Creating F Holes

[bull_fiddle_blues (mark becker)]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to draw something like F holes (like on the front of violins and cellos)?

I tried creating a few circles and joining/editing the nodes but CC is limited using this approach.

Using the Boolean operation is a craps shoot at best.

For reference, this is as close as I have gotten:

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

You will want to draw these up using the (Bézier) Curve tool.

You can get a quick approximation with the new tracing functionality:

Carbide Create - Image Tracing

We just posted CC 520 to: https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/download/ 520 includes a big new feature for us, Image Tracing. [image] You should be able to load a JPG or PNG and get a reasonable set of curves from it very quickly. A few caveats: Right now, it’s mono only so color images will be converted to black and white using the thresholds in the window. We’re not optimizing for very small images so some will work well, others won’t. We’d recommend images larger than 500px on a side …

Attached.

F-holes.c2d (37.0 KB)

Hang on for a tutorial on drawing them by hand.

[NewToThis (Peter)]

I traced it and came up with this after a minute or two - sorry I could spend more time on it, though!

Traced F.c2d (27.8 KB)

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Begin by importing the pixel image to the background for reference:

Adjust the stock size:

While the fit of the auto-tracing is quite good:

There are more nodes than are strictly necessary, and their placement doesn’t follow best practice:

2D Drawing

Here’s how to draw an optimized version by hand using the Curve tool.

[NewToThis (Peter)]

Of course, @WillAdams answer is much more detailed than mine!

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

It may help to review:

Let's Make a B (for anyone)

Ages ago, there was an elegant little pamphlet entitled “Let’s Make a B for Bennet” which Warren Chappell wrote and illustrated. Here’s a discussion of how to use Carbide Create’s new curve feature to draw a B. We start with an image of a “B”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/letterformarchive/38372487832/in/album-72157687338823192/ [38372487832_6b4562b0a5_o]

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Here’s how to draw using the Curve tool — first zoom in:

select the Curve tool and click on each point where there should be an on-curve point: extrema — top/bottom and left/right, points of inflection, sharp points (this is easier if you turn off Snap to Grid, but then closing the last point may be a bit harder):

Then go into Node Edit mode:

and begin editing:

dragging the on-curve node to the desired position if need be, then adjusting the on-curve nodes:

if a curve doesn’t completely fall where desired, it will be easier to move on for now — it may be that the next node edit will allow for it to be adjusted, or will require going back and adjusting it more — work all the way around.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

When you arrive at a point of inflection alt-drag the nodes:

and if need be, insert nodes where necessary:

[bull_fiddle_blues (mark becker)]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful answers, I did not know image trace was available, that worked great. The tutorial on how to use the curve tool is amazing too.

Thanks again!

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Ultimately one arrives at:

which may be duplicated and mirrored:

Attached.

F-holes_redrawn.c2d (57.1 KB)