Just need a copy

Please anyone feel free to answer...
Basically i need a wood carving copied and the copy made from a very strong durable plastic. I read the tutorials page and I could be just a little too tired everyday when I get home to think clearly since i don't see that particular topic.

If need be, step by step on the website how I can send the item and choose material ect..

this site and shapeways in general is only for printing of digitally created parts. if you are familiar with 3d software- either engineering based or artistically based- the you would have to "create" the part in the computer. next is sinding the part digitally to shapeways to print.

now here is where it gets tricky. there are many ways of digitally creating a printable peace.
- if it is an engineered part the it is relatively simple to design it straight in the computer.

- if it is a sculpture or organic shape you have two basic options
-- use a sculpting program like z-brush, mud-box, or sculptris
-- use a 3d scanner to scan the object.

this is your basic process in outline form. to further complicate things there are engineering software that can sculpt, and sculpting programs with some of the capabilities of engineering software.

the last this that i can say is that if all else fails you could ask one of us, designers, to help you out. but that is if you are so inclined

Depending on the detail level needed, you can get some pretty decent results using a quality camera and Photofly (free, find it by Google)

Wonderful! What would you consider a "quality camera"? Mega pixel or some other aspect. I'm less than a novice with photo programs, but it's worth a shot!

You can scan a wood block or other components.

I scan Crosses and other images...


Then using photoshop you can make a true black and white image and fill/edit and lines or details. Also connect some lines or add borders to keep image watertight.



Then using Shapeways "Image Popper" you can just upload right from the Jpg file format. Images can have a base or border or not (optional).

So often no need for 3D tools and modeling especially for flat or easily scanned images.

Ed

Thanks everyone for some really great ideas. I think this should be enough for us to figure out what to do next..