I am currently making trophies for a charity clay shoot. I am trying to basically create a replica of the clay target shown in the photo (on a larger scale). I have limited experience with the 3D design and carving and am having issues with the correct settings to replicate the “semi-domed” portion of the clay in the middle.
Can anyone with more 3D experience than I provide some pointers on how to accomplish this? So far, I have found ways to design a round carving, but it isn’t the correct shape. It begins to slope down again towards the center of the clay instead of a continuous round climb that terminates at the inner ring.
I am sure someone will help you with the 3d part. However it is a representation of a sporting clay so why not just make it flat. Sometimes you have to choose between easy and a lot of work. That decision is easier for the return of investment of time. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. If the dome were not in your trophy no one will likely even notice or care. It would make your job easier but I also understand you want to make a nice project.
If you’d like help, you should post the C2D you have so far - it would at least be the right size to work from.
If you could provide a cross section drawing through the center of what you want, that would be a lot better than trying to infer the design from the photo.
Its funny you say that, I made the trophies for the same tournament last fall and did exactly as you mentioned. Honestly, I’m just trying to one-up myself and learn a bit more about 3D carving on the process. I very well may end up making the final product using the template i used in the past but I wanted to grow my 3D skills and do a test run.
These examples helped tremendously, thank you! Cutting the test run now.
My next obstacles to overcome would be the corrdct bit select for the fine 3d finish. I am currently running a 1/16" ball mill in the direction of the grain. I know from my past limited experience with 3D carving, the ball mills will inevitably leave that grooved surface - is there a way to minimize this effect? Maybe a smaller ball mill, rotating the angle 90⁰ and cross hatching or using some sort of tapered ball mill. Just something that will minimize issues with sanding later on.
With this design i will also be cutting pockets for an epoxy pour for text and a logo. There will be text in this domed section and i can definitely foresee some troubleshooting in how the dome will distort the letters. My initial thoughts would be to cut the pockets for all the inlays and perform the epoxy pour on the bare stock prior to any carving, I am just unsure how to/if its possible to manipulate the text design to counteract the distortion from the contour.
Text would be subtracted from/added to the 3D model — make sure you have the Model Resolution set to “Very High”, and only size the Stock to do one model at a time for best detailing, then experiment with settings for the text.
Cutting the inlays with a simple pocket toolpath and doing the epoxy pour prior to the 3D carving will allow the epoxy to be poured at a consistent depth and let the carving serve as a surfacing and cleanup on the excess epoxy. Unless I am misunderstanding the capabilities of 3D (which is extremely possible), i will just have to play around with the text geometry to counteract the distortion.
If the center portion is slightly curved, inlaying text projected straight down should not cause much distortion. Or are you talking about adding text to the larger curved area around the edge?
