For our sixth version of the fish relief I did not start at the beginning. The chamfered edge relief with the sunken center was already done. To see the previous steps go back and review the fourth installment of this series.

This time we would be using bitmap textures. The ones I am using are from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection. There are one hundred and five textures on the disk – plenty to choose from. Here’s a sampling. To get information about purchasing this collection go to TEXTURE MAGIC COLLECTION

Since my file is relatively small I need to make the bitmap substantially larger for my 1/8″ bit to fit into the grooves of the pattern we will create. To access the apply bitmap menu I need to select my relief and the bitmap. I selected AD TO, entered a value of 0.15″ and then hit enter. In an instant the bitmap texture was applied to the relief.

Then I opened another texture (one of my favorites) called SPLOTCHES and went through the same procedure, first making it bigger and then applying it to the relief. This time I entered a value of 0.1″ making the texture a little more subtle.

In the next few steps I built a flat relief using the fish outline, then domed it up and merged it to the base relief. These steps have been covered previously in this series.

I then used the fish vectors and prism tool to add the fish to the relief. (also covered previously in this series) Then it was time to add the ‘SPLOTCHES’ texture again but only to the fish this round. I opened the splotches bitmap, selected it, the fish vector (it will act as a mask) and the base relief, then opened the apply bitmap menu. This time I wanted the texture to be subtle so I entered a value of 0.1″ and then hit apply.

 Then I created a rope mesh once more using the extrude function. This was nudged into its proper place vertically and then MERGED highest with the base relief. This was covered in a previous post in this series.

 Next time I’ll be tool pathing the last two files and getting ready to send them off to the multiCam. Stay tuned…

-dan

I opened the EXTRUDE CONTOURS menu and then selected the create mesh button. In the boxes I asked for 200 slices and 200 stacks. This is much higher than we need but it is a habit I’ve gotten into as it creates a very fine mesh. Modern computers can handle this size file really easy and EnRoute’s render engines also redraw them instantly. I asked for eight revolutions as it created the mesh around the oval. I’ve used this tool so many times I had a pretty good idea of what would look good on this size of relief. This will take some experimentation to get good at. Then I followed the prompts in the box. First it asked me for the contour I wanted to extrude. I selected the cross section of the rope.

 Then I was prompted to I selected the second from last oval, then pushed the green apply check mark..

 In an instant EnRoute generated the rope. It shows up black.

When I hit the render button the rope mesh appears red. I dropped down the the front view and because I had aligned the original relief to the bottom of the plate the rope floated above it.

When I selected the rope mesh it turned green.

 I used the down key to nudge it into position, just a tad higher than half way into the base relief.

To get the APPLY MESH TO RELIEF button to become active I had to select both pieces. I opened the box and selected MERGE HIGHEST… then hit apply.

In an instant the mesh shape was applied to the base relief. When I hit render bits of yellow peek through the red mesh. This tells me everything is peachy keen. The mesh is still there, unaltered. I can either delete it or move it to an inactive layer.

This version of the fish plaque is now complete and looks extra snazzy.

 Tomorrow we’ll begin once more creating a new version using bitmaps for texture.

-dan