Another thing I’ve done with images is find a tail I like and a nose I like then cut and paste them together before drawing the outline. I think it follows Kelly Slater’s idea when he made the wizard sleeve. He kept the tail he liked and changed the nose. I have a tail shape I like and I have made a couple of boards of varying lengths based on that tail and tail rocker with different nose shapes, from wide like a noserider to pointed like a modern HPSB.
Same for templates, I may use one for the tail and another for the nose and a third for the middle.
As my current tagline suggests, I’ve been reading up on Rusty’s blog insights on surfboard design. He makes one very honest observation that seems to have some bearing in this conversation: “When it comes to talking about surfboards, we think – and shapers tend to work – step-by-step, in a 2D world and by the magic of process, it all gets woven into a wonderful 3D, functional, sculpture.”
Template is a good example of how we think and talk in 2D, whereas we all know the curves are compound and occur in 3D on the surfboard. 2D is just a useful tool, there is no way to really quantify a 3D description of a template on a shaped board, other than maybe by computer program - which is technically more accurate than a masonite template, but infinitely less useful to a backyard handshaper like myself.
If there is a noticeable discrepancy that occurs when translating into 3D, you just have to deal with it as you shape. If its not noticeable, i.e., I can’t see it, then I’m good with the shape I have. I’m not trying to duplicate the boards of other shapers, like a scan file, but rather let my boards be inspired and informed by the work of others.
I don’t like to try and resize a web image to surfboard size, it gets pixellated and becoames unusable. Thats where the drawing program works best. Photoshop uses raster files, and drawing programs use vector files. Vector files are numerical values and raster files are actual pixels or something like that. You can scale vector files without the pixellation, so a vector file imported into photoshop can be sized on import to whatever you want. Just specify the length and width and ot will do the math. Just be sure to have a powerful computer with a lot of RAM if you want to work with surfboard sizes.
I am surprised this has not come up in this thread as a possibility. I understand that images are distorted but it can act as a starting pt. A few years ago I imported an image into AKU shaper. It is possible to pull the lines in and out in order to approximate a 2D picture that can be printed, glued on masonite and cut into a template. I am sure someone on here could give some instructions to describe this process in detail. I took a look at it and can’t seem to remember what kind of file is needed to import.
I would also like to find a link to someone making a template from scratch. There are a number of board build threads. Is there a good “old school” template build thread? I know people plot measurements and then connect them with fishing rods or thin battens. I hear people use incredibly long string to create arcs etc. etc.
Agreed. Blowing up a photo to full size is not the way to go. Enlarging the photo to scale while keeping the outline reasonably well defined and then re-plotting to template material, with or without a graph paper intermediate, is the way to use photos without going to some CAD driven design software.
In the Scorpion example, I would not draw a center line/stringer line. I would measure image width at regular intervals and then divide by 2 for re-plotting. I like to true up the shape with french curves or ships curves on graph paper before re-plotting to template material. Even though the photo images are re-sized in inches, I measure the image dimensions in millimeters for re-plotting to graph paper.
EDIT, 02/16/14: I have combined and expanded details about my posts in this thread at the following link.
Re-sizing a full-size template discussed at the following link:
So it looks like the Huckayama version would end up with an approx. 18" nose, 15" tail, and wide point 21.25" at 39.5" up from the tail. I would use the grid to scale it up to full size on masonite, freehand the curves, cut it just a little oversize, so I could finish up fairing the curves with a sanding block. You can kinda fine tune the nuances of the template as you do the final fairing.
Neat thread…guess what? No matter how much time you spend using your computer to rip a template from someone else…sooner or later you have to go out into the shop and make the template…I like the old fashion way of ripping off templates. Plop down some hardboard on a surfboard I’m repairing. Trace it …With my Walden longboard template and my speed egg template I can draw out that Scorpion thing in FULL size long before you guys transfer the stuff from the computer to the workshop…21.25 is wide for a 5’10" but it will work. I’m amazed how many guys have built surfboards in my garage without a “Template”. Get a good idea and run with it! I can do a nice curve with masking tape too. Hard to explain…Have fun! What blank do you plan on using?
Never needed a computer to make templates, and like Barry I have some going back decades; furthermore most boards are in there somewhere. Still I enjoy making templates, and the new ones aren’t any more valid than the old ones, but serve as a nice reference point. Most of you don’t speak the same language when it comes to copying which we all do at times. For an experienced shaper with a degree of tolerance calling a computer image off the net, that still has to be transfered to a blank close enough to be called a copy is well, retarded; there I said it, even though its not politically correct.
Its hard enough having the same templates, like we did at CI to copy a board to what Merrick would consider excellent than most of you will ever know. And even he had a collection of Tom’s boards that he could reference by feel, as well as, the 3x5 cards on which he kept his notes.
I guess if you wanted an exact copy of another surfboard, then scan and cnc computer file is pretty much gonna be the gold standard. Nothing hand drawn will be as accurate.
In a literal sense, the term “copy” doesn’t really translate when discussing templates made from surfboards, images of surfboards, or anything besides other templates. Because a template can only be a copy of another template, and only a surfboard can be a copy of another surfboard. A template can’t be a copy of a surfboard, because a surfboard is a 3D object, and a template is basically, for all intents and purposes, a 2D object. As I mentioned in a previous post, Rusty gets it, he said the surfboard is a 3D object, but shapers tend to talk and work in a 2D world.
However, if you are making your own designs, it is possible to use surfboard images off the internet as a reference point to aid in making your templates. You can then use that template to make a board similar to the one pictured, if your rocker, rails, foil, etc. is similar. But since its not really a copy, if the board is a dog, there is no one to blame but yourself, its still your own design. On the other hand, if the board is a success, then it only seems right that you can’t claim all the credit yourself, LOL.
I’ve made several this way, and they have all worked very well for me. I gladly acknowledge those whose boards inspired my shapes - pro shapers who build awesome boards and post pics of their work on the internet.
A lot of us design and make our own surfboards, to ride. Since we don’t advertise them as a copy of another shaper’s board, for us the thread title “Making a template from an Image of a Board” (no mention of copy) makes perfect sense.
A plan shape is but one part of a well designed foil…if you don’t know the other correct parts of the foil , you will not replicate the board , apart from creating something that looks roughly the same to the untrained eye…if you have the knowledge to create a complete foil , you have no need to copy someone else’s plan-shape…just design a board with similar features and style.
Both Precision Shaper (software) and Shape 3d (software) allow you to import a ghost image of both outline and rocker into your computer file so you can “copy” the outline and rocker, and then print a template (or cut blank on machine). You can scale the image to be the same length as the file you are working on. Keep in mind (as outlined in many posts above) there are many pitfalls to doing this, such as length/shape distortion due to rocker, and the photo having the board slightly tilted, etc. I like to treat this feature as just another tool to help develop a shape, rather than make an exact copy. In truth it is something that the customer really appreciates, because they say, “make me something like a XXXXX” and I can show them my design ghosted over an image of the XXXXX, so they can see the similarities.
