Photo VCarve question

[MikeDe1025]

I was looking to see if we have the ability to make a carved face from a picture actually stand off of the board and I finally read in the "features" section of the Photo VCarve software that we can do that. It's called 3D Greyscale machining. And then it goes on to say this, "3D Grayscale Machining: PhotoVCarve automatically converts a grayscale image into a 3D height map that can then be carved."

Well, ok, but then I can't find anything on that anywhere. Not even in the help section. Can someone tell me what is being said here? I mean I was always under the impression that a greyscale image was simply a black & white image. Am I wrong? I'm thinking it's a bit more technical than that otherwise they would have said black & white instead of greyscale. Hmmm. Maybe I'm making too much out of a simple thing. I guess that's why I'm here right now.

Is a greyscale image something that was converted from a black & white pic? Or a color pic? Is greyscale indeed black & white where I can simply pull a black & white photo into the program and it converts it into a height map?

I've been learning this machine and software now for about 3 months and have come along pretty well I believe. The machine itself is fairly straight forward. The design programs are quite sophisticated but very learnable. And among all of it I have found that the absolute hardest part to learn is the "terminology". It seems to get me everytime and I'll almost bet that's my problem right here with this question.

Hope someone can shine a little light on me and make me say, "OHHHHHHHHH"

Mike

[Wolffie1]

If you convert a picture to greyscale, each colour in the picture will be assigned a different shade of grey between pure white and pure black.
When PhotoVCarve reads the picture, each shade of grey is converted to a different depth for the tool to carve.
It is an optical illusion that they human eye perceives by reading the depth of the cut. The deeper it is, the more shadow there is and they eye interprets it as being darker than the shallower cuts.
A black and white picture is just another way of saying greyscale.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Wolffie

[tonydude]

Here is a grey scale image off the internet for free. Is this what you're asking about? There are a lot of free stuff out there, you just have to look for it. You can learn a lot by searching all the forums that are out there. You have to have patience and need to learn about the programs.

Tony

[CountryWoodCrafts]

Also look up "depth map" and "grayscale bias relief"