converting an image

[rnesci]

hey all, what im having an issue doing is converting a jpeg over to a dxf. i have searched the site here and i have found nothing, well atleast nothing that helps. ive tried using ink scape but can't seem to get the gist of it. im new to the whole image aspect of this, i can make parts and all that, but this is giving me trouble. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Stout]

Post the file and let's see what you have.

[rnesci]

this is something im trying to do for my nephew.. ive tried the ink scape route but i cant get it to work

[Gamelord]

Here ya go. I know this is not what you were asking, but this is the steps I took to get this done.

I used Corel Draw and Corel Photopaint to get to this - it took about 3 minutes to do.

1) Imported the JPG into Corel Photopaint
2) Converted the image to Grayscale - moving all the color levels to white except the blues - moved the blue levels to black. This made the image black & white instead of the light blue
3) Converted the image from 24 bit color to "black & white Line Art" - selecting the "line art" conversion method and adjusting the threshold so the lines in the image looks solid and good.
4) Copied the image and then pasted it into Corel Draw
5) Selected the image, then selected "bitmap" from the top menu, and then "Outline Trace" from the pull down menu - then selected "Line Art" from the flyout.
6) On the side menu, moved the "detail" slider up near max to include all the detail with as little extra noise as possible. Other settings: Remove background, auto choose color, merge adjacent objects, remove object overlap & group objects by color (important). Select OK.
7) Once the outline is done, move it to the side of the original, make larger if necessary to work on it.
8) Select "Arrange" from the pull down menu and select "Ungroup" (NOT UNGROUP ALL). This will separate the image from the colored parts to the non-colored outline (should be white & black).
9) Move solid filled "white" part of Yoda away from the "black" outline and delete.
10) export the black outline to DFX and upload to Plasmaspider.

These steps may or may not be available in your current drawing program, but hopefully you can follow what I did and then find the similar procedures in your own program. Hopefully this will show you the process I used and make it easier for you to do your own. This drawing was very clean and easy to convert. Other drawings will require a ton of time going back into the outline and cleaning up all the lines/nodes/noise.

Hope this helps you and anyone else out there.

[hacnwac]

I followed your instructions up till the end of 6) but I cant seem to find the select ok (sorry). These directions are great.I really appreciate all the help.
Mark
forgot to mention using x5

[Gamelord]

I am also using X5 - on #6) the last step is to click on OK at the bottom right to convert the trace to a vector image so you can use it.

Hope this helps.

[Largemouthlou]

Awesome instructions, they will help me some as well!! Thank you for the time

[Dawgonhawg]

great instructions..

Dawg

[BTA Plasma]

That works very well. IT works better than the conversion programs we use here.

[Gamelord]

I am happy that it is helping so many. Thanks for the kind words.

Just to repeat, this process works great for most hand drawn or single color drawings. The cleaner the drawing, the easier and quicker it is to convert. If the drawing has a bunch of jagged ends or is very pixilated, the conversion process is much harder and sometimes it is just easier to re-draw it than it is to convert.

Thanks again, glad to help out.

[762frmafr]

Gamelord, that was a wonderful reply and very helpful on that type of jpg. Although, what would be the steps if the uploaded picture was a regular picture instead of a line drawing?

[Gamelord]

An actual picture, like that of scenery or barn or a person would be much more intricate to trace. Most of the time if the image is that detailed it is often easier to just hand trace the image than to try and use the auto-trace feature. The problem you get into is that raster images become pixilated around the edges when you have color changes. The auto-trace programs have a very difficult time trying to decipher between the objects and usually does a very poor job at outlining them.

Most of the time if an image is very detailed I just sit down and redraw the image free-hand. This way I can pull out the details I want while still keeping in mind how the plasma cutter will cut and what will drop and what will stay. In most cases, it is easier to just re-draw the image than to do an auto-trace and then go into the image and try to fix it manually.

Sorry I can't be of more help. The question is a little vague because it all depends on just how intricate or detailed an image is. Some images can be traced easily and everything else just deleted. Others really just need to be re-drawn from scratch. Each one is different so the steps to take to draw those would also be different.

Hope this helps.

Personally, if I had a paying customer and short time frame, I would just contact sign-torch and have him do my drawing for me. He is very fast and has a very good technique on redrawing intricate images. If it was my personal job or if I have a lot of extra time I will draw it myself.

[762frmafr]

Take this for example.
http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11303

[ssbn.981]

looks like you already got the help you need. that will look pretty cool though.
how do you plan on cutting it?

[Coffinscreekcustoms]

Thanks for the information!!!

[tcaudle]

Might want to do some editing on that file before you cut. A lot off stuff is going fall out that you don't want it too. Since the lines have thickness you get an object rather than a single line shape. Some objects touch or overlap and that whole section will fall into the water tray. The pupils of the eyes will fallout with the eye outline His whole left sideand forearm are connected and will probably fall out Some of the cuts are really close and it will drive your THC nuts SheetCAM throws all kinds of errors when you try to generate anything but an online cut. I put it on a piece of 2 X 2 and even then the parallel cuts are really close I think you are going to end up with a "puzzle"you will have to stitch back together

[Joe Jones]

YODA TRACED.jpg

I traced the image in Google Sketch Up. Try this. Click on image for full size .jpg file

[Gamelord]

The purpose of this post was not to make a cut ready file, but more for information on how to do a trace using Corel Draw. Obviously the file will need a lot of work to be cut-able.