Pre Release: Steam Engine Lithograph Engrave

Looks great (both versions)! If engraving lithographs wasn’t on my to-do list, it is now. Thanks for the inspiration.

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My vote also goes to the darker one!

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Wow, amazing! The quality of the engraving is really special, and I like the image you chose.

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If there are any photoshop gurus, is there a way to take a normal photo and do this style of crosshatching? These are optimized at the horizontal which makes it super efficient on the GF?

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Yes, several of the high end editors will do it. I am working towards that in Paint shop pro but have nothing to show yet. Lots of ways to turn photos into things that no one would guess started as photos that I want to explore.

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I definitely lean toward the darker one :relaxed:

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I have tried a few tools and I think it was Paint Shop Pro that has given me my best results although not perfect.

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I’ve played with GitHub - BartMassey/gimp-crosshatch: Gimp script-fu to draw in and crosshatch an image with some okay results, but you usually have to do some pre-processing before feeding it into it, like posterizing it down to about <=6 greys, and maybe even running the Oilify filter to soften the images up a bit first.

(click arrows to expand)

Original

Shoddy attempt Also, applied Newsprint filter... but really, lithographs have the Newsprint effect added for multiple objects at multiple angles, so I was lazy.

You’ll probably have to click to zoom-view it.

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This looks great! I’m looking forward to doing some patent illustration engravings!

Good gravy that is gorgeous! Darker one shows off the fine details for sure.

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There are, but they can vary wildly from image to image. A lot of it is how you stack filters.

These are beautiful. Great idea to try a lithograph engraving!

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Making your own crosshatching brushes in photoshop is an option. Or buying some from someone like this… but making your own is cheaper.
You still have to do the actual crosshatching. There isn’t a filter that I know of that will actually do it right

The other option, of course, is to commission an artist :grin:

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While it’s no endoscopic arterial thingamabob, it is a lovely piece of work as usual. The notion of using your home laser tool to engrave an old hand engraving of a steam engine onto a piece of wood is just poetic. It’s like a history of human technology in one piece. I mean, there’s even electrically generated fire involved. Fantastic. I cannot wait to get my hands on that machine! Thanks for sharing!

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I’ll say it… I like the darker better! :slight_smile:

This was an awesome idea to play with. It really looks great.

I was just thinking… I bet this would also look really cool if it was cut out. I’m imagining removing the ground, and doing cuts between the wheel spokes (and anywhere else that’d be ‘open’), and cutting it out to shape.

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