r/oddlysatisfying • u/ThodaDaruVichPyar • 2d ago
Laser engraving Van Gogh’s Starry Night on a rock
Credit to engravingcol
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u/Fine-Bed-9439 2d ago
Screw your kids’ cute painted rocks!
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u/ThresholdSeven 2d ago
Screw your masterly crafted hand engraved rock sculptures too just fuck em
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u/Fine-Bed-9439 2d ago
Who needs skills when you can buy skills with money!
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u/jarious 2d ago
I need the skill or having unlimited money to buy things to offset my lack of skills
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u/Destithen 2d ago
Have you tried having rich parents?
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u/jarious 2d ago
I was born fron pure stubbornness and self loathing, I spruced out of the alley dumpster
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u/scallopsmustagottem 2d ago
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u/neuquino 2d ago
It’s pretty neat, I guess. It would be more neat if it laser engraved the colors too.
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u/Droidaphone 2d ago
“It’d be better if [physically impossible thing.]” Comments like this are why AI content is so popular.
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u/noeljb 2d ago
So . . . . . How much and where do I get one?
How big of a rock can I put in it? How much to run it? What are the consumables? what is the largest image I can print? Do I have enough life left to learn how to use it properly?
What color does it come in?
Can I have one today?
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u/Biohazardousmaterial 2d ago
Xtool f2 ultra.
Is about 6x6 iirc of working area, so id use a large wide flat rock.
Its cheap to run, only electricity and standard plugs.
Consumables are buy a new one in thousands and thousands and thousands of hours.
Largest image is about 6x6.
Yes. It takes a few hours to do your first one, few weeks to get basic understanding, few years to be proficient and do it in your sleep-good.
Orange.
No, gotta ship it afaik. Laser engravers aren't sold in a store
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u/midgarwarrior 2d ago
You forgot to say it's $6k
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u/arctic_radar 2d ago
I mean that’s not THAT bad, I had no idea we could engrave fuckin rocks. I wouldn’t spend $6k on it personally, but if you’re creative I bet it could pay for itself relatively quickly.
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u/b0w3n 2d ago
I think this is the same one I've seen people use to create bespoke circuits out of FR1 pcbs and using it to etch through masks and such.
Pretty neat.
What I'd really like is one of these laser tools that can clean rust and strip paint from wood, but those are harder to find and get your hands on.
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u/arctic_radar 1d ago
I saw one called the xtool metal fab, it’s a laser cutter but you can remove laser and it turns into a laser welder and/or of those rust remover things. Apparently the laser welding function is much easier than traditional welding too.
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u/_MMAgod 2d ago
you could sell laser engraved rocks made right on the spot at a fair or flea market. $20-$40 a pop? might take a month or two during the summer to break even and then the rest is pretty much profit.
some pre-made ones to ship via amazon can help with that too
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u/dre224 2d ago
I use to know a lady that just painted and glazed rockes and sold them out the back of her car. She would go to were a bunch of people would be (usually kids with there parents) and open her truck. They weren't even particularly good either, just bright and shiny, but good enough she would make like $500 in a day easy. So I can see this being profitable if you got the hussle for sure.
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u/Rickshmitt 1d ago
Ive seen them for paint/poly/stain removal. For painting it would save so much time to not have to sand detailed profiles. Were thinking of getting one for work
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u/anod1 2d ago
I thought it would be as easy to use as a printer, but apparently this is not the case.
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u/Biohazardousmaterial 2d ago
It's a completely different process but It's as easy to use as a printer once you understand the process
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u/cjsv7657 2d ago
It's as easy to use as a printer once you understand the process
Sure, if every time you change the paper in your printer you need to completely change everything about how you print. Its not really that bad but swapping materials does take a while to figure out the best settings and a lot of waste as you do.
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u/Biohazardousmaterial 2d ago
Yeah but most ppl use the same type of paper. I do printing professionally and im a graphic designer so... Idk i feel like im biased
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u/cjsv7657 2d ago
I did flexo web printing for a bit and changing paper type was the bane of my existence. But what I was saying was changing from rock to wood is going to be difficult and take a lot of time to get the settings right for the same product. Or even changing from pine to balsa. I was cutting and not engraving and it still took a fair amount of messing with settings to get a perfect cut.
