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Home | Features/3-D Models | Holiday Memories Santa

Holiday Memories Santa

01/24/2010 20:50:00 Shawn Cipa

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Quick and easy carving produces a functional display

This Santa project provides an ideal way to display your favorite holiday photo. It also makes a great gift for family and friends. The folk-style photo holder is an easy and fun-to-do design that is perfect for beginners, and is a great break from involved projects that more experienced carvers may be working on.

The design is a very basic shape; it can be carved simply, or details may be added according to your skill level. For example, I have left the robe simple, but you may decide to add texture, folds, or ruffles. The tree pot could be carved as a more elaborately-shaped vessel. Alternatively, you could choose to omit the beard details for a simple, smooth effect.

I use several gouges to rough out the basic elements and to add details, but a knife could be used to do most, if not all, of the work. Choose a clear piece of basswood for both ease of carving and painting purposes. Clamp the blank down during the roughing-out stage to provide control and ensure safety.

Click here to view the 3-D model of this project.

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Comments (123 posted):

Hi_Ho_Sliver on 11/07/2007 09:10:34

Thats neat Bob!

Just Carving on 11/07/2007 09:29:27

Wow! That's great! I viewed it at work which we have cable internet service and I assume is high-speed--a lot faster than at home--I have dial-up. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to view the Santa at home but I'll check later. Nice to be able to look at a carving almost as if you were holding it in you hand. I got a kick out of being able to see the bottom of the carving! Fantastic idea BobD and WCI staff! Bob L

Terry Vance on 11/07/2007 09:43:52

That is way cool. Can look at carving from top, bottom and all around. Way to go WCI!!!!!

Doug Ridley on 11/07/2007 10:09:55

Worked perfectly for me after I figured out that all you have to do is drag your cursor around over it. Amazing!

Raparee on 11/07/2007 11:31:32

That's pretty slick, Bob!

Bandaid on 11/07/2007 11:43:39

A great way to view a carving Bob.

Arnold-Smith on 11/07/2007 12:21:12

Works for me. Thinks Bob,

Robert Cahill on 11/07/2007 12:37:26

The original picture came up good but I have dial up and an old computer and could not get anything. Anytime I click on to an area it takes quite a while to come up on this site so I played a game of boggle still didn't come up.One of the intarsia sites had this on one her books and I couldn't get it there either.

JIM QUILICI on 11/07/2007 12:41:09

Bob d. that could not have been better Jim

BobD on 11/07/2007 12:43:59

Sorry, Robert...that's why I added the warning in my first post about dial-up users...there's really no way we can make it smaller for the dial-up users...I'm sorry!!! Bob

Thomp on 11/07/2007 13:29:03

bob D, maybe a little much for dialup, on this 2800 processor with 256 memory, ibm measuring with task manager and connection status, the dialup speed today was 41kbs using preformance tab on task manager showed 430 page file max 500 and cpu loaded and unloaded to max and min from time to time, took near 8 minuets for the applett to load my system is pretty overloaded as for hard drive freespace with 8 gigs free on 40 gig drive ... but to be fare it was worth it if i really wanted to look at a outstanding carving,, the functions worked really well after it loaded.. wow if thats gonna be standard for pictures im gonna have to beg old santa for a lot better connection ....

BrandantR on 11/07/2007 14:04:47

Now that is cool. It is great to be able to turn the carving around so see all the little nooks and cranies and even take measurements. Love it.

dmatias on 11/07/2007 14:20:51

Bob, Great idea and works fantastic. Keep up the good work.

BobD on 11/07/2007 14:27:28

Actually it was Rob Starr and Troy Thorne who did all of the work! I can't take any credit for it! Bob

snickerbocker on 11/07/2007 15:36:00

Bob, That is great, I am on DSL and it worked for me.

