How to go about creating an image suitable for cnc engraving

[Kyuhi]

Hello, so I am quite new to Photoshop. I would like to know how you would go about creating a smooth sharp vector image ready for cnc engraving. I am working as a 3D artist at a company and I would like to make a gift for my little sister. That would be a wooden cnc cut clock. Now on to the question. I am trying to create an image with smooth lines and as much detail from this image Screenshot - 242fc8a002e35332d56fe873f2cb8579 - Gyazo but the image is quite small and in bad quality. I'm wondering what would be the best approach to achieve sharp vector image like this Screenshot - 89f54e0c5062cc20fc6c95b1d8c57d04 - Gyazo with as much detail preserved. Thanks for any replies.

[ScooterD76]

I would say Illustrator would be better for the job

[Kyuhi]

Umm, I'm not familiar with illustrator, could you post an example in a form of video or explain how exactly to do it please.

[davescm · Accepted solution]

You could trace the image with the pen tool in Photoshop to create a vector shape.

Draw with Pen tools in Photoshop

Dave

[Kyuhi]

I guess I'll play around with the pen tools, thanks

[ScooterD76]

I tried an automatic image trace in Illustrator for S&G and it came out pretty good...

You want to paste the higher resolution image into illustrator, select it, and select "make and expand" from the menu...

[Kyuhi]

Oh, I was thinking about the first image, this one was already finished. This is the image I want to get into vector Screenshot - 242fc8a002e35332d56fe873f2cb8579 - Gyazo

[Kyuhi]

Oh, I was thinking about the first image, this one was already finished. This is the image I want to get into vector Screenshot - 242fc8a002e35332d56fe873f2cb8579 - Gyazo

[ScooterD76]

Oh, I see now. this one you may need to draw out...

[Kyuhi]

Yea, I did one manually but it was quite simple. This one has a bit more detail so I was looking for a better way, but this curvature tool looks really cool.

[ScooterD76]

Draw with Pen tools in Photoshop

This may help... They work about the same in both programs

[JJMack]

Photoshop has few vector tool.  Photoshop is Adobe pixel editor  Illustrator is Adobe vector editor. AI is what you most likely should use. However if you have a clean smooth simple BW like that Cinderella clip art.  Photoshop can quickly and easily create a vector path for that that simple image,  It will not be a perfect path but with Photoshop vector tools you can improve what Photoshop quickly did.   Again AI is  adobe vector editor, I have never use it.  It has a trace feature which most likely would produce a better Path than Photoshop.  It would also be a lot of work to fix up Photoshop path.