I saw a linkn to MoI on a machining website many weeks ago. I got around to downloading it and tryign it out and it seems very impressive. I have done some 3d mechanical models in programs such as Inventor and SolidWorks which I think are both very useful for there purpose. I have even tried some programs such as Blender and spent may hours just trying to figure out how to do very simple things, when in the end I was not really wanting to render movies (animations) but objects.

So MoI, seems to fit this need. Basically I am looking for a way to create objects to be machined on a small woodcarving machine that I have ( www.carvewright.com). The hitch is that the current software available for the machine will only import height-maps (level of grey determins Z coord), and being new to this type of 3d work I'm not sure how (or if) MoI can be made to render a height-map. Perhaps it would need to be a two step (program) process, but I'm hoping to do it all within MoI. Any help/pointers would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff, unfortunately there isn't currently any way in MoI to generate a height-map rendering. MoI is focused on generating 3D model data right now.

Normally the software for milling machines accepts 3D data (like as an .stl file) and then calculates whatever type of information it needs for its particular procedures. The machine that you've got there is kind of unusual that it doesn't support any type of 3D data inputs. I noticed that they mention on their FAQ page that they want to add this to a future version of their software. You might contact them to see if they might have an early or beta version that supports this.

Otherwise, I suppose you could use a 3D rendering program like Blender, to create a height map by using a particular type of texturing that generates a color using distance. I'm afraid that I am not familiar enough with Blender's texturing to tell you the exact steps on how to do that though...

- Michael

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Tutorials/Creating_a_Heightmap_from_a_Plane

Very cool Pilou, that's it! Jeff - that tutorial shows how to set up the texturing in Blender to generate a grayscale rendered image with white as high and black as low areas. That should do the trick.

- Michael

hi jeff i currently do cnc wood carvings i us vetric 3d v carve and u can load 3ds files right from moi to there and cut away vectric.com

Thanks to everyone. Yes, they are working on a 'Professional' version of the software which should allow for the importation of 'standard' file types, and I ave tried and tried to get a beta of it (and I am a forum Mod there and know one of their programmers in a round about way) and have been not been able to :( Their approach in their format in kind of unique as it allows you to import standard formats such as jpg, png, and gif, and it interprets it as a heightmap. I have done quite a few things just using Corel Draw and contours (not my idea BTW, but it works great), this method works but you have very limited control.

I have used Blender to do some very basic height map rendering but I find it's interface to be counter intuitive, the menus are NEVER the same, some kind of modal nonsense that make it impossible to (unless you have a lot of experiance) to get back to someplace you just were. That is one thing I have like about the small amount of time I have used MoI, I could actually draw some basic things in just a few minutes. I may have to venture back to Blender to render the height maps though.....if I can figure out how to render stuff created in MoI.

Thanks again,

Hi All,

You guys will have some fun with this one... :-)

ZSurf will create a heightfield model from a bitmap in IGES format which can be imported into MoI
I found this article in Czech with some photos that you can reference.


http://tinyurl.com/yq5teh

http://tinyurl.com/yvpdtp

I could easily see making lithophanes with this process or incorporating the heightfield model into an
existing model. The edge curves can extruded into a solid model.
There's more info on ZSURFon the Rhino NG

The organic looking model is from a factal image that I mirrored, but, if you pre-processed the
image in GIMP or PhotoShop, I imagine you could smooth out the seam.
Faststone image Image Viewer has a editing thing that will make sort of a bump map out of an existing image.

http://www.faststone.org/

I didn't edit the BMP's I used for my experiment. You will have to convert some BMP's into 32 bit images in order for Zsurf to process them.

I just have one warning, don't try this during working hours or you'll never get anything done! :-)

-Jesse



http://mwt.net/~sjedging/ZSURF4.zip

Hi Jesse,

Here's some more info about ZSurf4 & using it with Rhino.

regards Colin

I did check out Zsurf today, it is quit neat. Just works the opposite of what I need. I downloaded Blender again and will try creating in MoI and rendering the heightfield in Blender.

Hi Colin,

Thanks,

I wasn't able to find the English version earlier today.

-Jesse

Hi Michael,

Would it be possible to do Z-buffer rendering in MoI?
Or something like it?

I tried to re-position the light to make the shadows
more conducive to heightfield modeling.
I've been trying to use something from this page,
http://www.sjbaker.org/steve/omniv/love_your_z_buffer.html
but I'm a little out of my realm.

The image I got is the opposite of what I expected
and it lost shadowing at the highest points.

Be that as it may, I edited the image before processing
it in Zsurf, but you can see, the results are less than spectacular.


-Jesse

> Would it be possible to do Z-buffer rendering in MoI?
> Or something like it?

Hi Jesse, it should be possible eventually but it will be a while. I will probably try to add some types of rendering capabilities for version 2.

Positioning the light won't really get you a height map image, because the standard light-based shading creates a color depending on the angle between the surface normal and the light.

For a height map you don't care about the angle, you care just about the position...

Rhino used to have a "ZBuffer" command that you could use to create a height map, so you could give that a try.

- MIchael

I found another posibility to render height maps last night http://www.anim8or.com/ and a halfway good tutorial http://www.anim8or.com/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html . Getting the 'Start' and 'End' settings set properly seems to be the only tricky part. The programs UI is MUCH better than Blender IMHO, so now I will venture to create in MoI and render the heightmap in anim8or.

maybe you have a problem with the text editor :)
here the adresse
http://www.anim8or.com/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html

Yes, I guess I was having problems, thanks for correcting it! I have made progress and can now create things in MoI and render a heightmap in Anim8tor. It is a workable solution but the rendering in Anim8tor leaves 'freckles' which I cleaned up with a slight gaussian blur. Now since I know how to make use of the beuatiful thigns I can create in MoI on my carving machine I'll get busy learning with MoI. Thanks again everyone for your help.

Funny method before your carvermachine accept the import files !

http://support.vectric.com/cut3d-questions/item/can-you-use-carvewright-pattern-files

...again, provided you own the CarveWright STL Importer...

(There is also a CarveWright dxf importer...)

- Brian