Bartster on 11/07/2007 15:39:36

bobd, worked great for me that is way cool. bart

doris on 11/07/2007 15:58:04

i am on dial-up too, and it worked great, i had just to wait a little to load the whole thingy... i like that,,,may be we can all present our carvings this way ? much better than just a foto

BobD on 11/07/2007 16:02:43

It does require some specialized software...but it's something we're working on for different projects we present in the magazine... You really can see how something is carved...we want it to be almost like you are holding the piece in your hands and can turn it this way and that! Bob

Doug Ridley on 11/07/2007 16:06:35

How do you take the picture?

admin on 11/07/2007 16:08:28

I will also bow out on this one. All the credit goes to Troy Thorne, our creative director.

doris on 11/07/2007 16:31:00

yes, i am on a mac, we can do that... its not one picture, but many. it suffices in general to take 12 pictures in 3 heigths, thas 36 pictures, and then let your software (quicktime on a mac) make that thingy of it. i made such for myself too. all you need is a digital camera, and that software to create it... maybe it needs also software to view it (?), on mac it seems be automatic... anyway, i would love see thes presentations more, is more like holding carving in your hand... thanks for showing !

Don Yarger on 11/07/2007 16:49:20

This is really neat. I am not the most computer literate, but I can even do this. Thanks, Don

Claude on 11/07/2007 17:56:19

Bob: Worked just fine on my MacBookPro (OS X 10.4.10) using Safari 2.0.4. Now, how do we get our photos to do the same thing? :) Claude

squbrigg on 11/07/2007 17:59:29

What a wonderful tool Bob!!! That technology certainly opens up a whole world of possibilities, and I can see a new direction for teaching aids. Is this something you will be looking at as regular feature? As a issue suppliment perhaps? Can't wait to see a ship model done on it!!!!!!! Bob

Big_Al on 11/07/2007 19:00:45

Amazing - Big Al

MelNM on 11/07/2007 19:19:21

I like it, now can I have that Santa Projects magazine? Mel

chuckt on 11/07/2007 20:42:44

Very cool Bob. This is a brillient application of this technology that really let's us interact with and examine a carving from ALL angles. I would love to see this used for online carving tutorials. So often you can't tell from a flat photo how something was actually done or the depth of a cut. This would go a long way towards making that possible. Keep up the AWESOME work WCI!!! This board is indespensible for any new carver and just keeps getting better and better. ChuckT

BobD on 11/08/2007 08:08:45

I'm not sure what software Troy used. We tried the quicktime route on an earlier project, but it was VERY labor intensive. I think he's found a simpler method... I'll ask him to weigh in on it! Bob

Al_Hillis on 11/08/2007 08:45:04

Bob, I like it Al [url=http://picasaweb.google.com/al.hillis/WOODCARVINGSMINE][url]http://picasaweb.google.com/al.hillis/WOODCARVINGSMINE

Don by the lake on 11/08/2007 10:46:01

Bob, What a cool idea. Works fine for me! I really like the new magazine that just came out. Excellent job!

Mottles on 11/08/2007 11:39:09

Darn, it was blocked on my browser! Great idea though Kathy

BobD on 11/08/2007 11:44:07

Kathy, You can choose to allow it (you can trust us) in the browser preferences. What browser do you use? Bob

Hi_Ho_Sliver on 11/08/2007 11:44:09

I bet I would like the new magazine, if it ever got here ;)

Mottles on 11/08/2007 12:11:50

Kathy, You can choose to allow it (you can trust us) in the browser preferences. What browser do you use? Bob Thumbs Up Thanks Bob, I installed Java and was able to open the 360-degree santa. Wow that is really cool! I have Windows Internet Explorer...and Windows could not varify the software so it was blocking it. Kathy

torpidhummer on 11/08/2007 13:33:26

Hey Bob, that's great, just like CSI, I might even solve my own carving goofs. Thanks, Torpidhummer

mikeg on 11/08/2007 15:31:46

That's pretty neat! mikeg

BRIAN D on 11/08/2007 15:35:27

Bob, Feedback: use WinXP with Sunjava & 56K Dialup with accelerator after about 3 to 4 min. to load, was able to play with. Good job! Is this something in the near future? Brian D.

