Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 47

Thread: Mirror

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    1,843
    I use an old copy of Photoshop CS - adjust to 8bit gray scale, adjust the picture by eye (this doesn't take too long as I use to be a photographer in a past life), I size and save as a .TIFF (my preferred image type), pull into Corel. I use Epilog's dithering, depending on the substrate.
    Tim
    There are Big Brain people & Small Brain people. I'm one of the Big Brains - with a lot of empty space.- me
    50W Fiber - Raycus/MaxPhotonics - It's a metal eating beast!
    Epilog Fusion M2 50/30 Co2/Fiber - 2015
    Epilog Mini 24 – 35watt - 2006 (Original Tube)
    Ricoh SG3110DN
    - Liberty Laser LLC

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Sacramento CA
    Posts
    81
    ok so i came out with my first ok and visible copy of a mirror. i dont know if it looks all that great............. but i know what it is and i guess that is a start. any input from anyone on what i need to still do to get a better look would be great thanks. i know the pic is not that visible i found it harder to take the pic of the mirror then it was to make the mirror..
    Attached Images Attached Images
    epilog legendEXT 120watts 36x24, corel x4, ps cs3, photograv 2.11






    You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    1,840
    Devon.....I feel your pain when it comes to taking pictures of mirrors!

    I did find that laying it flat on a table and angling your camera so that the reflection is of your ceiling works OK (unless you have water stains from a leaky roof!) or standing it up on the floor with your camera angled such that the reflection is of the floor (assuming you mopped/vacuumed first). Also, if you find an angle such that it doesn't LOOK like a mirror (and you WANT it to) then put a quarter or can of Campbell's soup (it worked for Andy Worhal) or some other generic item on or near it.

    BTW.....yours looks great.
    Epilog Mini 24 - 45 Watt, Corel Draw X5, Wacom Intuos Tablet, Unengraved HP Laptop, with many more toys to come.....





    If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas... George B. Shaw

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Suquamish, WA
    Posts
    125

    mirror

    Devon

    I was reading your post on mirrors and am trying to figure out where you are having problems. Your laser shouldn't have any problems so I suspect it is the process you're using.
    Resize your photo to the size of your mirror. This one is 20 by 36. Set your dpi of the photo to 300dpi. Don't forget to flip the image manually or in photograv. I use the cherry setting in photograv. The mirror quality is important, cheaper ones don't require near the power to engrave. My laser is 75 watts, I use 50 speed and 100 power. You know it is set right if the back of the mirror is stripped of all the gray paint and the black areas of your photo are cleared of both of tin and copper layers. Clean the back very well so the paint will stick. Paint with several coats of gloss black paint. Very important.... Do not resize or even crop the photo after you run it in photograv. I don't know about the gold method but I suspect it would be the same. The pattern in the mirrored areas is the texture on my ceiling. These are hard to photograph so it is much clearer in person.
    duane
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Suquamish, WA
    Epilog Legend 36EXT 75 Watt
    CorelDraw 2.0 thru X7

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Sacramento CA
    Posts
    81
    ya well at work we have the kinda celling that has black holes all over it and the walls are all different colors so it was a pain to take that pic.

    as for the mirror i like it but think it can be touched up and would like to at some point be able to use it without photograv and tweek every pic differently as needed but i am happy.................. so far. i had a question about it too. if i were to make it a neg and engrave it could i then use color fill or something to paint colors to different parts to make it more like the movie poster? or is that just too much?
    epilog legendEXT 120watts 36x24, corel x4, ps cs3, photograv 2.11






    You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Moreton, Wirral, UK
    Posts
    3,287
    Devon, no offence is being intended here mate, so far all you have done is make a post and ask if you should be doing something else. Someone then posts a recommendation and you don't respond to what they put.

    Why don't you tell us what method you decided to choose and what the result of it was. I sent you a pm at the beginning of this post about how you should just try the Epilog print driver on it's own. Tim Bateson has also said that he gets great results and used the Epilog driver, he even went as far to give speed and power.

    How about you help all of us and explain in some detail so someone can give you advice and know if you took any notice of it.
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  7. #37
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Sacramento CA
    Posts
    81
    no offence at all i have tried everything that has been sugested to me so far. i have cherry wood with sucki and jarvis and photograv and altho i liked the face detail that stucki gives me it is still too dark and if the image has too much detail in it that does not seem to show up for me. jarvis is ok but not as much detail as stucki but the background is a little more visible. photograv gives me the most detail as far as the entire pic goes. the settings i am using on mirror are cherry wood in photograv, 400dpi image (less then that looks bad and more then that engraves too much in my opinion) i run it at 50 speed and 100 power it only takes me one run to make it and comes out well as clean as you can see in the pic. it could be that i am using was to in detail images but who knows? i just figured i would try something harder then a pic of someone's face. if there are anymore suggestions i am open for them if i have seemed like i have not took your advice or listened to you in any way i have a lot going on sense i only get online at work and can play with this stuff at work along with the jobs i have already.
    epilog legendEXT 120watts 36x24, corel x4, ps cs3, photograv 2.11






    You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Moreton, Wirral, UK
    Posts
    3,287
    Did you try what I suggested originally. Without stucki/floyd or any of them, just normal using Epilogs drivers?