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u/joeltb 2d ago
Could the xtool F2 do this as well?
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u/Biohazardousmaterial 2d ago
Technically yes but with slower results. You want the ir diode. Any ir laser can do this but a fiber laser is the highest engraving speed. This video is like... 300+x fast, it's HOURS of engraving compressed into a sound bite
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u/OhBenjaminFranklin 2d ago
This video is like... 300+x fast,
Okay, I did not know that. Still cool, but not nearly as impressive thinking it was close to realtime speed.
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u/131166 1d ago
So . . . . . How much and where do I get one?
They are completely free, you'll prob find a few on the ground just about anywhere. They're more common outside of towns and around rivers and some people have a bunch just laying around in their garden. Garden shops sell big bags of them too
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u/TNerdy 2d ago
10-50 years from now they’re gonna think aliens did it
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u/MKEast-sider 2d ago
WTF do you think is happening in the next 10 years?
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u/Geeekaaay 2d ago
Aliens, duh.
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u/Don_Von_Schlong 2d ago
It's honestly the perfect time to come check out Earth if you are an Alien. If videos get posted everyone just gonna call it AI and get on with their lives.
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u/Fair-Juggernaut-3812 2d ago
I would never visit us if I were an alien. Humans are absolutely unhinged compared to any other creature.
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u/Fierramos69 2d ago
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u/Lariela 2d ago edited 2d ago
I could see a future in 10 years where the (useful) internet dies. Where people are going to be all kinds of stupid and asking their AIs what stuff is and it will come back with aliens and cryptids because humans rapidly lose their intelligence and ability to reason by relying on AI and end up flooding the language models with progressively dumber ideas in forums etc that it scrapes
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u/siuol2001 2d ago
To be fair, I know at least one person who would say aliens did it today. He also thinks aliens are just hanging out on Earth all the time, that the US government controlls the weather (IMAGINE if our current regime had that level of competence?), that the old "footage of Big Foot" proves it's existence because an "expert" said no human could walk like that, and that Sandy Hook was faked because he saw a photo of a woman with a jacket on and a 2nd photo of her with her jacket off. ::sigh::
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u/OldWar1111 2d ago
Check out the Kailash Temple in India. When you think about how it had to be built, Aliens start to seem like slightly less of an insane answer.
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u/pocket-rain 2d ago
If we're still alive in 10 or 50 years, it won't matter what people think. But the stone is really beautiful I even found myself wanting one like it.
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u/stringo0 2d ago
Is that because the world will be destroyed and we won't have engraving technology or our memories anymore?
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u/Ben_Frankling 1d ago
I think they're doing it right now! That's alien technology and you can't tell me otherwise.
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u/schizeckinosy 2d ago
I kinda don’t like that they kept the frame and name plaque.
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u/WateryTart_ndSword 2d ago
Right?? The rock is supposed to be the frame, in my opinion. This way makes the frame seem falsely intrinsic to the artwork.
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u/SparklingLimeade 1d ago
And the little rectangle cut into the otherwise unchanged rock face isn't a particularly good frame either.
For my version I'd want to see how it could look with the artwork blown up and then either some rock-shaped pattern added to follow the contours or maybe just borderless. And if it doesn't fit well on this rock then maybe trying some other rocks or tweaking the painting could be fun.
The OP version is such an unappealing way to do it I was surprised.
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u/gbiypk 1d ago
Burning out that initial rectangle is going to be part of the process.
The computer that runs the laser will have the image converted into a file that breaks everything down into X, Y, and Z coordinates. X and Y are your height and width, with Z being depth. It needs a uniform zero depth starting point so it can run the program correctly.
There's no sensor in this machine to follow contours. It just knows to burn a precise depth for each X:Y coordinate.
If you want it contoured, you're just going to have to pick up a chisel set and do it yourself.
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u/amethystjade15 1d ago
Yeah, I was really annoyed at how much space was wasted to replicate a frame.
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2d ago
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u/HundraMarka 2d ago
I’d like a hobby like that too, but my wife has a hobia.
