Hi everyone! Sure is quiet around here…must have something to do with the elections, ya think? 
Now, most of you know that I don’t allow political and religious discussion on the site, and this post is no exception. Instead, this is a little demo designed for a some fun during an historic election. Yesterday at the grocery I saw these big slabs of both brown and white chocolate. I thought I’d get one of each and use the RoGR carve McCain and Obama on the white and brown blocks respectively! I used the venerable EMC2 and Image to Gcode to create the depthmaps from a couple of pix I pulled off the Goog.
I want an excuse to practice since I am considering making carvings of my family and friends on chocolate to hand out as Season’s Greetings. Aside from the political significance, I find this little project to be historically unique; maybe the world’s first CNC machined chocolate?
So…I wouldn’t call the experiment a resounding success. Then again, I don’t have all the time in the world to be goofing around with chocolate! Basically the amount of relief I’m looking for needs real 3d. The problem with a depthmap from grayscale is that it can’t really make 3d. Things like eyebrows become sunk in the head, as they are darker than the surrounding, and the program just equates dark with depth. Still, I think Obama came out ok considering what little work I did on him…
For reasons unknown to me, McCain came out looking a little “rough”..
Man, what a mess! We ate a lot of the “waste”.
Next was the “torch test” or trial by fire….who will melt first? I think this is an accurate picture of what we see at the polls today!
Well, I think this picture says it all…the chocolate oracle has spoken!
Cheers!
~Grayson
A few videos for your amusement:
December 7th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Machined chocolates! Hilarious! By the way, you gonna do anything with those shavings? I could use some sprinkles for my Christmas “Smack Santa’s Momma in the face” chocolate cream pie!
God’s blessings on you and your household this holiday season,
UVMike