Bob K Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I am a teacher with a wild idea for my kids and want to know if this is feasible/possible. One of my design projects with them is to create a new soda complete with can design/logo/etc. I would like to have them create a solid model of a soda can as well in inventor. Now comes the hard part, is it possible to have them scan their can design, create a .bmp (or similar file) and "adhere" it to the curved surface of the can? I know about the ability to transfer an image via projecting to straight onto a curved surface but that is not what I want because of the distortion effect as the curve gets deeper. I would like for the .bmp to "wrap" around the can as they create their design full size in a "pattern development" or "stretchout". Can this be done or should I be approaching it from a different tack (i.e. creating it in sheetmetal or some such). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5728/razorv3chv8.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 yup, its actually pretty easy. I dont know about in inv 9 but i just did this in inv10 for you. you use the decal feature. You start a new sketch(off the surface of your can) and in that sketch you insert an image. I used a .bmp file i just drew in paintbrush real fast. once you finish your sketch(the position of your image in the sketch is how its positioned on your can), use the decal button. You select your sketch(image) and you check the wrap check box and select your can. voila Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob K Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Ahh, very cool, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I used a .bmp file i just drew in paintbrush real fast. If you expand the sketch you will find a node for imported image. Edit the sketch and then right click on that node and select Image Properties (or something like that) and you can rotate the image, mirror the image or check Transparency). Whatever color pixel is in the lower right corner of image will be the transparency color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 ill have to try that jd. after i inserted the image i was able to rotate/move/scale the image but i didnt try anything with the transparency. It was skewed like that because i rotated it so my "bubbles" were facing the right way. I guess what i was saying is whatever way you leave the image in your sketch will be its orientation on the part unless you know of a way do modify that outside of the sketch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob K Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Pardon my ignorance but I am having difficulty creating the new sketch off the can. I'm sure I am missing something here. This is what I have done. I created a sketch of the half-can then revolved it. I created a workplane (not sure how I did it but there is something there I can sketch upon). I scanned the full-size image I want to put on the can. I tried importing various types of graphic files (.bmp, .jpg, .gif). The image imports w/the name of the file under it. The images are VERY small. The images are very pixellated. I tried cropping the image and copying the crop to the clipboard but cannot see how to copy it into the can. I am feeling stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 in your design tree on the left you have standard planes already(x,y,z). i believe default is hidden but you can right click on them and show them, or create a new work plane, then select a plane from the design tree and create an offset plane. as for your image. what size is the original image? I just tried yesterday with a .bmp i drew in paintbrush. my image was 447 x 476 pixels. When you are in a sketch, are you using the insert image button? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 okay i did this again and took a lot of screen shots. in the first pic you can see the work plane button depressed and a red box around the red box around the XYplane in the model tree at the bottom left. Also notice the red outline of the plane appears around the model. at this point my cursor was just over the xy plane. Once i clicked that i was able to drag a plane offset from this one. A dialog box appears and you can enter a value as well. The second image is just the new work plane(yellow). If you look in the model tree all the planes, axis and origin point are grey. if you right click on these and click visibility you can turn them on. The third image is in a Sketch on my new plane and my cursor over the insert image button. The fourth picture is my .bmp image inserted in the sketch. You can see its too large. I grabbed the bottom left corner(a snap point) and scaled it down until it was about the right size. This point also allows you to rotate the image. The 5th picture is back in model space with the decal dialog box open. The area shaded blue is what i used as my face. and the last picture is the finished product. like i said before my bmp was just under 500x500pixels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I'm sure I am missing something here.The image imports w/the name of the file under it. Images must be associated to MS Paint. There is a registry edit here http://www.mcadforums.com add-in that takes care of that problem. The images are VERY small.The images are very pixellated. Attach the files here. Use bmp (preferred) or png - do not use jpg. I am feeling stupid. All of this is much easier in later versions of Inventor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob K Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Thank you much, I was missing the offset workplane, I created one and stepped through the sequence (including resizing) and got a .bmp to adhere to the can! Hoo-rah! My only problems now are the pixellation and file name. My image is 1670 X 880, which should be fine considering yours is smaller. I have attached my .bmp & screenshot of the can. Maybe you could try it and see what you get? Maybe I need to use a different graphics program. I scanned the drawing into PAINT. It looks fine there but loses clarity when imported into Inventor (you can see the difference between the .bmp of the drawing and the screen shot of the can). I don't understand the filename appearing either. That's why I tried to copy/paste. But all that happens then is the .bmp is embedded. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob K Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 I found the problem. Another thread spoke of the default program for viewing the graphic. Mine was MS Picture Viewer or some such. I changed the default to Paint and everything is perfect! Thanks for all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 glad you got it to work bob, the uploaded images didnt show up but if you got it working thats good enough for me. JD mentioned the mspaint issue and posted a link to something to help remedy it. are all your students running inventor 9? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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