So I found a tutorial on youtube to turn images into something I can run on the MPCNC router (when its put together). He takes an image into Inkscape does a trace bitmap and then exports as a SVG, then importing it into Makercam choosing tool length, z height, ect and out comes the g code.
I have a dual endstop kit and was hearing about the new home would be known as g92
My question is do I need to further tweak the g code from Makercam for the MPCNC to work? I would imagine I would put it into estlcam which I will gladly pay for when the time comes. But as far as that would go im lost as to what to do next. How would chose where the g92 starts?
You can import the SVG into Estlcam. You donât need MasterCam. I donât know anything about mastercam, but there are some considerations for the MPCNC, specifically for Marlin.
Converting an image using inkscape to .svg is a great skill to have and you can really do a lot of neat projects if you know how to do it.
ArtCAM has been picked up rebranded and is now being sold as CarveCo. I bought in when the pre-release discount was offered but sadly havenât had a LOT of time to play with it. Itâs âon the listâ though for the month of October for me as itâs my quiet season.
That video is quite misleading. Iâve seen it many times before in my quest to turn greyscale photos into a 3d carve. The source image for that carve is a pre-prepared height map. If you google that term youâll find all kinds of height maps that look like âfunny greyscale imagesâ. Almost like an XRay. THATâS the kind of image you need to be able to generate if your hoping for 3d carves like that.
There are tools in CarveCo that Iâve played around with that help you sculpt off of a photo relief which starts as a lithophane type relief but itâs complex and by no means a âmoneymakerââŚmeaning Iâve yet to figure out a quick enough way to do it such that when sold as a âproductâ it wonât either cost the customer thousands of dollars OR net me pennies per hour for my time. I keep reminding myself if it was easy there would be a tool out there for it. And Iâd have found it by now. There are a few of us in here chasing that holy grail.
That aside, cutting 2d graphics (clip art) is great and the first video is a good introduction to Inkscape - a very powerful vector graphics program.
So follow up, ive been getting more used to using ESTLCAM with images from INKSCAPE using the trace bitmap feature. Its been working pretty well so far. Inkscape has a pretty big learning curve but ill eventually get it.
Inkscape is really a powerful program, do not get frustrated if it takes time. Lots of people make a living using vector graphics programs (adobe illustrator). For the basics we do it should not take too long and then it gets a lot easier googling things that you need to do once and a while when you learn the lingo.