Eddy-Smiles on 11/08/2007 17:20:48

Dad gum it! Not only do I have dial-up but my computer says that I need to activate Java or something and I don't know what it's talking about! I've got I.E. Anyone have any suggestions?

Lindy on 11/08/2007 17:21:21

BobD, Loved it! Look forward to seeing more of it. Lindy

Golfer on 11/08/2007 17:54:42

Just registered and love the site. Great idea on the 360 SantaBouncing S

Joy on 11/08/2007 18:16:29

AAAAmazing! That should be fun to try to carve from.

Mark N. Akers on 11/08/2007 18:26:46

Bob: What a awsome feature for the site,fantastic.

BobBlaney on 11/08/2007 18:45:01

This is a very nice feature to have. It works great over a broadband access. I love the measure feature, that sure helps. Thanks for putting this in place, if it si beta then move it to full production for more carvings. I am waiting for a songbird to see in this mode.

JimODea on 11/08/2007 18:57:21

Hi, this will be great. I tried all the buttons and got all to work except the turn button - just no response to several tries. others work good. I am using Cable TV Internet. Jim

Stoney on 11/08/2007 19:40:06

This technology should add a new a new unforseen level of CD based training that some of the carvers are selling these days.

dlsmart on 11/08/2007 19:48:14

That's a great new tool. Hope you continue to use it on lots of step-by-step projects.

NorthWest Custom Carvings on 11/08/2007 19:55:56

Cool stuff. I will use it. Good job WCI!

Allan on 11/08/2007 21:56:01

This is as good as apple pie and I love apple pie.

Christine on 11/08/2007 22:32:14

I just tried the 360- degree santa and couldn't get the move buttons to do anything. It was a bit slow even with high speed but that doesn't really matter. You do need a direction telling people to place their cursor on the picture and drag it, and not to expect it to move quickly. It's a great idea!! Christine

Blake Lunsford on 11/09/2007 06:35:08

Great idea Bob! Really nice. It loads slow, but a nice feature! Blake

dwg69 on 11/09/2007 10:31:02

It worked for me at my work computer well done Derek

Robert Cahill on 11/09/2007 11:32:41

Bob, No need to be sorry I did not really expect it to work on my computer as I said I couldn't get the Intarsia site to work and they had quick time. After reading some posts I did try again but after 25 minutes it still hadn't loaded. I am planning to visit my daughter and once the wife and her get gabbing I will go on her fast computer. The last time I forgot my password( now it is in my wallet). From all the responses so far I am sure I will enjoy it.

Eddy-Smiles on 11/09/2007 19:51:22

Okay! I'll try one more time. Would anyone like to share how they activated or perhaps I should say where they activated JAVA on their microsoft XP program. I assume that it's a security measure that was disabled when I purchased this machine but I have no idea where or what to enable.

doris on 11/10/2007 02:25:24

eddy, i am on mac, but if you use internet explorer on windows to view internet, then go and open while you are in internetexplorer the preferences, there is a tab security, open that, and there is a button or check to make for java enabled, put that. restart internetexplorer and it should work...if you not on internetexplrer, but firefox, its same. on other browsers i dont know...hope this helps

Eddy-Smiles on 11/10/2007 13:32:20

Thanks Doris... I'll give it a try.

santagibbs on 11/11/2007 00:10:03

I couldn't get it to work at first . When I read that you have to put the curser on the Santa to make it turn, then it worked fine.. Thank's somebody for telling us.. I forgot the somebody's name who said so.. It a great new tool.. Charlotte

bbeery on 11/11/2007 04:25:21

No problem, works great! I love it.Thank You

anastasia on 11/11/2007 15:05:34

I love the idea of a 360-degree view - thank you for doing this! I am connected through a high-speed connection, and I still found the applet took an awfully long time to load, and to manipulate. Did you consider Quicktime VR (QTVR) for the virtual models? It is quite nice, and the QTVR models I've seen usually load pretty quickly. I don't know about the measurement feature, though. All-in-all, a nice feature! -- anastasia

Shimmy on 11/11/2007 19:39:07

Works Great.Thank you.Love to see more of this.