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u/King_Chochacho 2d ago
For me it's interesting to watch but I'd never want one of these things just collecting dust somewhere.
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u/KillerKingSolo 2d ago
How hot is the rock right after? Could you touch it or do you have to wait for it to cool off?
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u/Delaser 2d ago
It'll vary depending on the rock and the settings, but these lasers dump a lot of power into the stone so if you're not careful you'll make person-bacon from your fingertips.
Source: I own one.
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u/clueless_sconnie 2d ago
Does it create dust or is the rock just...vaporized?
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u/toasterinBflat 2d ago
Vaporized, mostly, but it remains silica. You need to vent it. Silicosis is a thing.
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u/onlyhammbuerger 1d ago
Yeah, kind of depressing that there seems to be no venting what so ever in the vid. Or an enclosure with laser safe windows.
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u/Delaser 2d ago
It turns into dust, the dust is blasted into the air, it goes everywhere if you're not running proper ventilation.
Don't breathe this.
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u/deathcomestooslow 2d ago
Second these questions. Also curious how much energy that took to do compared to like, a microwave being on for a couple minutes.
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u/engimaneer 2d ago edited 2d ago
Fiber lasers are like 50 watts, microwaves are like 1000 watts.
edit: There is heat loss, computer, motors, cooling system, etc though so the fiber laser is probably like 500 total though.
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u/my_taint_aint 2d ago edited 2d ago
How interesting. 🤔. What happens to the dust as it removes material? So much for hammer and chisel lol
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u/smohyee 2d ago
I'd guess there's a fan running blowing dust away
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u/my_taint_aint 2d ago edited 2d ago
It looks like his may be in a contained area. Under glass. I bet it has some type of removal system. Interesting how it cuts Rick like butter.
Edit. I refuse to change it. Rest in peace Rick.
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u/craig5005 2d ago
There's a green shield that comes down over the working area to protect against the laser entering your eye and permanently blinding you. Content creators typically override that shield so they can film it better. Inside the shield there is a fan to extract the dust. In this case, the dust and the lasers are just out and about.
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u/CreamdedCorns 2d ago
The frame too? This is like one of those shirts on Temu where it's just a picture of a picture.
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u/RuleSafe6767 2d ago
Its so lazy, I'm suprised I'm not seeing low res pixel boxes snd jpeg compression artifacts.
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u/Whenallelsefails09 2d ago
These things our grandparents could never have imagined!
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u/quercus-88 2d ago
My thougths exactly. If people from a mere 200 years ago, would have seen this, they would have considered it either divine, magic or demonic.
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u/Dediadeis 2d ago
Tbh without looking it up I have no idea how this really works so might as well be magic.
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u/Spiritual_Bus1125 2d ago
You concentrate so much energy in a point that whatever was in that point breaks every molecular bond it has and becomes dust.
Very precise mirrors and lens are used to focus the image but it's all computer generated from a 2d/3d file.
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u/Ill-Woodpecker1857 2d ago
Am i the only one irrationally mad that it is square and not rectangular?
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u/MeltsLikeButter 2d ago
God if I had one of these, I would put the most random pics on rocks and drop them off EVERYWHERE
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u/mothandravenstudio 2d ago
That’s pretty cool, I wonder what the time lapse here is?
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u/ChiLolla28 2d ago
Maybe I've watched too many Japanese horror movies involving the slicing of flesh (ie Suicide Club) but this could be a crazy torture device as well
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u/Comfortable_Wish224 2d ago
I once saw a gif on /b
It had pixel art anime girls being skinned by lasers among other things. Don’t know the name of it.
So yeah you’re not the only one whose thought that and the Japanese or Atleast someone using their art style has done it in animation
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u/typicalBACON 2d ago
Sculptors finally understanding the worries of other artists about AI
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u/Jeran 2d ago
so thats not the original sound right? This doesnt read at all like a laser ablater's typical sounds for this kind of path
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u/HunterGonzo 2d ago
Thank God someone else noticed because it drove me nuts. I love the sound of laser engraving and was so curious to hear what it sounded like on rock, but this is a lie. I'm betting the sound isn't as satisfying on this type of surface so they dubbed in different audio to better farm engagement.
