3D ART creation software and methods

[r691175002]

Doesn't look particularly difficult although you need to be comfortable with several programs.

Grab a free 3d model off the internet of whatever you are looking for. Position your camera however you want and render a depth map.
Take the depth map and adjust the contrast as desired then dither it into a 1 bit image and you are done.

I'd be using cinema4d and photoshop but all these functions are very basic and available in open source software (blender/paint.net).



From the discussion in this thread I'm not sure you are aware of how common and easy to make depth maps are, just take a look on google images:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=depth+map ... 40&bih=809

Since we are generally interested in a very narrow range of depth while these may spread the 256 steps over a large distance you will need to play with contrast. Most decent software should be able to export 16 or higher bit depth maps as well.
To get a decent engrave out of them I would mess with the level curves and contrast and probably use a local contrast filter as well.

[gene]

I'll probably mess around with this some when I get the 2.x laser built. I currently use David laserscanner and a green laser to scan 3d wood carvings. I use cnc routers to cut but wouldn't mind seeing what the laser can do with grayscale heightmapping. The results of commercial laser offerings for 3d heightmap cutting is pretty impressive but prohibitively expensive