World Map Project

Projects
1

Hey there! Liz and Kristin here, members of the Avid CNC media team.

For an upcoming project, we needed to cut out a large map of the world. With its organic shapes and rugged coastlines, our map’s estimated cut time initially clocked in at over 4 hours (eep!)

Luckily, we were able to use some of VCarve’s drawing tools to help us whittle down that timeline.

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First, we utilized the Fit Curve to Vector tool in order to smooth out and eliminate some of our points.

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Next, we used the Vector Validator tool to determine if there were any errors in our drawing. This tool was awesome - within seconds, it was able to immediately highlight some areas where our lines intersected.

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With the Vector Validator’s insights, we were then able to use both the Node Editing tool and the Interactive Trim tool to correct our drawing.

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And voila! Our drawing was now smooth, less complicated, and error free. You can access our cut file here:

Map VCarve.zip (2.6 MB)

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Now, all it needs is the final touches! How should we finish it? Tell us in the comments below!

2

Beautiful, thank you for sharing!
If you didn’t have such a nice piece of wood as the background, I would have said: „Pour some ocean-colored resin around“.
But in this case, I’d probably use some Halcyon or other varnish to let the wood shine. :sunglasses:

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I have to agree, something as clear as possible. Thanks for sharing!

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You’re welcome! Feel free to use the files if you want.

Something clear could work… I’ve been using a lot of water based Spar urethane lately, it’s fast and easy to put on, but I’m thinking it’s not as “thick” as I’d like for something like this…

5

Hi @Eric @AvidCNC - amazing!
My 5 cents (adjusted for inflation) is to wood dye/stain background to set off from the land in the foreground!
For me the varied color of the background sort of needlessly competes with the very high cool-factor of the map cutout.
But you have already done too much perfectly on this project for it to be anything other than fantastic, however you choose to finish it!
Great work!
Ryan