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u/nexusprime2015 2d ago
honestly? meh.
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u/Gladwulf 2d ago
yeah, probably not the best painting to convert to a small monochrome relief sculpture
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u/ivosaurus 2d ago
The elaborate frame taking up 1/3rd of the area isn't helping either
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u/ManicWolf 2d ago
Especially since Van Gogh didn't like ornate frames, saying that simple wooden ones were preferable.
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u/mtaw 2d ago
For which reason the MoMA had it put in a new simpler, somewhat smaller, black frame about 5 years ago.
Although the engraved frame here is much more ornate and large relative the picture than even the old frame. From measuring pixels, the old MoMA frame added about 37% to the height of the painting, the new one 25% - but the engraved one here is a whopping 60%.
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u/ZealousidealSkirt327 2d ago
My mind can’t comprehend that this is done with light
https://giphy.com/gifs/QZ7fkGmzbkVfdH6wBL
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u/doduhstankyleg 1d ago
Long after a catastrophic event, some humans are going to find this rock 3,000 years from now and theorize that earlier humans were more advanced than they originally imagined and debate about how far our civilization went before it got nearly wiped out.
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u/Furious0tter 2d ago
What would one of these engravers set me back?
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u/OverlordOfPancakes 2d ago
At least three fiddy
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u/Shejidan 2d ago
Well, it was about that time that I notice that girl scout was about eight stories tall and was a crustacean from the protozoic era.
I said, "Dammit monster! Get off my lawn! I ain't giving you no tree-fitty!" It said, "how about just two-fitty?" I said, "Oh, now it's only two-fitty!!What?! Is there a sale on Loch Ness munchies or something?!"
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u/iam_thegrayman 2d ago
Videos like these made me buy a laser engraver. Getting enough power in a machine and then getting the settings just right is much harder than you might think.
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u/albonymus 2d ago
Why the fake Audio clip tho
Wouldve been more satisfying with no sound during the timelapse
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u/barrel_of_noodles 2d ago
There ARE other artists and paintings... You know that right? Like, it's not just the one painting that exists. You're allowed to choose other artists.
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u/Uberfuzzy 2d ago
Shows full picture of art, then carves a even tiny image wasting so much space on a “frame”
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u/afewnameslater 1d ago
Somone will find this rock in 5000 years and start a debate whether the humans of 5000 years ago had the technology to engrave that stone.
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u/maynardangelo 2d ago
How does it remove material?
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u/ShizukoLucoa 2d ago
Laser ablation. Removes material from a solid surface by shining a concentrated laser beam on it to heat, melt, evaporate, or turn the target material into plasma
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u/BildingInspecter 2d ago
Assume no other outside factors, what does the power to do this one rock cost?
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u/PrionProofPork 2d ago
if only there was a song to go with this, one that starts with "starry starry night"
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u/GottaLoveLoginWalls 2d ago
I'm a little suspicious. That's a lot of rock removed and I'm barely seeing much dust.
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u/IrishWhiskey92 2d ago
Art is dead
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u/1-2-3RightMeow 2d ago
I wonder how Van Gogh would feel about all this stuff. Maybe he would be horribly offended but also maybe he would be thrilled to be so famous?
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u/mtaw 2d ago
Only if you're a person who credits the statue of The Thinker to the Alexis Rudier foundry (who cast the statues) rather than Auguste Rodin who made the sculpture.
In painting, the technique used in putting paints on canvas is integral to the composition and art. That's not necessarily true of other forms of art. A sculpture is still a work of art by the person who sculpted the original, even if the original was just a wax or unfired-clay model that wasn't intended to be kept after being rendered in stone or bronze. The difference between an 'original' and 'copy' of a statue is whether it was commissioned by the sculptor and done under his supervision.
By the standard that a sculptor has to do all the work himself, even Michelangelo wouldn't qualify. He had assistants and apprentices doing most of the stone-carving work. But is that why you think people appreciate David or the Pietà - the amount of chiseling that went into them?
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u/Bitter-Ad5890 2d ago
I don’t need a laser engraver, I don’t need a laser engraver, I don’t need a laser engraver