Nihonto drawing..

[Ken-Hawaii]

Well, guys, there are some more sophisticated ways to "cheat" on creating a good photo of your blades, & thank goodness one of them is really cheap - zero!

 

First, take a series of good closeups of your blade, being really careful to have at least 10-15% overlap on the shots. Then, browse over to http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ ... s/ivm/ICE/ & download Microsoft's free Image Composite Editor (ICE). Just drag-&-drop all of the images into the editor, & it magically creates a really accurate composite image of the blade.

 

There are a couple of tricks I've found that help ICE keep things in order. First, lay a yardstick down parallel to the blade while you're shooting; this not only helps ICE, but also helps you to make sure that everything is in order. The other trick is to use a background that has a pattern of some sort - I usually use a bamboo mat - which again helps ICE.

 

The nice thing about this technique is that you can "mix & match" your very best shots (within reason on things like contrast & reflections), so although the composite may look a bit like a ransom note, it will maximize all the details of your blade, which is exactly what I need to create an accurate AutoCAD vector drawing.

 

Okay, I just tried to Attach an AutoCAD DWG file, an EPS, & a JPG of a Nihonto just digitized, but the system isn't letting any of them go through. I though the JPG would be okay, but since the ACCURATE version is 1844 pixels wide, the system doesn't let anything larger than 1200 pixels go through. Brian, is there anything you can do to increase this parameter?

 

Even with the complex hamon on this Masachika katana, it took me 18 minutes from the time I loaded the photo into AutoCAD until I was done. But with the forum system's limitations, I'm not sure how to get the info out to everyone. Ideas??

[xxlotus8xx]

Well, guys, there are some more sophisticated ways to "cheat" on creating a good photo of your blades, & thank goodness one of them is really cheap - zero!

First, take a series of good closeups of your blade, being really careful to have at least 10-15% overlap on the shots. Then, browse over to http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ ... s/ivm/ICE/ & download Microsoft's free Image Composite Editor (ICE). Just drag-&-drop all of the images into the editor, & it magically creates a really accurate composite image of the blade.

There are a couple of tricks I've found that help ICE keep things in order. First, lay a yardstick down parallel to the blade while you're shooting; this not only helps ICE, but also helps you to make sure that everything is in order. The other trick is to use a background that has a pattern of some sort - I usually use a bamboo mat - which again helps ICE.

 

 

LOL you mean the way I did it the first time? Well I guess the main difference is I imported the picture into Visio and increased the pic transparency to about 40% and used the Visio tools to trace the outlines.

 

The nice thing about this technique is that you can "mix & match" your very best shots (within reason on things like contrast & reflections), so although the composite may look a bit like a ransom note, it will maximize all the details of your blade, which is exactly what I need to create an accurate AutoCAD vector drawing.

 

Very nice picture Ken. And please understand that I fully respect you being a cad developer but I like my drawing better. But did you add the measurements into CAD and let it draw the blade?

 

 

Okay, I just tried to Attach an AutoCAD DWG file, an EPS, & a JPG of a Nihonto just digitized, but the system isn't letting any of them go through. I though the JPG would be okay, but since the ACCURATE version is 1844 pixels wide, the system doesn't let anything larger than 1200 pixels go through. Brian, is there anything you can do to increase this parameter?

 

If we are serious about this ummm...cataloging I can provide a server to upload high def drawings to. After all I do run about 20 datacenters worldwide. .

 

Even with the complex hamon on this Masachika katana, it took me 18 minutes from the time I loaded the photo into AutoCAD until I was done. But with the forum system's limitations, I'm not sure how to get the info out to everyone. Ideas??

 

I can also appreciate the time value. But honestly whats the hurry? I took maybe 90 minutes of actual drawing and spent a WHOLE lotta time researching the blade measurements against other Nihonto.