All good info, Phil. Thanks!
David
David
Not actually. I get a lot of inspiration from pictures, for a lot of my projects. Including some furniture pieces I will eventually get around to. All I use are a pencil, eraser, graph paper, and possibly a ruler. I figure out the dimensions after I have something laid out that I like the looks of. I've been making stuff with wood long before CAD was even thought of, didn't need it then, don't need it now. I actually sketch a rough picture of a lot of things, in spiral notebooks, but nothing like 1/4" graph paper for laying out a finished design.First, you need to have some CAD skills.
For my method, you do. I'd like to see a post describing your's in detail, though.Not actually. I get a lot of inspiration from pictures, for a lot of my projects. Including some furniture pieces I will eventually get around to. All I use are a pencil, eraser, graph paper, and possibly a ruler. I figure out the dimensions after I have something laid out that I like the looks of. I've been making stuff with wood long before CAD was even thought of, didn't need it then, don't need it now. I actually sketch a rough picture of a lot of things, in spiral notebooks, but nothing like 1/4" graph paper for laying out a finished design.
If you are reproducing a commercial product from an ad, they almost always have overall measurements. Also, museums often list measurements. But lacking that, you have the right idea. Also, there are standard heights, widths, lengths that can be used. For example, kitchen counters are almost always 36"/90cm high give or take a few percent. Tables and desks are typically 30"/76cm high. There are standards on the internet for lots of things. Here's one for furniture. One for human males.Interesting thread Phil using a well thought out process. Out of curiosity what did you use for the scaling. I was thinking the coasters are usually a fairly standard size. I guess these tables also have a fairly standard height? I have and am fairly fluent in AutoCAD (older version) but not familiar with importing pictures. I'll have to look at that. Mostly I used it for mechanical HVAC system ductwork design and custom control schematics.I also have a tendency to draw out my projects before hand. Seems to let me make less mistakes when I know ahead what is being done. A lot like being woken up at 3am by the squad tones (in building dorm with lights coming on and announcement over the speaker) and hearing this distorted voice giving the address and details of the call. Makes no sense until I write down the address and then I remember it clearly seldom transposing the address numbers.
I'll read the blog and maybe save it as a PDF for future reference if that's permissible.
Actually, I use several methods. None involving CAD or CNC machines (my CNC is Coffee n Cookies - yesterday was coffe and some very tasty chochalet chip cookies). I'll break down the different methods, that will keep me less confused.For my method, you do. I'd like to see a post describing your's in detail, though.
Yep, but I'm not done yet.The kind of stuff you do doesn't really need CAD. Anything with a lot of parts or moving parts or complex joinery benefits significantly, though.
Nah, I actually would not want to copy the curves of that chair. First because I don't want to make a copy of the chair. Second, way I figure it, the chair is contoured to the designer, not me. Blowing it up, and tracing, is only a start, so I could start on designing curves that would be comfortable for me, THAT is what would get me there. Certainly there is something visible to use as a reference, the picture, and the idea of the curves. I'd just design it the length I would want, and width I would want, I don't much care about measurements otherwise. If I made something like that (don't plan on it) the curves would be custom fit to me. I chose this chair as an example because I think it would be simple - the only part not so simple would be getting the curves fit to me, likely take some time on that, after that, easy peasy.You can always find exceptions to any rule.
The reason why you would want to copy the curves of the chair is that they are probably based on some amount of experience and/or research into what makes a comfortable outline. To get it right, you would need to use some sort of perspective correction - just blowing it up and tracing doesn't get you there. Though, in the case of that picture, there isn't anything visible to use as a reference. Overall dimensions could be used to get pretty close. No question, this is a hard one to use as a reference design.
I built this table by scaling it off of this picture. Came out really good.The recent thread on the Roman Potter's tray got me thinking about how to take a photo (or painting) and come up with a design of the pictured object. I do this sort of thing fairly often and a number of comments made me realize there is interest in how one might do that. The following post is an abbreviated version of my blog post here.
If you've been woodworking for a while, you've probably had someone come to you with a picture asking "can you make this?" Or perhaps your spouse shows you a picture of a piece of furniture that is wildly expensive but doesn't look that hard to make. If nothing else, it's an opportunity to acquire a tool with spousal approval! But how do you go from picture to plans?
First, you need to have some CAD skills. You don't need to be a maestro at it but do need to be able make a simple drawing and add dimensions. Here are the basic steps:
- Modify the photo to correct for perspective distortion.
- Find a reference object of known (or knowable) size. In the Roman Potter thread, I used the guy's arm as a reference.
- Scale the corrected photo so the reference object is the correct size.
- Dimension the important features.
- "Normalize" the dimension so they are consistent with standard sizes.
- Trace out any profiles for later use in modeling.
- Use the dimensions and profile(s) to model the object.
In the photos, you can see a picture of an end-table I own. I applied perspective correction to the photo (see blog for more details on what software you could use). Imported the photo into CAD software. Usually you will have overall dimensions so you can use that to scale. In this case the table is 26x17x25. Dimensioned the width and height and then scaled so the photo is the proper size. Then added dimensions of the various features. Then adjusted (normalized) the dimensions so they are consistent with standard lumber dimensions and are consistent with each other. Like rails are likely all the same size. Also, trace any profiles that you will need to cut.
From there, you should be able to model the object with a good degree of fidelity.