I have a customer wanting an Appalachian trail sign with holders for he husband to record his mileage.
I am thinking the logo in the upper left and the miles to the right with a 3D mountain scene at the bottom. She asked for lots of trees. I have Vectric and started working on a model using their components. I am toying with the idea of making the trees out of a different type of wood than the mountains in the background.
Has anyone here done something similar or seen anything cool? I tried to talk her into one of the that has the shape of the states and a map of the trail but her husband already has one like that.
She asked me to make it more rectangular (I originally had her husbands name on it but she didn’t want that). And, she asked for more trees since it is a mostly wooded trail.
I got a different 3D model of mountains from Vectric and then a tree model. I had to combine 3 of the mountain ones to get the right width without scaling it really wide. There are some transition issues on the seams I need to figure out how to deal with.
Then I started adding in the trees and copying and resizing just to get an idea of what it looks like.
I have the trees simulated here in green but I don’t really want to hand paint that much detail so I was thinking carving the trees out of a different wood and then applying them to the mountains. I may need to put flat pockets to provide a surface to glue to. I guess if I do that I could spray the trees once carved. Although she is OK with the wood look.
Anyway, just looking to see if anyone has any inspiring ideas.
I think I like the mountains in the top one better but I would have to figure out a way to remove the existing trees and add the other ones or it would look sorta weird.
Yes, I know there are frame artifacts showing on the top and left. I need to increase the size of the pocket.
I’m wondering what the hiker would say about the relative size of the mountains vs. the trees? I’ve been to the Smokeys around Asheville and Bedford VA, and my memory is of trees rather than mountains (or perhaps tree-lined mountains with clouds.) Perhaps a third-party opinion? Those peaks kind of remind me of the Rockies.
I’d also “frame” the background with large and partial foreground tree(s). A hiker would be exposed to trees close up. That might also be used to cover up those pesky seams.
I can scale the trees to whatever, but if I add a thousand tiny ones it’s going to get busy. I figured so would do a frame of some sort once I get the basic design worked out.
As to the mountains, I was limited to the selections available in Vectric. I am not artistic enough to make those designs especially in 3D. Maybe I can find some other STL options out there.
Just saw the finished project, WOW it looks so good! Such a great idea. And, that was nice of you to put some mounts spaced at 16" I know I would appreciate that!
I am tempted to advertise it out there and see if others are interested but I would need to optimize time and reduce costs. I am not getting out of this one what I put in at least in time😊
The longest time of course is the 3D machining, not sure I can do a whole lot there but then again it’s just machine time.
Maybe plywood for the back would save material costs, but then I would have to frame it or put edge banding on it.
The numbers were really the most nerve wracking given the inlays but it all worked out really well. I should have used thinner stock for that and/or drilled a bigger hole. The hooks I had planned to use had too much curvature for the number blocks to fit over so I put some short 1/8” 9 gauge wire in the hole and the numbers slip over that. Works fine in GA I think, but in California earthquakes would knock the numbers off
I know I would appreciate that!