Engraving a Black Lab BMP

[Bill George]

So I am trying to do a little memorial for our beautiful black lab who died a few years ago. I realize if she would have been a golden it would have been a lot easier. I did a couple engravings in wood of my grand daughter which turned out pretty decent so I know the process.

On the trial engraving I can see the dogs white under the muzzle, noise and eyes pretty good but the rest is kind of lost when it ends up being shades of black.

Any suggestions?

[Robert Walters]

Bill,

Condolences.

Can you post the photo you are working with?
Someone may have some ideas to help out.

[Bill George]

JoyLgNoBRUpLoad.cdr


This is a greyscale not the BW 1 Bit used with either Stucki or Jarvis dithering. I then added some text.

She gained fame down at our lake place by diving under water to retrieve rocks and bringing them up on shore. My wife tried to throw the rocks back in but Joy would have no part of that. So my wife decided to just build a rock wall around her flower garden. No we did not throw rocks in the lake, Joy took it upon herself to just start bringing them up on shore!

[Bill Stearns]

Bill G -
Certainly sorry for your loss. I do quite 'few pet memorial type plaques, so I understand how much people love 'n miss their pets. I, myself, have an aging black lab (11 years old); she's on medication for a serious urinary problem. Doing what I can for her, but don't know what tomorrow will bring; a tough decision ahead I imagine. Anyways: Engraving dark furred animals, I have had some success using CorelDraw's "quick select tool" to chose just the animal - then "color balance" - changing the black to a fairly bright color like green, or orange; lightening 'n adjusting as necessary. (doesn't always work, where the fur is absolute black with no variance.) Have also found that by using CD's "smart sharpen", under filters menu - and over-doing it - I can often bring out different textures in [even] dark fur - for engraving purposes. (Again - not always.) Lastly: I use bitmap/greyscale (8 bits) - if someone could explain to me the advantage of using 1 Bit 'stead, I'd sure appreciate it. (Again, Bill - sorry for your loss.)

Bill S.

[Bill George]

Bill I thought it had to be BW 1 bit for the dithering to work? Otherwise you would not get the detail, maybe I viewed that video wrong.

We had to put Joy down because she had a non curable cancer. That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life and I have lost both my parents. But she was 10 years old which is old for a big dog.

[Bill George]

Could have been a little darker, as perhaps a bit more power but for black on black....

[Bill Cunningham]

Animal fur does not reflect light like human hair does. Sometimes it helps to put a tiny bit of 'emboss' on the picture to let the fur stand out a bit. Removing the background is a must, and leaving a very thin outline around the outside of the dog also helps to define the parameters of the etch.

[Bill George]

Thanks for the reply Bill. I ended up redoing the engrave on a new piece of wood (with a little more power) and it came out very nice. I also did one on black granite, inverting and then removing the now black background with the Eraser function. Did exactly as you have suggested above, left a little black all around the edges. On the black granite it also came out excellent.

I know you own Photograv and I have it ordered. My question is about adding text to the final send to laser image. After its done in Photograv do you import into Corel and then add text without editing the PG image of course. But I have to save and Export to LaserCut, in what format, 8 bit greyscale and no dithering?

[Bill Cunningham]

I always bring the PG image into Corel and ad the text . PGing the text particularly if it's small usually ends up with inferior text. I also engrave each separately. The image needs a dif. Power/speed than the text. Particularly in granite

[Bill George]

Thanks Bill and if you Export the entire completed file is it a 8 bit Greyscale and not dithered as the PG file is already completed. Or just select the text and export it leaving the PG file as is?

[Bill Cunningham]

If I have processed the image in PG and added text I just send the monochrome image to the laser from corel, usually 70-80 speed & 60% power. For the text I usually hit it harder .. 25% speed 100 power

[Bill George]

If I have processed the image in PG and added text I just send the monochrome image to the laser from corel, usually 70-80 speed & 60% power. For the text I usually hit it harder .. 25% speed 100 power

Bill used PG today to do Joy again. Saved the ENG file as a BMP Imported into Corel Draw, added Text , Exported as a grayscale. Used 400mm/Sec About 18 watts, it came out very nice, this is black granite. Thanks for your help.