Converting photos to DXF

[RobertJohnson]

So a while ago I asked for help with a dog pic. No one helped. So I thought, how can I do this. Then I remembered how I would cut these out free hand, before I had a PlasmaCam. Just put a plastic sheet over the pic you want to cut. Trace with a fine tipped sharpie, or a nice pen that will trace over plastic. Plastic can be paper protector, or plastic you print on. Scan your image into corel or whatever you use, then clean up. Easy. I'll post a pic when I'm done with the project, hope to be done tonight. Hope this helps you Noobs out! Don't waste your money on programs, until you can afford to do so.

[Dawgonhawg]

Thanks for the info. Look foward to seeing your project.

[RobertJohnson]

So, here's a way to do things, when you just can't figure how to convert on corel, or whatever you use. One of my old shop chiefs taught me this little trick. He would do all of his cuts freehand, but you would swear a machine cut it. So trace the details you want, scan it, reduce the nodes, then cut on machine. I'm still messing around with this tip, cause I want to get the best possible cut.

I suppose you can skip this step, and just trace in the pic in corel or whatever you use, which is easy, but if you want to bust out the freehand skills, trace like this, get an overhead projector, trace on to metal, then cut away. I'll post finished product later.