This week Neil has shown us different softwares for 2D, 2,5D and 3D.

Assignments

Gimp

GIMP is a free and open-source raster graphics editor. I use Gimp to edit photos, mainly to adjust exposure, brightness and contrast and to change to black and white. These operations are often very useful before vectorizing an image with Inkscape. They make it possible to highlight the parts of the image to preserve with the vectorization.

Another interesting Gimp tool is the Newsprint filter. It allows to create an image composed of dots. Once created, it will be possible to vectorize it and use it with laser cutting or CNC machine.

Original image Modified image

How to do

Open the image
Switch to grayscale mode
Adjust exposure (colors menu)
Adjust contrast and brightness (colors menu)
Use the newsprint filter
Set the parameters (1)

(1) It is important to adjust the size of the dots to facilitate the vectorization step with Inkscape.

Inkscape

My use

At La Machinerie we used to use Inkscape. It has the advantage of being free, multi-platform, and licensed under the GNU GPL license. It can be taken in hand by almost any public for basic uses. It is also very tolerant and can open, import and save many types of vector and raster files. There are many extensions to explore, but one of the most used at La Machinerie is Inkstitch to generate embroidery files.

How to vectorize

Import the image (file menu)
Trace bitmap (path menu)
Set the parameters
Final result

How to Crop

Align and distribute

Fusion 360

Make a parametric box

When making stuff, they often need to design and make boxes to house electronic cards, decorative objects, furniture … As far as I’m concerned, I would need to design 4-sided boxes to create the 3 containers for my final project. These must be easily modifiable to adjust their dimensions to the users’s needs. Fusion 360 is a parametric design software so it allows this.

Maker case is a box generator and it’s a good alternative to design boxes without 3D modeling software. You just have to set the units, dimensions, material thickness, joint type and it generates the plan (DXF or SVG). With the options you can combine the panel layout, define the kerf and make dogbones for CNC machining.

Step by step method to design parametric box

Importing SVG

Fusion allows to import SVG file to use it as sketch. After importation you can use the SVG path to make a solid by extruding, revolving…

Downloads

Links

Inkscape

Inkscape extensions

Inkstitch

Maker case box generator

Gimp distorts newsprint