How to Get Design from PC to Wood

[Ajax-Magnus]

Hey all!  After a few months of lurking around this excellent forum I am making the leap to posting.  I have been trying to find as much information as I can to all the steps of building my first cabinet.  I feel like I am about 90% there, but I do have a few burning questions that I haven't quite found the answers to.  Here is one that I am currently chewing on.

The cabinet design I am going with is the one popularized by ChanceKJ.  I also want to build the corresponding CP that Jarrett designed.  I downloaded the jpgs they provided for their builds, however I am not sure of the best way to get it from my computer to the wood.  What is the preferred method?  do I just get my straight edge, protractor, tape measure, and just draw it out the best I can?  Or is there a way to print it out full size, glue it to the wood, and cut it out like a template?  I believe there is a way to do the latter, but I am missing some of the details:

1.  Is there a good tutorial somewhere for outlining the cabinet/cp design in Photoshop?  I know enough in PS to be dangerous.  Not sure what the simplest way to "outline" and existing image is.  I love their templates but printing out the image full size WITH the cabinet art just isn't practical when an outline would do.

2.  Once builders have their template printed out, what do they glue it to the wood with?  Is there a preferred glue?  Do they even use glue?

I am sure at some point I will have additional questions and I will be back here.  Any pointers on these would be most appreciated!

Oh, and because I love this creepy emoji I will share it:   

[MamedInCanada]

I would say first get your sides and inner pieces cut down to proper widths at Home Depot, Rona, Lowes, etc... then transfer measurements over. For examples, your sides should roughly be 36 x 72, transfer design to one side, cut, and trace. I'd get 2 4'x8' sheets cut to your widths, say 25" if your not confident with your skills. You can probably get by with 1 sheet, but if you make any mistakes you'll need a new sheet and the widths with never be the same. Getting your cuts right on the cp might take a few tries...good luck!

[yamatetsu]

1.  Is there a good tutorial somewhere for outlining the cabinet/cp design in Photoshop?  I know enough in PS to be dangerous.  Not sure what the simplest way to "outline" and existing image is.  I love their templates but printing out the image full size WITH the cabinet art just isn't practical when an outline would do.

Just google 'image outline photoshop'. You'll find a vid on youtube. If that fails, you can draw white rectangles filled white inside the outline, so that you blot out most of the graphics.

2.  Once builders have their template printed out, what do they glue it to the wood with?  Is there a preferred glue?  Do they even use glue?

I'd print the template, doubletape it to a piece of cardboard, cut it out and then doubletape it on the wood. Like MamedInCanada suggested, I would use precut pieces so that some of the cuts will already be perfect.

[RxBrad]

Or is there a way to print it out full size, glue it to the wood, and cut it out like a template?

That's what I did.  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,143056.msg1507836.html#msg1507836


Designed my side panel in SketchUp, exported to .PNG, scaled up to fullsize in GIMP, exported to PDF, and printed on the plotter at work.  (There may be easier ways to do this, but that's what I did.)

[Ajax-Magnus]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I think I finally figured out what I needed to do with Photoshop to get the templates printed out full size and without the cabinet art.  I was already using the quick selection tool to select all the bits of the image I wanted an outline of.  The problem I was having was separating out the artwork.  I figured out what I need to do is inverse the selection, then create a new layer and paste it in.  This gave me the desired outline.  By messing with the Blending Options I was able to beef it up a bit.  I may not do it tonight but I think this weekend I will have some jpegs of both cabinet sides and control panel to have Staples print out on their jumbo printers. 

MamedInCanada / Yamatetu - I pretty much have the tools I will need to do this in my garage.   I have been upgrading my work area and insulation in the garage in preparation for this project for a while now. I like the idea of having Lowes go ahead and cut some of the boards to the correct lengths and widths though.  God knows it would make it easier to get the wood back to my house in my short bed pickup.  And knowing I have as precise cuts as I can get for for at least a few of the edges sounds good.

RxBrad - I really like how your build turned out.  I am adding your link to my list of "builds with a metric ton of good info" threads.

[jon3183]

Any chance you can add the psd files you created to the thread.