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Thread: NEED HELP!!!!

  1. #1
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    Angry NEED HELP!!!!

    I need some help
    How do you trace an image and is there free software
    I can Convert any gif file but I cant trace it in Mamba it just wont work like the file below it saves it in BMP format so how do i trace the image in bmp format and then save it as a laser file .idla
    Is there like a faster way to do it
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails render000.bmp  

    render001.bmp  

    render002.bmp  

    render003.bmp  

    render004.bmp  

    render005.bmp  

    render006.bmp  

    render007.bmp  

    render008.bmp  

    render009.bmp  

    render010.bmp  

    render011.bmp  


  2. #2
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by tony220171 View Post
    I need some help
    How do you trace an image and is there free software
    I can Convert any gif file but I cant trace it in Mamba it just wont work like the file below it saves it in BMP format so how do i trace the image in bmp format and then save it as a laser file .idla
    Is there like a faster way to do it
    LaserBoy will let you open the bitmap as the background of the display and hand draw over it with laser vectors. The process is 100% keyboard driven! Once you get over being totally freaked out by that it's actually very fast and easy.

    James.

  3. #3
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    Default HOW?

    How do you open the BMP files

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by tony220171 View Post
    How do you open the BMP files
    First of all, you need to know what size you are making the window when you open LaserBoy. This information is in the file LaserBoy.bat.

    Then you need to make your bitmap something that will fit that size. Lets say you run LaserBoy at 1024 by 750. If you resample and crop your bitmap so that it is 750 pixels square, you can open it as the background and it will just fit. You need to put the bitmap in the bmp directory that is inside of the LaserBoy directory. Then in LaserBoy, from the main menu choose...

    i // for file input.
    5 // for bitmap
    2 // to make it the background of the LaserBoy display
    (name of the file) [Enter] // that's it!

    As far as the tracing goes, ...... don't misunderstand. There is nothing automatic about it! You have to draw each frame. But LaserBoy gives you some very precise tools.

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 07-13-2008 at 17:17.

  5. #5
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    Unhappy Steps i did

    these are the steps i did
    pasted the BMP files in Laser boys BMP file
    opened laser boy
    Then i Open file in
    Then Pressed 5 Bitmap
    then 2 open into frame background
    Entered Bitmap filename
    pressed enter
    and NOTHING
    ?????????????

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by tony220171 View Post
    these are the steps i did
    pasted the BMP files in Laser boys BMP file
    opened laser boy
    Then i Open file in
    Then Pressed 5 Bitmap
    then 2 open into frame background
    Entered Bitmap filename
    pressed enter
    and NOTHING
    ?????????????
    Your bitmaps are tiny! I bet it's there, you just can't see it because the menu is covering it up. Hit [Enter] to make the main menu disappear, after you open the bitmap. Any size will open and be registered in the upper left corner of the window.

  7. #7
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    Talking Saveing files

    How do you save the file to .ild

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by tony220171 View Post
    How do you save the file to .ild
    You have to draw it first!

    Then you might want to color it.

    That will take you a while the first time.

    Then you save your drawing as ILDA.

    It's not easy the first time. It really takes practice.

    The following information is a slightly updated version of a post I did some time ago. Some of the menu functionality has been updated.

    First, make a bitmap of what you want to trace. Make it square, and the same size as your LaserBoy window's Y dimension. It's a good idea to make the background of the bitmap black and the image you want to trace a dark color. That way you can see your vectors over the top of it more easily. Save this bitmap in the folder called 'bmp' inside the LaserBoy directory.

    Now open LaserBoy to the size you like and hit

    i // to input a file
    5 // to choose the type bitmap
    2 // to make it the background of the LaserBoy display

    Type the name of the bitmap at the prompt. You do not need to type .bmp at the end. Hit [Enter]

    Now your bitmap will be in the view, behind all of the vector art.

    To get rid of it,

    i // to input a file ( OK, a not file )
    5 // to choose the type bitmap
    3 // to make it disappear

    BTW the other option for importing a bitmap is to use it as a 2D color map to recolor whatever vertices are over whatever pixels. In this use of a bitmap, the size is not really important. It scales. This is how I did the spiral raster images of Tux and my little dog, Oscar.

    OK. Now hit

    j // to enter frame set transforms
    8 // to add an empty frame to the beginning of the frame set
    [Esc] // to get out of frame set transforms

    Make sure you are looking at the new, blank frame in the view. You should see that it is frame 0. If unsure, hit

    9 // to put the first frame into the view

    Now make points and blanking visible.

    u // takes you to the UI visuals.

    Each selection will toggle its current state. If it is visible, not only can you see it in the view, but it will also have an arrow in front of it in the UI visuals menu. In other words,

    1 // points on
    1 // points off
    2 // blanking on

    Turns points on and off, etc.

