Brandon Wehenkel: Longboard Engraving

Photoshop Original

Photoshop Final

Rhino example

Concept:

I don't skate.  My brother does.  Since he does I asked him what he wanted on the bottom of his longboard.  When I was younger I got an email while I was away from home that my brother had broken his collar bone while longboarding down a steep hill.  He told me he wanted an omage to his collar bone on his longboard.  Longboard  Inspiration

 X-ray

Predator Organism Radiolaria

Vertebrae seen through an electron microscope

Modeling Techniques:
I uploaded the images to photoshop and photomanipulated the images to the longboard example I gave in the concept.  I used curves and saturation to create a very blown out image.  I used various tools in photoshop: eliptical, rectangular, magic wand, quick selection tool, brush tool, spot healing brush, healing brush, patch tool, eraser, paint bucket, lasso tool, eyedropper.
In Illustrator: Image Tracing, Pen Tool
In Rhino: Scale 1D, Dimension --> Linear Dimension
I ended up ditching the Rhino & Illustrator idea and just manipulating the image in photoshop till I got a very different appearance.  The design wasn't very cooperative with the laser engraver so I ended up enhancing the contrast with the exposure setting.  I adjusted gamma to .26 (almost all the way to the right) and I adjusted the exposure to multiple different spots: I started on a lower adjustment of +1 and I believe I adjusted it to +14 for the final design.  Because of this I lost a significant amount of detail.
I had also used pixelation and greyscale to my advantage to get more detail out of the shadows that I wanted in the X-ray, without the pixelation I would have lost all detail.

Materials:
The longboard is made of pine.  I did a test on Oak because I had an excess of that wood at home.  Its an expensive test, but I didn't want the wood to go to waste.  I ended up not doing a 2nd test and just editing the design five different times to be printed on the pine board.
I used a spray on sealant to clean up the exposed laser engraved areas.  But I didn't want to use paint on with a brush because I fear that I might have some slight clumping in the pixelated area.

Final