BobD on 11/12/2007 08:15:11

We tried the QTVR in our earlier testing, but it didn't have the measuring feature, which we thought was VERY important. QTVR also requires something like 500+ photos (the software Troy used for this required substantially less). I'm planning an article on the whole process in the Spring issue. Bob

mubrown on 11/13/2007 09:58:28

This is great........Cool

Wood Spirit on 11/15/2007 08:23:51

Very nice!

TopKnot on 11/15/2007 15:49:25

Hey Bob , Super effects. I have DSL but after it loaded, no problems. I can see where this would be a great benefit. Great idea! Chuck

windspirit on 11/15/2007 19:10:27

Very well done. Especially nice to zoom in and see details. Might we have ability to print the screen image in the future?

Mitchell on 11/15/2007 21:22:14

Don't know how I missed this until now! Works great for me. I have a good bit of memory, so it loaded quickly and after I figured out how to move around a bit, didn't have any trouble at all..... very nice feature.

chpster90bu on 11/15/2007 22:09:29

Bob...don't know how I missed this! I have dial up only...no frills. Didn't take long to load at all and I got the hang of it right away. I LOVE IT!! This is a great tool for us to use, Bob. Kudos to the developers! Bonnie

BobD on 11/16/2007 08:21:13

I spent a bit of time yesterday with Troy, and he explained why Quick Time didn't work as well. The quicktime file is enormous...basically a collection of the hundreds of photos, and it wouldn't be possible to post that on the site. This 3D rendering of the carving produces a much smaller file size. Bob

Mike R Carver on 11/18/2007 19:17:17

It works great! The only thing I noticed was when rotating from front to back or vice versa that the texture looked flat or fake like a picture. I am guessing that this is because the skin is setup for the front and back separately? From the side view it looked a little thin, but I was not sure if the original carving was that way or not. I liked being able to evaluate the techniques involved. Even after zooming in I couldn't see enough detail around the eyes, since I was wanting a closer look. Perhaps you could have a super high resolution version for broadband connections and a lower resolution version for the dial-up users? I'm just being nit picky though, that's the computer geek in me coming out. Mike

Chahlie on 12/26/2007 00:52:06

Hi All, First off...Merry Christmas to ALL! Second...way cool application there Bob D. Worked just fine for me. I have a cable connection to the net which probably helps a lot! Thanks for working so hard to keep things interesting coming from WCI! Chahlie

sumacs on 12/31/2007 21:13:14

I love the 360 view. Hopefully, there will be many more.Bouncing S

JimSawyer on 12/31/2007 22:17:50

Awsome!!! This being post #72 with mostly positive responses, I think you have a winner. Looking forward to seeing more. Great idea. It worked spledidly for me, though I didn't realize I could flip it up and down as well until someone mentioned it. I went back and it worked perfectly. I got to see the date written in the mounting hole. Sooooo cool. Thanks for enhancing my WI website experience. :)

KeithC on 01/01/2008 15:12:57

It works great for me. I have cable high speed internet. Great teaching tool and carving aid. Keithmc

D. Boyd on 01/01/2008 16:02:14

Took me a few minutes to get the controls right, then it worked great. Could not copy or print. How do I get a 2 view pattern from this? D.

