Machsupport Forum
G-Code, CAD, and CAM => LazyCam (Beta) => Topic started by: dragonstone on October 19, 2009, 02:49:24 PM
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I have been trying to process a coloring book drawing jpeg of Arial the mermaid
From what I have been reading in various threads is to use a cad program to DXF or DWG then to Lcam
and then to generate gcode. Lcam has import for jpg or bmp but when I try to load it asks to v drill
or raster or image trace/raster. choosing the last option seems the only one that even looks like the drawing.
Now when I generate the gcode to Mach looks like a straight line.
Is there a way of bringing in the jpg to Lcam and adjusting it and then creating gcode for Mach
I have been reading everything I can and might be missing something.
Andy help is appreciated.
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dragon
jpg import into l-cam is pretty much a waste of time no future there. look for the free inkscape download,get a copy of that. scan your drawing in the tiff file format,works pretty good.
turn the tiff into a dxf then import into l-cam. when you turn it into a dxf save it as ver-12 dxf it works better with l-cam. good luck!
bill
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Dragon,
You will not find any info on importing a picture into LazyCam in the manual because it is not covered.
There are ways of doing conversions, all of which leave much to be deisired in my opinion.
You can bring the picture into CAD and draw over it and then export the dwg out as a DXF. It's fast amd is
my preferred method. You can also use Copycat ( there is a manual for it in the Members Docs ) and it will generate the Gcode but requires a web camera and a license.
I would stick with tracing it in CAD and exporting it. This way you have full control over the outcome.
RICH
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I opened the jpeg and changed it to a tiff. Then imort it to inkscape. Path to trace bitmap. save the new image as DXF.
can't find a DXF ver12 option. I tried to open in Lcam and get a couple little colored squares and then Freezes up
I have also tried with solidedge 2D but when I open it in Lcam I get the comments areas and no drwing.
I have just saved as SVG and tried to open with Lcam and It actually made the drawing and looks sort of the way I
think it should. Now post the gcode. When I open it in Mach I get some lines of code and a dot in centre of screen.
Run code and stops at N25 M23 Then run again and takes all of 1/2 a second to run Code looks like this
N5 (File Name = Arial to Gcode22 on Tuesday, October 20, 2009)
N10 (Default Mill Post)
N15 G91.1
N20 G0 Z1.0000
N25 M3
N30 X214.0435 Y-837.8944
N35 Z0.1000
N40 G1 Z0.0000 F60.00
N45 X205.7770 Y-826.2947
N50 X198.4865 Y-814.1104
N55 X185.3445 Y-814.9769
N60 X174.6621 Y-810.6772
N65 X166.8946 Y-808.6840
N70 X166.8106 Y-790.5737
N75 X160.7762 Y-805.3282
N80 X151.7482 Y-812.6604
N85 X160.3540 Y-828.3821
N90 X170.4164 Y-826.4590
N95 X178.7603 Y-819.4200
N100 X196.7063 Y-833.0103
N105 X191.0817 Y-840.5558
N110 X187.5466 Y-826.9887
N115 X174.3452 Y-829.7004
N120 X165.2389 Y-830.2530
N125 X154.8555 Y-825.4159
N130 X168.9876 Y-835.3786
N135 X173.1294 Y-836.2745
N140 X183.4583 Y-841.4343
N145 X186.0235 Y-857.2973
N150 X184.0402 Y-869.1853
N155 X180.4634 Y-864.2923
N160 X182.4872 Y-847.0793
N165 X174.4688 Y-841.0860
N170 X168.4485 Y-837.5550
N175 X159.6266 Y-827.5041
N180 X162.1617 Y-842.8182
N185 X162.1883 Y-851.1288
N190 X147.1162 Y-862.5991
N195 X156.5106 Y-867.5166
N200 X165.5293 Y-872.9882
N205 X167.2250 Y-887.7918
N210 X165.9957 Y-898.2693
N215 X165.4791 Y-907.7336
N220 X167.9883 Y-925.0697
N225 X164.9581 Y-928.6828
N230 X165.1872 Y-928.4846
N235 X166.7999 Y-927.3085
N240 Y-927.3086
N245 X49.0271 Y-928.4633
N250 X41.0637 Y-927.6776
I may be doing something wrong.??
