Inserting a grayscale .jpg picture into fusion 360

[Anonymous]

Hi;

            My name is Richard Brady and I am 70 years old and retired. I have a woodworking shop in my backyard but my hands are now starting to shake and I am not confident to use my equipment. A little while ago I watched a youtube video about CNC machines and I became interested in them. In particular I watched an older gentleman from Australia use some software called “ArtCam”, where he downloaded a grayscale jpg picture from the internet, used this program and then used the resultant file to run to his CNC machine. I have recently found out that ArtCam is no longer available for purchase,  so I am looking for another program that will do the same thing before I purchase a CNC wood routing machine.

            I am not very good at using the internet ( do you call that using search engines?) but I came across Fusion 360 somehow. I downloaded the program as a hobbyist but I do not know what to do next to determine if this software will do what I need.

            When I brought up the Fusion 360 Website I could not easily find a way to chat(?) with someone so I did find this forum spot. I have never used a forum before so I am not even sure that what I am asking is the right place to do it.  So with that very long introduction (I’m sorry for that) here is what I need to know before I purchase a CNC machine (if at all):

1. Can Fusion 360 allow me to copy/insert? a grayscale jpg file into it? (See the attached jpg sample)
2. If so, can it then convert the jpg file into another type of file (I have no idea which type of file) that can then be used to create a G-code file that is used by a CNC machine? (I am currently looking into a Shapeoko XXL machine).
3. If Fusion 360 will do both of my requests above, could someone guide me step by step on how to accomplish my goal? (I do need step by step help because most of the knowledge needed to accomplish what I want to do is not logical to me).

Thank you for your help and understanding

Sincerely

Richard Brady   

randsbrady@gmail.com

[LibertyMachine]

Hello Mr. Brady, and welcome to the Fusion forums!

Fusion is good at many things regarding CNC, but art type stuff is somewhat limited with this software, sad to say.

We do have "engrave", but that really only works for text and similar features.

I don't have a good solution for you in this regard, as wood and artistic machining is not something I've done a lot of.

I might suggest to you using the Vectric line of software, but I don't think they offer a hobby license. (Although, PhotoCarve is "only" $150.)

If you DO want to do some reading, I strongly taking a stroll over to cnczone.com, where you will find a wealth of information about other software options and a lot of like minded users. Do let us know what you find!

[Marco.Takx]

Hi @Anonymous,

We are developed a tool for inserting a picture and convert it to grayscale lines or points. Automatically will come out a NC file. It is still on our list to test our tool but at the moment to busy with customers projects. Hopefully we have test this tool  soon to show the results.

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