Merle Rice on 01/01/2008 17:15:47

Hey Bob, looks good to me , Worked just fine. Merle

Ventoux_Carver on 01/02/2008 03:46:22

Shawn, Happy New Year. I'm new here and just discovered this thread. I wanted to let you know how useful it is to beginner carvers like me. Especially the ability to get measurements of the finished product - really helps with 'proportioning' (is that a word?) a carving. Thanks a lot. Richard

Donald K. Mertz on 01/03/2008 22:41:29

Bob. like everyone else is saying, "Neat" "wow" it sure is fun to play with but I am wondering how it is going to be used? Let us know of future plans. Thanks, Don

tucker1931 on 01/17/2008 03:43:06

Shawn, yawn. I couldn't sleep tonite so I thought I'd give it a try. WOW, took me an hour and a half to download JAVA. Up came your santa and he did his thing for me. Very interesting indeed, certainly works well on my old phone line here in Ontario. It's now 3:40 AM, think I'll try beddy Bye again, thanks for showing, it definitely works for me. Cliff

BobD on 01/17/2008 08:37:26

Sorry Don, I missed your message. We're still trying to figure out what exactly to do with it. It's obviously helpful for people to see all sides...but I think the measuring function is vital. So...long story short...we're not exactly sure what we're going to do with it now that we know it works, it's easy to use, and people like it. Bob

squbrigg on 01/17/2008 08:46:10

I can tell you Bob, if I had the program, I'd be using it!!! What a great way to view carvings. What a super teaching tool! What an even better displaying tool!!! Being able to use something like that on a ship model would be incredible. Having a library of images of various models from museums for instance, would be a wonderful tool to teach from. So many uses! Bob

K Karver on 02/01/2008 10:59:17

Bob, I agree with the many positive comments. I have many family members around the world who know I carve but never get a chance to see but one or two shots of my work. I would love to send them pics of my carvings in 360. What fun that would be. John

Rob Wilson on 05/01/2008 16:37:00

Great piece of software WCI. Thanks for the effort that has been put into it. View rotation is marvellous. Wish there had been an instruction as to how to rotate. I spent a few minutes trying to figure it out, and then found the answer from another reply. Thanks again. Wish you could do it for a bird or duck pattern.

bullshipper on 05/02/2008 01:45:56

Thumbs UpThumbs UpThumbs Up Slick it worked great on my system. LonnieCowboy

TreeWizard on 05/02/2008 11:34:42

I have DSL and it will not load.

vacation212 on 05/04/2008 11:25:02

JesterHi,it does not work with dial up/

Ed Redwine on 05/04/2008 13:02:19

Nice WCI addition! Finally worked for me after closing Yahoo and going straight to Internet Explorer. Measuring tool is especially cool! Thanks. Ed

Mike_B on 05/04/2008 13:06:24

What a GREAT IDEA, I think it is fantasticCheers! I would even buy it if it would fit in my budget.

doris on 05/04/2008 13:58:10

it works fine with dial-up, only takes a tad bit longer to load...i use firefox, and a mac...maybe that helps

muffy on 05/04/2008 14:13:44

What a way to go... wonderful idea.. dan..

sogone89 on 05/04/2008 19:36:25

Hey Bob, That's great stuff. Will it be put to use on this site?? Dick

eabreu@roadrunner.com on 09/23/2009 20:09:12

Hi, I've been playing around with carving Santa and having the 360 degree view of your Santa is very helpful. Thank you for doing this, I'm sure that it would be helpful to most carvers. I love your work and I have used some of your patterns in my work.

feb on 09/23/2009 20:35:09

Bob, it doesn't work for me. I don't have dial up, i have what they call light internet. The zoom works but nothing else Feb

toycarver on 09/24/2009 00:31:16

That is really cool!

BobD on 09/24/2009 08:25:33

Feb, is your Adobe Flash software up to date? It sounds like you may need to update your software. Just google Adobe Flash and you'll find the update site. Bob

wildhare on 09/24/2009 09:20:21

Bob, I can go to the Santa and even zoom in on him but I cannot get him to turn. What am I doing wrong? Wanda

BobD on 09/24/2009 09:31:21

Is your adobe flash up to date? To make him turn, you just click and grab, and then move your mouse the direction you want him to rotate... Bob

leavyc on 09/24/2009 15:32:43

Wow! I give it two thumbs up. A great way to showcase carvings.