I am only trying to dry run in Mach no Machine setup.
When I bring in the roadrunner it looks like the roadrunner.
Any ideas
Thanks
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I have been trying some more and still cannot bring a dxf into Lcam properly
I import a Gif or jpg into Inkscape and trace to edges on a couple different images.
Lcam
11:48:17 --- Loading file entities
11:48:20 --- Loading complete
11:48:20 --- Applying options filters
11:48:20 --- Duplicate entity removal
Now Lcam is frozen again. this happens most of the time.
I have even gone as far as reinstalling Lcam.
Must be an easy way as I am sure others have done similar to what I would like to do.
I will keep plugging along, Don;t want to give up.
The coloring book images are various types jpg, bmp and gif
I downloaded them for my Grandaughter to color from coloring book sites.
She is into the mermaid s and gson is into Cars. I like Doc Hudson
Thought a couple would look good as a plaque
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Post the JPEG image and also the DXF file of that image.
Don't know anything about Inkedge or have ever used it. Most raster to vector image conversion programs, suck, that's just my opinion. As DXF's go, have a look at the LazyTurn manual Appendix "C" as that will give you some insight into why a version 12 DXF. They are not all created equaly.!
If you want to a workable DXF see the Manual for LazyCam as i have posted them there and they are used for the tutorials.
RICH
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Dragon
upload your dxf so we can take a look at it. bet it is a pretty large file. dont believe l-cam is locking up. it is just having a hard time trying to swallow it.
when doing a file in this manner it generates excessive amounts of entities. if you wait long enough it might load. post the file.
bill
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I waited for awhile as the chains were developing in Lcam and it processed quite a few and then it froze.
Saw a large rectangle on the screen. waited @ 5 more minutes and just shut it down.
That was last night.
Here is a jpg of the mermaid and a DXF as well.
When I view the DXF in solidworks viewer it looks a bit like it should.
Have tried a couple different jpg gif tif
I used to have Adobe photoshop and was able to find edges etc quite well in that but after a system rebuild I lost it and can't find the disc now.
Have tried coreldraw 10 but I don't think I am using it correctly as it is new to me.
OWMBO (one who must be obeyed) says I am on the cmptr too much lately and the painting is not getting done (snicker)
So if you fellows can figure it out and send me in a better direction I will be quite happy.
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Forgot a DXF
Have 2 they are different sizes
Thanks
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Dragon
i forgot that inkscape does not save as v12 it saves as its own v13. to get it as a usable v12 that works with l-cam i filter it through cambam. download the free version.
just open the file with camban then export to dxf. then it will load in l-cam where you can work with it. attached is your arial dxf that i filtered with cambam. l-cam has a good bit of power but not much polish.
so you have to put some effort into the dxf. attached is trace2 file that i did from your jpg to inkscape to cambam to dxf. trace3 is a dxf generated from filtering trace2 through cadstd lite to make a better dxf.
bill
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Thanks for the help, I am downloading CamBam Plus Beta Release 0.9.6e, any version better than others.
I have been bustin my but looking for my old photoshop disc , thought if I cleaned up the lines and then saved it from ps
it would come up better in inkscape. I did find a copy of the photoshop 7 in a box of old cd's
Going to install it as I did like using it to fix photos etc. That will be in the future I would like to engrave photos
Think I may need Vectric photo carve though. Have been looking around at other software.
Most I do is text , but would be nice to put drawings in too.
Again thanks for the help.
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ok Brought up the dxf that you put up and looks great in Lcam, does take awhile to load, but not more than a couple minutes.
Post the g-code, and then open it in Mach3, Now it only looks like one curved line.
