[JOAT]

Or you could get plans and make a copy carver. There are free plans and pay plans out there. These look like they are 3d to me, and I've seen a lot smaller.

 

[JOAT]

And a few more. The machine is called various names, copy carver, dupli carver, and I don't know what all else.

 

[JOAT]

Sorry I am not doing a good job of explaining this. I don't want to copy an existing item. I want to start with a picture and turn that into a carved "half piece".
I only need one side shaped and the other side flat so I can attach it to a box.

I have used my scroll saw and cut out shapes for boxes. The shape has 3 dimensions but I can't change those dimensions across the piece.

What I have done, for example, is find a side view picture of a bird on the internet, print the picture, transfer that to a piece of wood, and cut it out with my scroll saw but The bird shape will be the same thickness across the entire piece of wood.

I want to be able to have his belly or bill etc. be thinner or thicker than the rest of the shape. I want to produce what Theo has in his last picture of the eagle but not copied from another piece.

Ah. I think that is one reason sandpaper was invented. I have an iggle above the door of my corporate headquarters. It is flat, mainly because I wanted it flat. But I would have no problem with shaping it with sandpaper, and whatever else I needed to shape it. If I screwed it up, I'd just make another, and start over. Then I could say that "I" did it.

My Tikis tho are a bit too large for that, but still turned into 3d images using precision tools. Chainsaw to start. I would post a picture, but something happened to it.