More than six years ago I clearly remember watching my shiny new MultiCam run down the table, stop at a precise location and then magically carve away at a piece of Precision Board to reveal the piece I had designed a few minutes previously at my desk. It was pure MAGIC.
The pieces I designed at first were very simple for I had so much to learn. As most quickly figure out EnRoute has a pretty steep learning curve - especially if you want to do more than use your router as a very expensive jig saw. And I wanted to do so much more!
Each day I would try to add one more trick to my tool set. I knew what I wanted to create, but getting the program to do it was difficult - especially at first. As I became familiar with the controls I found I could imagine almost anything and then methodically build shapes, add, take away or modify to get what I wanted. The only limits were my skill level and my imagination.
These days I am very comfortable with the workings of EnRoute. I find it best that the room I am working needs to be quiet - no radio playing or distractions. Things need to be done in a precise order - from start to finish. Sometimes unexpected things happen. Rather than frustrating me I take note for I will use that command down the road to do something new and different. Then I back up a step and try something different.
The name tags for the Sign Magic Workshops are a chance to get a little crazy, to try out many new things. The whole idea is to go down roads I haven't travelled before. Creating a bunch of original name tags tunes up my skills and familiarizes me with things I haven't used for a while. It is necessary practice before I sit down to teach another workshop. I would highly recommend this task to anyone who wants to really learn to use EnRoute to it's fullest.
One of the name tags I created this past week was especially fun. The plaque was for Kurt who will be traveling from Pennsylvania for the Sculpting Magic Workshop. I got so wrapped up in the job I forgot to grab screen shots so I have no step by step for this piece. I'll let you figure it out like I did. :)
When I sent the file to the MultiCam I simply had to go to the router room and watch for a while. I felt that same feeling of seeing pure MAGIC happen as with my first piece more than six years ago. It was fun!
I hope you have as much fun creating files and routing as I do!
-dan