Dry run it and yes it is only one curved line. here is the gcode posted from Lcam.
N5 (File Name = trace3 on Wednesday, October 21, 2009)
N10 (Default Mill Post)
N15 G91.1
N20 G0 Z1.0000
N25 M3
N30 X73.3725 Y28.4523
N35 Z0.1000
N40 G1 X73.3181 Y28.4086 Z0.0000 F60.00
N45 X73.2554 Y28.3782
N50 X73.2122 Y28.3614
N55 X73.0357 Y28.3084
N60 X73.0119 Y28.3024
N65 X72.9864 Y28.2962
N70 X72.9591 Y28.2898
N75 X72.8136 Y28.2590
N80 X72.7302 Y28.2433
N85 X72.6347 Y28.2266
N90 X71.8695 Y28.1287
N95 X71.3574 Y28.0886
N100 X71.0643 Y28.0741
N105 X70.2825 Y28.0758
N110 X70.1819 Y28.0829
N115 X70.0782 Y28.0933
N120 X69.8591 Y28.1330
N125 X69.6495 Y28.2145
N130 X69.5818 Y28.2468
N135 X69.4927 Y28.2920
N140 X69.3754 Y28.3551
N145 X68.9180 Y28.6272
N150 X68.6203 Y28.8200
N155 X67.4778 Y29.6572
N160 X67.3327 Y29.7782
N165 X67.1812 Y29.9112
N170 X67.1048 Y29.9818
N175 X67.0278 Y30.0567
N180 X66.8973 Y30.1940
N185 X66.7720 Y30.3360
N190 X66.5314 Y30.6283
N195 X66.3761 Y30.8275
N200 X66.2890 Y30.9425
N205 X66.2429 Y31.0041
N210 X66.1387 Y31.1458
N215 X66.0837 Y31.2218
N220 X65.7973 Y31.6318
N225 X65.4380 Y32.1933
N230 X65.3945 Y32.2676
N235 X65.2174 Y32.6194
N240 X65.1933 Y32.7189
N245 X65.1648 Y32.8675
N250 X65.0731 Y32.9878
The line dry runs great but I dunno why the whole drawing does not load out from Lcam
Maybe something in my Lcam is funky????
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Dragon
do you have your mach3 license in the right place.that might be why it does not load the whole file.
there are two cambam downloads,free and not free with a trial. i use the free for a cad filter. many programs out there do many things, each has its own nitch and many do it badly.
some are pretty good. but none of them does it all. if i need to do a program that has image and text involved, it is done as two individual programs.then run them behind each other
or combind them as one. i own a copy of vcarve too. good luck!
bill
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I downloaded the cambam plus by mistake but used it to generate the NC code
Was able to load into mach and it runs. Only 38 uses left on cambam
Did not use Lcam
Wierd
I wll keep playing with Lcam and see why I can't get it to post all code
But if CamBam works I will use it. May even Purchase if looks like I would use it a lot.
Will download the free version onto a disk and put it on cpu in garage
Using main cpu in house for testing everything first.
Had seen it on the web before but had purchased the Mach3 and thought with LazyCam
I would be all set.
So now I have Inkscape, cambam, A9Cad , and Lazycam oh and corel 10, and now I have my Photo shop 7 again
Too many programs so little time to play
Again thanks for all the input and steering me to cambam,
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Inkscape v12 .dxf exporter.
http://mydxf.blogspot.com/2008/11/inkscape-r12-dxf.html
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hi Gerry
thanks for the link, it works well.
bill
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Yes the link works and I have placed it into mine and the dxf 12 works
Thanks
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Thought I had it working but I had used your DXF
What was the process you followed to get the jpeg to a working DXF?
I am using Inkscape but seem to be missing a step.
I open the image then trace bitmap, use edge detection.
Then I did something and it copied as a new layer so I deleted the old image and saved the new layer.
and it looks like the Dxf you posted and am able to turn to code in CamBam.
