Phil's random vcarve posts (phil's projects)

[PhilJohnson]

Alright so I'm working out the Kinks in how to make a dish in vcarve desktop. I got things pretty squared away but I have 1 question and one issue to resolve.

My first question is when I added the dish feature the 2D drawing portion does not look anything like the 3D View. When I selected the ribbon and hit bake then it showed up correctly in the 2D View but that didn't work for the other things. It seems like you can only do one and it be correct in the 2D View. Is that even connected to my problem or is there another way to get the 2D drawings you to show up correctly?

My biggest issue is the image above. I got everything to look exactly how I want it but for some reason I can't get the text be carved in the surface. Take a look and tell me what I'm doing wrong or where I should look to fix this. I checked the box that says project onto 3D model or Surface. When I uncheck that box nothing shows up. Please help

[PhilJohnson]

Also, when I added the dish element, the height readout on the bottom of the screen is odd. Reading negative numbers.

[StuartPearson]

Show me the model settings for the text layer, looks to me like you've either got too much of a subtraction height or used an absolute height instead of a relative one.

[PhilJohnson]

I'm at work now, but I can tell you that I selected the ribbon, then hit the text, added it. With it still selected I went and added the V carve tool path.

[EdgarHaase]

One possibility - Open the the "v-carve 3 toolpath", at the top should be a setting named "Gap Above" - for what you are attempting this value should be set to 0.

[StuartPearson]

On the vcarve toolpath settings have you checked the 'Project toolpath onto 3D model' checkbox?

[PhilJohnson]

One possibility - Open the the "v-carve 3 toolpath", at the top should be a setting named "Gap Above" - for what you are attempting this value should be set to 0.

I tried that at 0 and at other values. Still looks like this.

[SteveWalker]

Phil, I seem to remember watching a video on youtube from Vectrics that shows how to do that.

I think this is the one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txbgWS_JaY4

[CurtisCummings]

While Stuart is correct using Aspire. I'm not sure if VCarve desktop has this feature. But if it does then that's your huckleberry @PhilJohnson.

[AaronMatthews]

It looks like it is cutting the text on the surface of the background disk and not on the surface of the ribbon.

Check your "start depth" and "Flat Depth" on the V-Carve operation. But I am thinking Carve is confused about which 3D object it tis supposed to map the text onto.
I am going to play with it a bit and see what happens. Maybe grouping the 3d elements together? Or having them on different layers? Having the text on a different layer?

[PhilJohnson]

I did have that checked. Thats the only way to get it to show up.

I.just watched the video and the only thing I didn't do is the zero plane part.

Is that what's screwing me up?

I still think it has something to do with the face it's not showing up correctly in the 2D drawing portion.

What does "bake" do?

[ErikJenkins]

From Vectric FAQ:

What is the Zero Plane?
The Zero Plane is required if you are creating a dish like model, that is primaraly a concave design to be carved into your material.

Once you have created your design you need to add the zero plane model to make it easier to visualise your design.

To access the Zero Plane tool, go to the Model menu -> Add Zero Plane.

[AaronMatthews]

Hmm I was not able to duplicate the effect as a tool path mapping issue. When projecting the toolpath onto a 3d model it always projected to the highest 3D element. Regardless of object order on the page, or model order on the modeling tab, or having them in different layers.

I was able to duplicate it by not projecting it and setting a aggressively deep Start depth (normally would be set to zero with project turned on).

[PhilJohnson]

It looks like it is cutting the text on the surface of the background disk and not on the surface of the ribbon.

Check your "start depth" and "Flat Depth" on the V-Carve operation. But I am thinking Carve is confused about which 3D object it tis supposed to map the text onto.I am going to play with it a bit and see what happens. Maybe grouping the 3d elements together? Or having them on different layers? Having the text on a different layer?

I didn't add any layers so they're all on layer 1.

But that's exactly what's happening. It's cutting to the back or something.

I bet it has to do with not having a zero plane and the base height settings I did on the dish.

[PhilJohnson]

Once you have created your design you need to add the zero plane model to make it easier to visualise your design.

I bet that's it.

[AaronMatthews]

What does "bake" do?

It makes your changes permanent to that object. I am not entirely sure how it affects things. I don't use it as I use undo a lot

[AaronMatthews]

I was only messing around with vcare clipart, not with an imported stl file, so maybe that has something to do with it?

[PhilJohnson]

I'm pretty sure I know what my issues are now.

1. No zero plane

2. Base height on my dish because it looked like it needed it...

3. The dish is the top object in the model tree. I think this is my biggest issue. I added it in as an after thought.

I'll try changing them tonight and report back.

Thank you everyone for the input!

[AllenMassey]

When you are building the component tree be sure you are creating levels and each level will have a base height and shape height. This was a new feature in 8 and it is really helpful but if you are not using it correctly you may see have the type of errors you are seeing

[StephenCook]

Also, when I added the dish element, the height readout on the bottom of the screen is odd. Reading negative numbers.

The height reading on the bottom is supposed to be negative.
It shows you the depth where ever you place your cursor.
If you place the cursor over an area where there is not cuts it should read 0