For a Dutch tradition called Sinterklaas I made a friend of mine a gift; a halftone picture of his daughter Hebe in wood using my CNC router.
I found some great software online called Halftoner by Jason Dorie that allows you to make a halftone pattern out of any picture. I think pictures with a good amount of contrast work best however. The software outputs G-code directly and only one statement needs to be removed for it to work in EMC2.
Original photo
Halftone pattern output of same image.
Halftoner creates a pattern of holes which vary in size. You start off by spraying a panel of wood black. The smaller the hole is the darker that spot will be. By slightly varying the depth of the holes you get darker or lighter spots.
Halftone in progess
A video of my CNC machine in progress:
Nothing to see yet.
A timelapse of the CNC router to speed things up:
CNC machine finished
The pattern of holes.
The result!
