hello sketch42.

Thank you for this information to help much. In my case, I just tried to draw the rectangle as vectorized on video. If I expand gradient to 255 objects, my google chrome browser crash every time, without the horse, just rectangle … If I expand gradient to 50 objects, it’s ok. What can be the problem? The graphics card? My PC has a processor 8 core clocked at 3.6 GHz, 16GB RAM, an SSD of 120 GB of which 47 GB free. Video card, meanwhile, is a NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 with 1GB ddr3 memory. Do you have an idea of the problem? What equipment do you own?

Thank you for your answers.

Cordially.

JB