WELCOME!


It is hard to believe that it was only seven 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 - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Through extensive research I quickly found out that with the relative simplicity of EnRoute, CNC routers were capable of just about anything imaginable. This journal will chronicle that journey to date and continue each week with two or three entries as we continue to explore just what is possible with this wonderful software... -dan

Monday, June 27, 2011

No sour grapes here!

The basic vectors for the Harold Fine Wines sign were created in EnRoute. No real scale was set - as the important thing was the proportions.


Then I built the basic shapes for the crowns and added the curved lettering. This is what was imported to EnRoute.


In EnRoute I built more vector shapes, including the individual grapes and the scroll wings.


The individual scroll elements were duplicated and pulled to the side. Using the jigsaw tool it was a one click operation to create the shapes I needed, then use the original vectors to locate the shapes.


The lower scroll was created in the same fashion.


 The grapes were created as domes, then floated into position vertically one at a time, in the front view, using the up down arrows. Once I was happy I merged highest with the background.


The outside oval was created with a dome top and then textured using a bitmap from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection.



The scrolls were created as flat reliefs and then modified using the oval vectors. These will be routed separately and then glued into place.


The lettering was 'engraved' into the oval using the conic tool. The scroll and crown reliefs were raised to the full two inch depth of the bottom piece f Precision Board. Then the top layer of reliefs will be glued on after they are routed. I've decided to create the grape ;eaves by hand using sculpting epoxy.


Another piece is ready for the MultiCam.

-dan