Love having a laser – had an idea come to me in the middle of the night and sitting here this evening and it’s in front of me (at least, the first draft prototype.)
Even though it’s not complete, I thought I would share as I learned some lessons about 3d engrave and edgelit LED that I wanted to share:
1: Reverse the image: the highlights are much brighter with the unengraved side facing the viewer. I’ve included both photos for reference on the two sides.
2: The brightest parts of the image aren’t dependent on what areas are more or less engraved – at least, not exactly. It’s more about the angle of the engraved material created relative to the vertical light at the bottom.
Areas that go from barely engraved to heavily engraved as they go up pick up more light – areas that are relatively flat pick up far less.
You can create a strong area of highlight by creating a ‘shelf’ by going sharply from barely engraved to heavily engraved going up. In other words, wherever there’s a very light area with a comparatively very dark area above it. And it doesn’t have to be big – some of the sharpest highlights on this image are on the wrinkles on her forehead.
I will update when I have a second draft.