Gold Method

[greg lindsey]

Having trouble in the search ..looking for a link to the Gold Method

Thanks,
Greg

[Samuel Espy]

Try this post. (9th post)

[Steve Busey]

I'm going to add the old Frank Corker post to this thread, so it will show up in a future search for "Gold Method"!

Well, things are looking pretty positive then. This is the original script that Rodney came up with. The actions are just a way of doing it automatically without having to give it much thought.

1) Convert to 8 bit greyscale (image/mode/greyscale)
2) Resize the image to the size its gonna get engraved using 150-300 ppi (150 for less detail)
(image/image size)
3) Bump up contrast and brightness about +25 in both cases - you don't want the pic to be insipid areas of medium grey. (image/adjustments/brightess-contrast)
4) Here's the VITAL part - use Unsharp mask at 500% and a radius of 3-5 pixels - threshold 0 - this will exaggerate edges radically , but that's what you need. In fact, you can do this and then STILL add another Unsharp mask at 150 %, 1 pixel and 0 threshold AFTER the 1st Unsharp if you want even more edge detection (filter/sharpen/unsharp mask)
5) Convert to a bitmap using 125-150ppi and a diffusion pattern. (image/mode/bitmap)
5) Laser.

That is basically all that is in the actions script, except that when you do it manually it takes a few minutes, using this it takes about 30 seconds. The way I have configured it even removes the requirement to choose the correct dpi settings and get the positive and negative issued dealt with.

I'm sorry for those of you who have Elements and Photopaint, I don't have them on my computer so not too aware of what's available. I'm sure that someone will be able to sort out something similar for other programs.