    The image that you try to put onto mirror needs to be of a certain quality, the image that you put on the mirror of a movie poster looks like something dragged off the web. Get hold of a decent image, convert it to greyscale, make sure you have 300dpi and try engraving that at 300dpi. If it is too dark, again using Epilogs driver, choose the lighten which is right alongside Stucki/floyd etc.

    If you convert your image into greyscale using Corel Draw, then you will be exactly where you started, with a 72dpi picture. Use photoshop of XnView to do your conversion. As a suggestion, you appear to have Photograv. There are some images stored in one of the folders which are 300 dpi, you might want to try one of those.
    Last edited by Frank Corker; 03-12-2009 at 1:05 PM.
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  9. #39
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Sacramento CA
    Posts
    81
    ok i will try it again, i got the image off of the watchmen site i think it was a 400 dpi pdf but i cant remember. and i hate corel when it comes to editing photos i only use photoshop i wish someone would give me both in one program..................photorel would be nice......................... ill post what i get with your settings within an hour or so
    epilog legendEXT 120watts 36x24, corel x4, ps cs3, photograv 2.11






    You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Moreton, Wirral, UK
    Posts
    3,287
    As a suggestion, you appear to have Photograv. There are some images stored in one of the folders which are 300 dpi, you might want to try one of those.
    Epilog 45w Helix X3/X5 Corel Microflame Generator (flame polisher) Heat Bender


  11. #41
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Suquamish, WA
    Posts
    125

    epilog driver and dithering

    Devon

    Photograv dithers your picture. The Epilog driver should be set to standard if you are using Photograv or any other dithering process. With it set to say jarvi you are dithering the photo twice. That would sure cause some quality problems.
    duane
    Suquamish, WA
    Epilog Legend 36EXT 75 Watt
    CorelDraw 2.0 thru X7

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Sacramento CA
    Posts
    81
    well this is what i got with 50 speed, 100 power, 300dpi

    the pics are not that great but brighten looks the best but you can see black dots through out the entire image....... can you get rid of that?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    epilog legendEXT 120watts 36x24, corel x4, ps cs3, photograv 2.11






    You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Glenelg, MD
    Posts
    12,256
    Blog Entries
    1
    Devon,

    It often helps to put some non-reflective object somewhere in the picture but in the same plane of the mirror for the camera to focus on, like a block of wood at the top of the mirror. Bring the piece of wood closer to the center of the image, then crop it out when it comes time to post.
    Hi-Tec Designs, LLC -- Owner (and self-proclaimed LED guru )

    Trotec 80W Speedy 300 laser w/everything
    CAMaster Stinger CNC (25" x 36" x 5")
    USCutter 24" LaserPoint Vinyl Cutter
    Jet JWBS-18QT-3 18", 3HP bandsaw
    Robust Beauty 25"x52" wood lathe w/everything
    Jet BD-920W 9"x20" metal lathe
    Delta 18-900L 18" drill press

    Flame Polisher (ooooh, FIRE!)
    Freeware: InkScape, Paint.NET, DoubleCAD XT
    Paidware: Wacom Intuos4 (Large), CorelDRAW X5

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hutto, Texas
    Posts
    214
    Quote Originally Posted by Devon Jones View Post
    but you can see black dots through out the entire image....... can you get rid of that?


    I tried doing a picture on a 12x12 mirror we bought at HD (Stanley Brand as was mentioned previously on this thread). I ran several sample images where I tried various differences in contrast/brightness and also samples from Photograv. It appears that I have the power/speed settings correctly, as it burns through the backing perfectly without frosting the mirror. Ok, now for the problem, At 300 dpi the picture is loaded with the tiny black dots, at 600 dpi they are less noticible but still there. I resampled and enlarged the two processes that I thought came out the best (not photograv btw) into 1000 dpi and ran it that way, now of course there is very little detail because the dots overlapped. Is it that I am using too small of a photo in the samples and that is why it is doing this? Or is there something I am missing here and just not going through all the steps. Enclosed is the original photo and a copy of the test strips that I did.
    And yes Frank, I have learned from you to be patient and run test strips first before tackling something new and building a large scrap pile . I already have enough granite scrap pieces to build a full size patio with various pictures in different states before learning that. I just dont want to have to tile the outside of my house in mirrors as well.
    Last edited by John W. Love; 03-18-2009 at 8:13 PM. Reason: duplicate quote
    John & Alicia Love
    Pinnacle M series 40 Watt Laser
    Coreldraw X3, Photograv V2_11,
    an old handsaw and a garage full of toys.
    4 Kids (3 girls one boy), 4 grandkids, a Bloodhound, St. Bernard and a boxer.
    The dogs own the place and allow us to live with them.

    I Like kids... I just can't eat a whole one
    Save the whales... Collect the whole set
    The mind is like a parachute, it only works if its open

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hutto, Texas
    Posts
    214
    Well, try as I might I can't seem to get a good enough picture of the mirror to explain what it was I was talking about. I will post the original photo and then the corel file. Maybe that will help explain a lil more about what I am trying to accomplish
    Attached Files Attached Files
    John & Alicia Love
    Pinnacle M series 40 Watt Laser
    Coreldraw X3, Photograv V2_11,
    an old handsaw and a garage full of toys.
    4 Kids (3 girls one boy), 4 grandkids, a Bloodhound, St. Bernard and a boxer.
    The dogs own the place and allow us to live with them.

    I Like kids... I just can't eat a whole one
    Save the whales... Collect the whole set
    The mind is like a parachute, it only works if its open

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •