Image to 3D
Posted by Crussell
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Re: Image to 3D June 28, 2013 10:06PM |
Hello,
You are aware that DXF is a vector format? Meaning it consists of curves and/or lines. A raster (or bitmap) image such as JPEG cannot simply be imported into Inkscape and exported to DXF, it won't work, as it will still be a raster image. You need to vectorize it.
See the Inkscape wiki page on how to do that: [wiki.inkscape.org]
I just tried with your hotrod image (cool shape by the way!) and it seems to work pretty well.
First thing is to edit your jpeg first, crop it in your image editor (Gimp, Photoshop...) to keep only one shape, as your jpeg has 5 of them. I saved one jpeg with a filled hotrod, and one with an outline-only hotrod.
I found that the filled one worked best. In the Trace Bitmap parameters, Brightness cutoff didn't work well, and Edge detection seemed to, but produced a double outline rather than a single one. What worked best was Multiple scans/2 passes, in Greys (see capture). But some processing was required afterward. First I deleted the bitmap image and kept only the generated vector object. I right-clicked on it and chose "Ungroup". I got two objects, the filled black hotrod, and a white rectangle (when I hovered over it I could only see the selection rectangle). I deleted the white rectangle. Then I selected the hotod and hit Ctrl+Shift_F to get the Fill and Stroke dialog; in the Fill tab, I clicked on "no paint" to get rid of the black filling, then in the Stroke paint tab, I clicked on "Flat color" to show the outline. Then I saved as SVG, and as DXF.
I do not use OpenSCAD as my brain is not wired for it.
I use FreeCAD which has a complete GUI my non-programmer brain can understand. It can import SVG very well. The DXF was a no-go in FreeCAD because it is made out of spline curves and the DXF importer does not support splines. LibreCAD could open the DXF fine BTW. No idea if OpenSCAD could import it.
So in FreeCAD I opened the SVG and got a series of "path" objects. I got the large rectangle again and deleted it. I was left with a series of paths which represent all the closed outlines making the hotrod. To extrude this I needed to convert all the paths to faces using the Draft Upgrade tool. Then I had to cut the larger face of the hotrod with all the other faces. For that I used the Draft Downgrade tool, one at a time. When I finally got the whole face cut with all the holes, I extruded it with the Part Extrude tool. It may sound tedious but it took me all of 5 minutes tops.
Hope this helps!
You are aware that DXF is a vector format? Meaning it consists of curves and/or lines. A raster (or bitmap) image such as JPEG cannot simply be imported into Inkscape and exported to DXF, it won't work, as it will still be a raster image. You need to vectorize it.
See the Inkscape wiki page on how to do that: [wiki.inkscape.org]
I just tried with your hotrod image (cool shape by the way!) and it seems to work pretty well.
First thing is to edit your jpeg first, crop it in your image editor (Gimp, Photoshop...) to keep only one shape, as your jpeg has 5 of them. I saved one jpeg with a filled hotrod, and one with an outline-only hotrod.
I found that the filled one worked best. In the Trace Bitmap parameters, Brightness cutoff didn't work well, and Edge detection seemed to, but produced a double outline rather than a single one. What worked best was Multiple scans/2 passes, in Greys (see capture). But some processing was required afterward. First I deleted the bitmap image and kept only the generated vector object. I right-clicked on it and chose "Ungroup". I got two objects, the filled black hotrod, and a white rectangle (when I hovered over it I could only see the selection rectangle). I deleted the white rectangle. Then I selected the hotod and hit Ctrl+Shift_F to get the Fill and Stroke dialog; in the Fill tab, I clicked on "no paint" to get rid of the black filling, then in the Stroke paint tab, I clicked on "Flat color" to show the outline. Then I saved as SVG, and as DXF.
I do not use OpenSCAD as my brain is not wired for it.
I use FreeCAD which has a complete GUI my non-programmer brain can understand. It can import SVG very well. The DXF was a no-go in FreeCAD because it is made out of spline curves and the DXF importer does not support splines. LibreCAD could open the DXF fine BTW. No idea if OpenSCAD could import it.So in FreeCAD I opened the SVG and got a series of "path" objects. I got the large rectangle again and deleted it. I was left with a series of paths which represent all the closed outlines making the hotrod. To extrude this I needed to convert all the paths to faces using the Draft Upgrade tool. Then I had to cut the larger face of the hotrod with all the other faces. For that I used the Draft Downgrade tool, one at a time. When I finally got the whole face cut with all the holes, I extruded it with the Part Extrude tool. It may sound tedious but it took me all of 5 minutes tops.
Hope this helps!
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Re: Image to 3D June 29, 2013 04:21AM |
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MattMoses
That's a nice method, NormandC, I hadn't seen one using FreeCAD before.
Thanks. I'm new in the RepRap community and have noticed that FreeCAD is not very well known around here. I hope I can remedy to this situation in some limited way.
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rhmorrison
Inkscape can convert those spline curves to line segments.
Except you loose much quality when converting from spline curves to line segments. Your outline will be jagged. Granted it might not matter for 3D printing but I'm kind of a purist. Also if you ever want to have it laser cut in another material (steel, aluminum...) it won't look good.
The nice thing with FreeCAD is it has good support for SVG now so the DXF conversion from Inkscape is unnecessary. DXF is a closed-source, proprietary and undocumented format after R2000, which is why support on open source software is lacking. For that reason I avoid this format as much as possible.
BTW I was really impressed by that Inkscape trace bitmap function, which I tried for the first time. I remember having much trouble with a product aiming for the same purpose one of my former employers bought 15 years ago from Autodesk which was a companion to AutoCAD. It was so utter cr*p we quickly gave up on it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2013 04:23AM by NormandC.
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Re: Image to 3D June 29, 2013 05:02PM |
Glad I could help Crussell, and don't hesitate to ask if you have questions about FreeCAD use.
I for one prefer to keep my options open and have a design that's as "PURE" as possible without defects. You never know, even if like you say this forum is "only" about 3d printing.
It's easy to take a good CAD surface model and DEGRADE it (yup that's what it is) to an STL. Not so the other way around.
Using all caps on some words just for the fun of it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2013 05:05PM by NormandC.
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rhmorrison
you add additional points so that the quality is more than needed (at least for 3d printing which is what this forum is about).
I for one prefer to keep my options open and have a design that's as "PURE" as possible without defects. You never know, even if like you say this forum is "only" about 3d printing.
It's easy to take a good CAD surface model and DEGRADE it (yup that's what it is) to an STL. Not so the other way around.
Using all caps on some words just for the fun of it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2013 05:05PM by NormandC.
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