    [Esc] // to get out of UI visuals

    Now you should see a gray dot in the center of the view. This is the closest thing you can get to nothing at all! It is a blank vector of 2 points with no offset, no direction and no magnitude.

    Here is where I will make some distinctions. A point is usually associated with the implied coordinate space. A vertex is a point that happens to be in your vector drawing. A vector is the line that exists between a lit point and its anchor (where it came from).

    That is why there are no less than 2 points in this "blank" drawing. A vector always has a beginning and an end.

    Go into the drawing mode by hitting

    k

    [Enter] will toggle the help screen on and off.

    In this view, there are two little markers; one looks like and empty square and the other looks like an 8 way cross. These are cursors that move through the vertices and designate the start and the end of a selected segment of consecutive vertices. They are both sitting on the zero vertex in the center of the view. Note that on the side, under the palettes, there are similar icons. This tells you what palette color index that vertex has, what number the vertex is in the set (starting at zero) and which lit segment the vertex is part of (also starting with zero).

    Since there are only 2 vertices so far, moving the cursors doesn't look like much, but you can see the number change in the icon display. Put the start cursor (the open square) on vertex number 1 by tapping the

    [

    key. Now that this vertex is under the start cursor, you can move it around by hitting and holding

    x
    X
    y
    Y

    and even

    z
    Z

    Upper and lower case moves it forwards and backwards in all 3D. You can't see Z if you are looking straight at the drawing from the front. Press and hold

    4 // to spin the frame aound

    tap

    5 // to set it back to the front view

    Now that you have moved the first real vector away from the origin, you can see that it is a line connected to its anchor. It is still blank and it's actual defined color is black! If you hit

    B // (capital B)

    You will unblank the vector, but you will notice that it disappears because it is black. The start cursor is white so that you can see it. Hit

    c // to set the color of the vector to the current palette index (most likely red). If you press and hold

    p // or capital P the palette index will change

    Note that you are using colors from the frame's palette. If you go to palette transforms and promote this frame to true color you can pick any color from any palette on the target palette side.

    Now you should have a red vector with some magnitude (length). You can move the start cursor over either end and move them wherever you want.

    By tapping the

    . // period

    You will do one of 2 things. If the start cursor is on the LAST vertex in the drawing you will "pop" another vector off the end of the drawing that is an exact match of the former last vector. If your start cursor is somewhere other than the last vertex you will add a new vertex exactly in the middle of the next vector, splitting it. If there is no magnitude of the vector your start cursor is sitting on, then you won't see anything happen. But you are still adding vertices to the drawing. They are all just on the same point in space.

    Now that you can "pop" vectors off the end of the drawing, you can move the anchor point 0 to the edge of your bitmap drawing and the first lit vertex somewhere near it to form a short, straight line. If your start cursor is on the last vertex, you can pop and rotate all the way around your drawing!

    If a vector has length, then you can rotate it around its anchor in either the Z or the Y axis. Press and hold

    f // or capital F

    to rotate the vector around its anchor. Your last vector will always be the same length, until you change it by either moving it in X, Y or Z or changing it's magnitude directly by hitting

    m // or capital M

    to stretch it or shrink it.

    It's probably a good idea to do all of the tracing in one color and not worry about blanking. Save your work as you go along! It can take a while and you don't want to have to keep starting over.

    To save your drawing, [Esc] out of this drawing mode and hit

    o // (the letter o, not zero) to save output
    1 // to save this single frame as ILDA

    give it a name at the prompt and hit [Enter]. You do not need to include the .ild on the end.

    Now you can return to your work by hitting

    k

    and you will see that it remembers exactly what you were doing.

    Once you have the drawing traced, you can blank out the lines that connect the segments and color each segment however you want.

    Some of the functions for drawing (moving rotating and scaling) only work on a single vertex. In these cases, it will be the one at the start cursor.

    Blanking, unblanking and coloring are applied to all of the consecutive vertices from start cursor to end cursor. In this case to select a single vertex to change its color, blank or unblank it, you need to put both the start and the end cursor on that single vertex. Also, note that the color of a vector is stored in its "lit" end. It is in the single vertex, not the line between it and its anchor point! This gets confusing at times. Also note that the zero vertex in any drawing can not have a color, is neither lit or blank and has no magnitude relative to anything. So it can not be rotated or scaled. But it can be moved!

    If you want to select move rotate and scale whole segments, [Esc] out of this mode and hit

    l // lower case L

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 07-13-2008 at 18:48.

  9. #9
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    Here we go!!!
    Attached Files Attached Files
    I hired an Italian guy to do my wires. Now they look like spaghetti!

  10. #10
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    Talking HOW THE F%#k

    How Did You Do That

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