Hi Burr,

Yes, that is how I imagined it. That is how CarveWright would cut a series of vector tool paths. But I see what you mean. I tried to lay out a series of character outlines in order to try to sweep them. But it was very hard to space them apart. I will try you suggestion on using the array of profiles. CarveWright would then cut this as a raster pattern. But the nice thing it that Raster patterns can be re-sized very easily.

If that does not work than I will try to create some height maps in Paint Shop Pro or one of the packages mentioned here on the forum.

I will post my designs when I work them all out. If I am lucky I will also include a a cut piece as well.

Thanks for all of the help.

Joe

Good luck Joe!
I feel I was starting to make it more complicated than it should be. I have one other suggestion I'll post in a bit.

Nevermind. Too Nutty!

Hi Joe,

My work is jewellery sized, so this following idea is solely based on that...forgive me if it doesn't apply to your situation.

Given that I required a certain type of angle or taper to the design, I'll often just use a specific Cutter which has that specific angle.
I source most of these Conical/Taper shaped Cutters from Bits & Bits http://www.bitsbits.net/
For milling waxes to suit jewellery work I'm mostly using the Profile or Pyramid type Cutters with a 6, 10 or 15 degree angle.

The range of Engraving Cutters have more angle options & might be more suited to your needs?
Not sure what Shank size you'd use with the CarveWright system, but maybe this might give you an idea for viable Cutters available to you?

regards Colin

Thanks for the tip Colin, I can use 1/2", 1/4" or 1/8" shanks. That might be worth a try. I could extrude the surface and then mill around the outside with a profile shaped bit. The only concern I may have is if the bit has to go in between a narrow section or the inside or a radius curve.

Thanks

Joe

Seems we have forget a very speedy method!
The rail revolve!
Just find an a good vertical axis

Thanks Pilou,

Could you briefly explain how you created the rail revolve?

Thanks

Joe

Hope this help ;)
Position of the vertical (or not) axis must be chosen following result wanted!

Yes Pilou, that is IMHO the best sulution.
My English is too bad, in order to explain it better.
We use .*eps (Rails) whenever we can, it significantly shortens the creation time.

Pilou - Thanks for demonstrating the Rail Revolve.

I don't know if Rail Revolve is intended for this application, but in some ways it works better than fillet because it seems to work in tight V shape corners.

However I tried it on a similar shape and also got a result where the profile curve cuts into the shape in some areas (see red arrow) in your example.

Do you know how to get the profile to work in this situation?

Ed

It's the result of the placement of the first point of the axis!
As it's not a symmetric figure sides can be curvated!
But as you can rotate the volume this can be hidden for 2D illustration ;)
Or find another place or angle for the axis !
Or rotate the profil!

It would be nice to have a function called Bevel that would take a plane and extrude while applying a radius profile. You can do the same using extrude plus fillet, except fillet doesn't work well in tight V shape areas because the profile wants to fold back on itself. Is variable radius fillet the answer here?

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I often want to take a shape like the Kanji Characters and turn them into solids with nice rounded edges, regardless of the shape. Much like cutting the shape out of flat aluminum stock and letting it run in the tumbler for a couple of days. The analogy is that in a tumbler, the edges that stick out will get rounded more than the tight recesses that are not as exposed to the tumbling media.

Ed

Hi Ed, I do want to add a function called "Tapered extrude" which I think is what you are talking about. Originally I had hoped to include this for v2 but it does not look like that will happen currently, so probably in v3.

You can actually get the same result though currently by using Offset on the curve, then moving the offset in the Z direction and doing a Loft. Check out this previous post for an example:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=941.5

- Michael

Ed,
Blend will make a nice edge around this charater, but the thickness is limited to where it will fold in on itself. SO the original thickness couldnt be acheived using this.

Make a duplicate character and move it up a bit in Z, then planar both and delete the curves. Now select edges of the 2 surfaces and blend. You'll have to drop the value down till it fits nicley.

Pilou's solution will work also, you'll just have to toolpath "both sides" to get the opposing direction "fillets", but it could still make a nice cut. Good catch Pilou!

Thanks Pilou for the great example of rail revolve.

Michael, Thanks for the "Taper Extrude" link.

Joe

Hello All,

Just wanted to pass on a finished carve image of my Chinese character.
Until I get up to speed on Moi and ZBrush I ended up using another package to create the bevel on the character.

I also wanted to thank everyone for all of the great assistance.

Thanks

Joe

Excellent work Joe!

Nice work Joe.

I take it this was one solid piece? How long did it take to cut?

Ed

Thanks Burr,

Ed, Yes, Carved from 3/4" purple heart wood. It took 45 minutes to carve. The character is relief cut at .25 inch.

Thanks

Joe