WELCOME!


It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated with what I saw and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Through extensive research and LOTS of hands-on practice I quickly found out that my MultiCam router was capable of just about anything imaginable.This journal will chronicle that journey to date and continue each week with two or three entries as I continue to explore just what is possible with this wonderful tool... -dan

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tag with a (Celtic) twist.

For Darrin's name plaque I decided to go with a Celtic design which is part of the TEXTURE MAGIC collecion. The bitmap could be stretched a little but the shape of the file would largely determine the dimensions. 


It is not yet possible to rotate bitmaps in EnRoute so I created a rectangular vector and then a flat relief. Then I applied the bitmap.


The relief looked pretty good but was flat and smooth - a little smooth for my taste.


Once I had rotated the relief 90 degrees I overlaid the bitmap I call splotches over the relief and used it to apply a subtle texture to the relief.



Then I typed in Darrin's name and converted it to vectors. The next step was to create an outline around the lettering. This outline was used to modify the relief. The last step was to add the bevelled lettering.



The file was then sent to the MultiCam and routed from 1.5" 30 lb Precision Board.


-dan