How do I find this arch!?

[The Vector Doctor]

Trust me... from someone who traces art work all day every day... photos ALL have some sort of distortion. I have had people send me 3 or more views of the same object/art/vehicle and if I trace from one photo and then take that same art and superimpose it onto another they never match

 

[The Vector Doctor]

Here is an example of one sign I am working on now. The first image shows the whole line of type. The letters all appear consistent but they are not. Notice in the third image I dragged the 2nd A over to the first A. They are quite different even though they are both from the same image. The leftmost A is smaller in the photo of the sign

This is from a photo taken of a sign

 

[royster13]

Going off a photograph will usually lead to a world of hurt.....Unless the photograph is taken absolutely straight on at dead center it will be skewed.....

 

[The Vector Doctor]

Going off a photograph will usually lead to a world of hurt.....Unless the photograph is taken absolutely straight on at dead center it will be skewed.....

Even that does not guarantee anything. All shapes to the outside edges will be smaller from lens distortion and they are farther away from the center point of the camera. The farther away you get the less pronounced this becomes

 

[FS-Keith]

Another possibilty is to make it undersized and add a trim around the edge afterwards.
The "foam" moldings bend easy.

dryvit bends easily?

 

[OldPaint]

it small portion of a circle ainti it? dont know how tall that sign edge is from the ground, but would give you a start point to find the true arch. say its 20 feet from the ground to top where the arch is. see what a circle of 20 feet dia. looks like. and i would imagine its going to larger then that. go to 25 ft, 30, 35, 40.....keep going till you see part of the circle looking close to the arch. that should make it confusing enough hey?

 

[signmeup]

Make a template or make another sign after you try to fit the first one... especially since the design has a border. Grinding it to fit on site will make the border wonky.

 

[Billct2]

@FS Keith, not the drivet molding. the cast urethane molding that is available at HD or from a lot of supply houses. I have used it for a lot of signs with simple arch tops. We're doing an overlay on an existing 16' circle sign now, and the original does not have a real clean or even edge, and there is a decorative treatment around the outside. So we will paint some molding to match and tack it around the edge when done. This will hide any imperfections.

 

[FS-Keith]

gotta link to the molding you are referring to?

 

[Billct2]

We use the 3/4" quarter round, the wider the piece the harder the bend
http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/lg_display.cfm/catalog/2010_master_catalog/page/842

 

[phototec]

Here is an example of one sign I am working on now. The first image shows the whole line of type. The letters all appear consistent but they are not. Notice in the third image I dragged the 2nd A over to the first A. They are quite different even though they are both from the same image. The leftmost A is smaller in the photo of the sign

This is from a photo taken of a sign

You don't use the photograph for the final artwork, ONLY for a guide for general placement etc.

Place a scaled photograph on the bottom layer on you vector artwork, dim the image to 50%, now in separate layers above the photograph, you create the true vector artwork, doesn't matter if the "A's" are different, just don't use the ones in the photo, use fonts converted to outline as they are or modify them to match you fonts in the photo, again only use the photo a guide.

Also, I always take my photographs straight on center left to right, and center from top to bottom and shoot with a LONG lens, any lens longer than 50mm equivalent in a 35mm format will have much less distortion then other lenses, I like to use 85mm to 105mm.

 

[TheSnowman]

Just FYI, we just did the cardboard template and it all worked out perfect. Sign came out great. After my installer cut it, I measured it in 8" sections from the bottom of the arch, and connected those dots so that my border around the outside matched. It would have probably been fine, but it was dead on this way.