3D Signage

[openwood]

I was asked to create two versions of this peice.on flat and painted and the other in 3D.We have a very talented carver in the shop,but it is very time consuming and we wanted to take it as far as possible for him first.What kind of software would you design it on and what software would run the cnc.
Thanks
Brian

 

[openwood]

hopefully the pic will come up this time.I dont have to copy the design excactly.just have to make it look good.

 

[MAB SIGNS]

How large? Would cast be better for something like this? I would think a good Autocad designer could lay this out. Not familiar with 3-D progrmas but I'm sure Autocad does this. I'll show it to our Architectural Designer on Monday and post his comments.

Mark

 

[dennis j]

Brian,

I think that this one may be a bit difficult to design hope some one will be able to let the both of us know for sure. :

 

[openwood]

This is the progress that I have made so far.
Started by making a v groove with auto carve
Then created a clean out for the bottom with W inlayed.
Cant figure out how I am going to do the scroll work.
Will have to have the carver do This by hand.
This Design is very similar to how this Sheild is done in print.

 

[openwood]

Here is the second try with the shape cut out.
I think i can make the middle top prizmatic and make it look good.
We had to creat some pretty complex AI files to produce this.Hope to find a better way.
Brian

 

[openwood]

This is the design that I am tring to work with.I want the flat version to be somewhat similar to the dimensional version.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Actually AutoCAD sucks for 3D designing - unless you are talking about Mecahnical Desktop or Inventor. I use Unigraphics everyday at my day job (hi-end 3D solid modeling package, very similar to Boeing's CATIA if you know what that is). A very good alternative is SolidWorks and is more affordable for smaller businesses. It's still around $3-$5k for a copy, but that's nothing compared to somewhere in the neighborhood of $25k a seat for Unigraphics (plus the monthly fees and other garbage they hit you with). I know very very little about CNC routing for signs, but have done CNC work on a metal lathe and mill, so I do know how those operate and would assume signage would be similar. I used 2D AutoCAD for some simple metal parts, but would not use it for 3D work unless someone has made a plug-on module for it that I'm not aware of. Would like to get into this, but it seems WAY outta my financial reach right now.

 

[Mike]

Have you looked into ArtCam they have great 3D software used for CNC

 

[openwood]

uw sheild

The peice is finally finished.The uw liked them and oredered two of them. one 16 inches tall and one 19 inches tall.I will post pictures as soon as i can.There was alot of hand carving that went into the peice about 20 hours per sheild.
Sorry I havent been around much.I am remodeling my house and have not been at the computer much.
we are still hopeing that we can take the peice alot further with 3D design software.
Brian

 

[dennis j]

Brian,
Looking forward to seeing photos good luck with the remodeling project.