WELCOME!

It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one of these machines - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Along with the CNC router I discovered the wonderful material called Precision Board and the glues, primers and other companion products they offer. Since then we have gone through many tons of the material using it in most signs and projects we tackle. This journal will chronicle our many adventures both past, present and future. I'll talk from the perspective of someone who pushes these products to the creative limit on a daily basis. I'll be adding to the stories two or three times each week. -dan

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Drifting along...

For Aaron's name plaque decided a driftwood backing would be cool. I drew up a quick sketch using Letterhead Font's Quickdraw for the lettering. It's one of my fonts.


As I looked at the bitmaps in the TEXTURE Magic collection I decided to go with the vertical driftwood   instead of the horizontal version I had drawn in my sketch.


The first task was to quickly draw in the vectors by tracing the driftwood bitmap.


After creating a slightly domed relief I applied the bitmap.


Then, using the sculpting tool I enhanced and deepened the grain of the wood, making the areas I have drawn in red deeper.


The border for Arron was created as a flat relief.


I selected this flat relief and a vector circle I had drawn around it. Then I modified the letter border relief by doming it the same amount I had applied to the wood background.


I positioned the lettering border within the driftwood and adjusted the height vertically in the front view.


After merging the last step was to create the lettering by modifying the relief. The lettering was prismatic in style.


As per usual the file was routed from 1.5" 30 lb Precision Board. The MultiCam made short with of the file and it was now ready for paint.


Stay tuned for more nameplates...

-dan