Wood Portraits.

[K Roberts]

Some of my work:

[Rick Gibson]

What did you use to convert the original picture to a scroll saw design.

Rick

[K Roberts]

I used a computer graphics package. There's a process to create the pattern. Gary Browning's book, "Scroll Saw Portraits" is a great place to start. If you would like more info don't hesitate to ask. :)

[Charlie Self]

K Roberts states:

WHAT computer graphics package?

Charlie Self "Health food makes me sick." Calvin Trillin

[K Roberts]

The one I use is Paint Shop Pro, but almost any graphics package will do the general steps needed to render a pattern. You would need a basic working knowledge of graphics (i.e. layers, contrast enhancement, blur filters, etc).

Cheers. :)

[Glen]

I'm asking, I'm asking!

I am very impressed and intrigued by your work, however I know next to nothing about layers, contrast enhancement, blur filters, etc. If you would like to pontificate a bit I would love to learn how you do it.

Thanks, Glen

[Dusty Workshop]

Here is a link which describes the process in better detail:

this is of help Charlie, and others.

Dusty

"You give a man an inch and he thinks he's a ruler." Maxwell Smart (Agent 86)

[Eddie Munster]

perhaps lview pro. Most anything for image manipulations

image filters, contour, find edge, postorize. Commands vary with program used. It's very simple really. In fact Charlie, since your into taking digital pictures it may be you have something on your machine right now but haven't played around with it. If not look for some freeware. If you play with it you will get a feel for it. Very easy.

John

Charlie Self wrote:

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 12:41:45 GMT, "Glen" brought forth from the murky depths:

Corel Trace could also be used to do that, guys.

[Kerry Roberts]

Hi Glen. Thanks for the compliment. I will do my best to explain the process as I do it using Paint Shop Pro 7. Paint Shop Pro can be downloaded from here

for a free 60 day trial.

I take the picture I am working with and delete any unwanted portions (usually the background). You can do this a number of ways. You can use the "eraser" tool or you can use the trace tool to trace out around the subject and then delete the selections you come up with until you are left with only the content you want to work with.

Next I make the picture greyscale by selecting "colors", "greyscale". Then I click "selections" "select all" and then ctrl-c to copy that content to the clipboard (this is going to be used to do the layers).

Now I select "colors", "adjust brightness/contrast". Set the contrast to 100% and then adjust the brightness as desired. The way I do this is I focus on an individual feature at a time. I start with the eyes and adjust the brightness until I get the desired look (don't worry about the rest for now). Once the individual feature you are working with is ok select "OK". Now the important part, select "Edit", "Paste as new layer" - you will now get your greyscale image pasted in a new layer. Again, select "colors" "adjust brightness/contrast" and work on the next feature. When you select ok this time what you need to do is select the ERASER tool and erase everything around the feature you just worked on. What this will do is leave you with the first layer work (the eyes say) and then the feature you just worked on. Do this until the entire image looks good.

Once you have done this for all the features, select, "Layers", "Merge", "Merge all layers".

Now you need to get rid of the rough edges on the image. To do this select "Effects" "Noise" "Median Filter" set the number here as desired.

Lastly you will need to manually join any floating segments in the wood by using the paint brush tool (eg. the eye sparkle is a common one that needs to be joined to the continuos wood piece).

What I do then is use the fill tool and select a pattern like "old paper" and fill the "white section" so I get an idea of what the end wood portrait will look like and make any last minute touch ups by looking at that.

*phew* that was a lot of typing. :)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask or contact me directly. Cheers. :)

~ Kerry

[Glen]

Thanks. I am anxious to give it a try.

Glen