# Carving Quality



## Birdflu (Nov 6, 2007)

Hello, I've been curious about CNC and have been viewing lots of images, programs and such.

One thing I've noticed and wondered about is the way the machine cuts into the material.

For example, I see some carvings where the borders of the image appears to have been cut with a plunge vs a lateral cut.

Having experimented with the software before it expires, I've found that the cutting images when very carefully edited (photoshop) created very crisp edges (not normally found in .bmp image files). Comparing the same images in JPG and BMP, JPG edited images were much more crisp in the programme. My question: Do JPG images produce a better carve? Are lateral cuts vs plunge cuts made possible by using crispier images?

I hope this is clear. I don't own a machine and am wondering what some of the owners of these machines experience.

Many Thanks


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## Kristin D (Nov 20, 2007)

Birdflu said:


> Hello, I've been curious about CNC and have been viewing lots of images, programs and such.
> 
> One thing I've noticed and wondered about is the way the machine cuts into the material.
> 
> ...


Not having any experiance with these machines either but I did work for a year or so cleaning up graphics for a Laser and Waterjet cutting place, all these machines used vector graphics to cut, bitmaps or jpg's would have sent the servo motors into a convulsion. I would suspect the software that comes with does some conversion on whatever image you input. I just found a website that will do free bitmap to vector conversions without too much trouble http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/ and you can save your artwork and download EPS and SVG vectors which should work for most CNC at least in 2D, if nothing else it makes a quick way to scale a small graphic for making a pattern for hand cutting. 

Kristin


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

HI Birdflu

"the way the machine cuts" = think of it as a PC printer (plotter) but wood is under the head...and it prints (cuts) in 3D...
The software looks at the whole page and sets it up about the same...X-Y-Z all points have a address...

The more dots the better the cut (print out ) same is true for the CNC but when it comes to jpg files the more junk you have in the background well you see what I mean...what the software sees it will cut in 3D...white background is a " 0 " the norm...a dot in the background is a ( 01 ) so to speak..


hope this helps









Birdflu said:


> Hello, I've been curious about CNC and have been viewing lots of images, programs and such.
> 
> One thing I've noticed and wondered about is the way the machine cuts into the material.
> 
> ...


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## Birdflu (Nov 6, 2007)

Many thanks for the quick information. I've checked out the vectormagic site and found it quite interesting. My conclusion is the better quality image used , the better the results carved. The more pixels the better. Thanks again.


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## Kristin D (Nov 20, 2007)

Birdflu said:


> Many thanks for the quick information. I've checked out the vectormagic site and found it quite interesting. My conclusion is the better quality image used , the better the results carved. The more pixels the better. Thanks again.


In a way true, but the difference between Vector Graphics and Bitmaps is the shapes are made up of curves, lines etc. rather than individual dots. Much the same as a film photograph will be sharper than a halftone as is printed say in a newspaper or magazine.


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