wrap bmp to surface and extrude??

[tha89sx]

is this possible,

it was much easier to do this in inventor.

the question is how do you take a bitmap and wrap it to the surface and then use that outline to extrude (emboss)???

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You will need to convert the outline of the bitmap image to vectors in a sketch and wrap that onto the part.

Does Inventor have an automatic bitmap to vector conversion utility?

 

[tha89sx]

yea in inventor you could insert an image and then simply project it on the piece and extrude the sketch.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I would like to see that.

Do you know of a link to a video or demo showing that?
Could you create one and post here?

 

[Theophilus]

Really? Wow. How did it know which pixels were to be extruded and which were not? Or was it an interpretive trace to vector that was somewhat automated? This would be very useful, but I don't know how the software could make proper discernment for the extrusion, given the designer is the one with the "design intent"--not the software.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[tha89sx]

the teacher that i had for inventor created a tutorial set that showed you all the steps in creating it.

i believe its available on the inventor website.

it was used in the creation of a razor(shaving) and the picture was engraved in the piece.

i'm not sure where to look on the website though.

 

[ctopher]

So far all I have found is the wrap in Inventor is similar to PhotoWorks in SolidWorks. It is an illusion of being engraved.
Still searching....

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 1.1
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)
ctopher's blog

 

[tha89sx]

i've contacted the teacher to see if i was right, its been a while since i took that course. and a while since i last used inventor.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

tha89sx ... Did you mean create an actual solid extrude feature from the image or just a 3D textured effect as can be produced by photo editing utilities?

 

[tha89sx]

i was sure that we created a texture from the piece.

it has been a few years, and i hope to hear back from the prof soon. i could be wrong.

it would have been a two color (black and white) logo.

and yes i was looking to create a 3d solid entity that modified the piece, not just a picture.

 

[Theophilus]

I have seen applications that can take bitmaps and perform a trace--those normally use high-contrast images, such as black and white (no gray/color) to automatically perform the trace to vector format.

Once you've got a usable vector format, the rest is fairly simple.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Then as per my first post, you will have to trace the outline of the image (or use a raster to vector conversion program), and then wrap and emboss that onto the surface.

WinTopo Freeware from

http://www.wintopo.com

works fairly well once the correct settings are applied.

 

[Eltron]

I'd be willing to bet that it's just a 2D texture like a tire tread, not a 3D feature.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[mjcole]

In Solid Works it's called Autotrace and it can be used with sketch images to trace lines arcs and splines from images and make them into sketch entities. You can activate it on the Add-inns menu.

This gives the user the ability to select a color to be come transparent as well as pick a color to trace into the sketch which can be wrapped.

Michael

 

[tha89sx]

thanks mjcole

that sounds exactly like what we did.

 

[pdybeck]

AutoTrace is new to 2008, and it only creates sketch entities from an image. You would still have to determine whether to extrude or cut each sketch profile and how far. I have heard of VX or one of those niche CAD products using the shading info from the image to determine this - but I highly doubt Inventor has it.