Don't know what I did as I can't seem to do it again
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open inkscape/open jpg
select area of jpg
path/trace bitmap
close trace
save as v12 dxf
open in l-cam
bill
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Ok I can open in Lcam and looks like it should,
Now when I post the code in Mach I only get 1 or 2 curved lines.
It is like all the chains do not get posted
Is there a select all chains etc before posting code??
I know it should work but is a little frustrating.
Looking for info on forums for similar issues but not much luck
Is there a certain way to post the code?? maybe I am doing wrong??
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Meant to attach pokemon
Saved it as Lcam file to open again later
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Don't know what I did but got it to load in Mach.
Was playing with it in Lcam and then posted code a couple times and then went to Mach and the whole thing was there
Wish I could remember what I did.
Going to do a new drawing and clean the speckles out first and try again but write down what I do.
After a couple tries it should stick in my head
Ya'd think I was blond.haha
Oh well play and play again
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Sorry took so long to post again, but have been getting the machine setup.
Am now engraving. have had some success with all the help here.
Too much software out there to get confused over.
Like the CamBam and Inkscape. I have corel and photoshop too.
So on to playing with images and tracing and all.
Going to make some plaques with grandkids names and some graphics.
Yay,
Earl
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Hi Earl here
Have posted a few times now and
You helped me out getting into Inkscape.
Now problem...............
I take an image and place into my work area on Inkscape, then I also add an area of text.
e.g. Emma's Room
Now I want to turn it all into a workable DXF file.
I seem to be hit and miss on being able to do this.
I try to select all then path/trace and not seem to be picking up
Other steps involved?? find edges before tracing.?
Could you explain one more time.
I have also been playing with CamBam but thinking that get used to
Inkscape, then Lcam then Mach should be lots to deal with
Thanks for help
Earl
ps Been doing some awsome image only engraving of Wile Coyote and the Lightning Mcqueen car and Ariel
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Have been pulling my hair out for two weeks now. Computer (Dell with 2.5 gig mem, 160 gig harddrive, running Windows XP). Computer crashed big time. Had to wipe my harddrive and reinstall programs. You know the drill and the frustrations involved with tasks like that. It didn't solve all my problems.
Next time I re-booted the computer my screen was filled with 30-40 dot dll folders and other files. Deleted them. Rebooted later, same problem.
Discovered that Inkscape and program called DRM Removal Package have some similarly named applications and Dlls buried in them. My computer did not know if it was coming or going when trying to load the programs and it was proliferating the files over and over. In my case the solution was to delete Inkscape because I am using the DRM package regularly. I don't think either program was maliciously attacking my computer - it was just an unfortunate coincidence.
DRM is not a cad or cnc program. It used to convert electronic book formats. Unless you install it, Inkscape should not present problems.
Bob@BobsShop
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I know what you mean.
I can work with my files on cpu in garage, have Mach3, CorelDraw10, and TraceArt on it and occasionally freezes up but the one upstairs in house has so much software on it I need to delete something. Keeps freezing and crashing.
Stopped using Inkscape found Acme TraceArt works very good and saves as DXF for most of what I need.
I am using corelDraw more and am able to export as DXF for Lcam
The more I use coreldraw the more I find I can do with it
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A lot of people want to know how to take a picture and turn it to g code and machine it. I struggled for a long time trying to find the best ways to do this. I now can do a lot of these things. What I invested in was a couple Adobe programs (Photoshop and Illustrator), and obtained Mastercam x3. I rarely use my Autocad, as it seems more suited for mechanical drawing than manipulating artistic renderings. Mastercam will do amazing things with jpeg photos all by itself. you'd be blown away with this amazing cam software. But if you like drawing freehand sketches, you could scan your drawing, then either vectorize it with Illustrator or load it directly in Mcam and let it sort it out. Mastercam X has an art feature that can even make your object 3-D. Long story short, if there's one software you need (besides Mach) try to get Mastercam.