Does anyone know the easiest way to engrave text onto a curved surface?

I want to type out a sentence then engrave it onto a sphere. The only way I have been able to do it is to use the Boolean difference. This for some reason takes 5 min per letter and sometimes fails.

I know there is a way to project the font to the curved surface of the sphere, then engrave it down about 1mm deep, but for the life of me I cant get it to work.

Anyone able to provide a mini tutorial for me? My brain is just stuck on this one.

Replica, I was hoping someone would throw out an idea here so I could learn too. I played with it for about 20 minutes but didn't see an easy way to do it. I'll try some other things if I get a chance.

Best,

BW

The process I have been using and brought over from my experience in Lightwave 3d was to extrude text straight through the surface of the sphere and boolene the shape of the sphere difference from the extruded text. This leaves the text in the shape of the curve.
Then I lower the text a few mm and reverse the boolene so it drills the text into the sphere.

This leaves a bunch of problems. You spend 5 min waiting for the boolene to calculate, the final engraved sphere is locked, meaning you cant edit the depth of the engraving with out undoing every step.

In lightwave I was able to select points and tweak them. When your dealing with a end mill getting caught in an undercut, being able to edit the point that is causing the problem is paramount.

Maybe Rhino just does not have the features that are required for milling applications????

Hello. Here's what I have so far.

1. Make your sphere with center at 0,0,0
2. Put some text down starting at 0,0,0
3. Draw a line from 0,0 to the end of your text
4. Select the text only
5. On the menu: Transform, Flow along curve
6. 1st prompt: Select the end of the line drawn in step 3 (near the last "t")
7. 2nd prompt: Select a curve on your sphere. I had luck selecting in the Front view

The first pic below shows the original text and sphere viewed from top. The second is a rotated view of the wrapped text.

JR

If you are looking to create actual surfaced text, I would suggest you use V4, create your text off the surface using the TextObject command, and use one of the new UDT tools (Splop I think is the right one) to transform your text to the surface. If boolean difference seems to take a long time, try exploding and trimming everything manually. You can always join it again after.

Does this help, or did I miss the point completely?

Dan

Does anyone know the easiest way to engrave text onto a curved surface?

I want to type out a sentence then engrave it onto a sphere. The only way I have been able to do it is to use the Boolean difference. This for some reason takes 5 min per letter and sometimes fails.

I know there is a way to project the font to the curved surface of the sphere, then engrave it down about 1mm deep, but for the life of me I cant get it to work.

Anyone able to provide a mini tutorial for me? My brain is just stuck on this one.

This program will not engrave text on a sphere but it will Engrave on the cylinder using a rotary axis. http://cncwrite.com/

I am submitting a pictorial tutorial. I hope it is what you are looking for.

I would use this method if I were going to engrave on a surface. If you wanted to raise the letters out, or 3-D carve them into the surface, this is not for you. But you did say engrave, so here goes.

If this were my project, I would select the curves, and using RhinoCam 4th Axis, I would Engrave_On Condition, using a vcarve bit, or a ball endmill. Leave the engraving depth of cut set to 0", otherwise when it engraves, the router will maintain the same cut height, failing to carve the upper and lower sections of the letters into the wood (that is, follow the 3D contour). This is 4th axis continuous engraving. Thinking back now, you will need to sink the curves into the surface a little bit (the depth of cut you want). I recommend selecting the wrapped text, and Transform_Scale3D, using the center of the sphere as the point of origin.
A curved surface that is not a sphere, that a 3 axis can carve is easier. Just take your curves, place them over the top of the surface, and use Curve_FromObjects_Project to place them on the surface. Then, use the 2 1/2 milling tool, "Engrave", and engrave_on condition, leaving cut depth at 0". Of course, you will want to lower the actual curves themselves by the depth you want to cut.

I have in fact done this kind of project before, to make a small sculpture, but I have since thrown it away. Good luck with your project, Rhino Rocks!

Cheers,

Rob

Use the "project" command. I engraved this on 2-1/2" OD SS tubing. Works good!

Has anyone used the “squish” and “squishback” commands? http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/AdvancedFlattening.html
They might help in this situation. I just started playing with them. It might be more accurate than project and maybe faster than some of the other ways of doing this. It’s a cool new tool, but I’m not sure how useful yet.
Gary

is the "squish" command on the new version of Rhino? I still haven't upgraded.... You have to pay to upgrade rhino and then pay to upgrade rhinoCAM and set-up the CAM program again, blah blah.

Rhino4 the latest update.