wildhare on 09/24/2009 15:36:06

It worked for me this time. Woohoo. Wanda

BobD on 09/24/2009 15:52:20

We also did a model of the caricature colt that's on the cover of the most recent issue. Woodcarving Illustrated - Carving a Caricature Colt - Fall 2009 Issue 48

sumacs on 09/24/2009 16:03:11

Extremely useful. I especially like the measurement tool. Keep up the good work.

bethc on 09/26/2009 21:15:35

Very helpful for those of us who are not experienced enough at carving to be able to visualize all the views yet. Have you posted any other carvings using this program other than the Santa and the colt? Beth

Dwayne on 09/26/2009 23:53:18

Worked great! I love it!!

Rob Wilson on 09/27/2009 15:40:48

What computer program is used to generate the views from a one dimensional view? Sure would like to know.

admin on 09/28/2009 13:04:38

Bethc, Issue44 also had a chess piece using this software. You can see it on this page. As for the software, we use Strata. We basically feed it 20-30 images of the object from all angles, and it builds a 3D model of it that it then wraps pieces of the images around. We have a new one planned for the next issue (issue #49) of Santa and Rudolph, we are currently tweaking it a little as when the object has too much detail we need to go in manually and fix some of the geometry so that the image texturing looks correct. --Claudio

doris on 09/28/2009 15:06:55

oh, i am very surprised...i always thought you used apple quicktime qtvr...as i have used that to make excately such turnaround objects from a set of fotos already in the early 90�s...and today, its available for pc too, and very easy to use...

BobD on 09/28/2009 15:27:15

We experimented with Quicktime, but Quicktime requires you to take two to three times as many photos (basically every degree or two). Strata can fill in the details between the photos and it saves us a lot of time. Strata basically makes a hollow model (so the file size is much smaller) instead of using photos of all the angles. Bob

doris on 09/28/2009 15:43:49

yes, lots of fotos needed, that is true...but i thought otherwise its very easy to use....but good to learn you are happy with the solution you found, i just thought to mention it in case you not knew.

Larry Bev on 10/17/2009 14:12:53

Works great for me, keep this kind of thing going on and you won't loose this wannabe. :Head Banger:

Woodcarverdan on 10/21/2009 09:43:16

Hi everyone, We're experimenting with some new software, and have developed a way for you to be able to "Virtually" turn a carving around on your screen. This is the Beta test, so please check it out, and let me know what you think; and more importantly...if it works properly for you. Unfortunately, it only works well for people on High Speed internet; I'm not sure how it would work on dial-up. Shawn Cipa - Santa Bob Bob, Exelent software, both the 360 degree view and the ability to measure the different points of the carving will make it easy to reproduce the carving. Great Job! Dan

Woodwin on 11/28/2010 15:57:36

I hearby claim this section mine....

brent on 11/28/2010 21:51:44

No luck for me!! I'm using DSL.

Ed Redwine on 11/29/2010 09:01:30

This thread is over 3 years old. I believe the URL has been removed.

BobD on 11/29/2010 12:23:12

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check into why that doesn't work. It should still be up! Best Regards, Bob Duncan Technical Editor

BobD on 11/29/2010 13:28:35

Ok, It should be fixed now! Best Regards, Bob Duncan Technical Editor

scarver on 01/03/2011 01:37:52

Bob, No joy. The link doesn't work.

Woodwin on 01/11/2011 13:26:12

I thought I would drop in and say hello. My name is Sam. I am the owner of Uuom.com.

Dennis Taylor on 01/12/2011 17:50:25

only response I get is this: Page Not Found The requested URL was not found on this server. If you believe this page should be here, please notify administrator. Go home

kev.b on 01/13/2011 05:26:24

page not found for me too.

kdispoto on 01/13/2011 07:42:35

For me, the link for the colt works, but the one for the Santa does not (Link not found)

BobD on 01/13/2011 08:17:29

I've updated the link again. Please try it now. Best Regards, Bob Duncan Technical Editor

Ron Cornelius on 01/13/2011 08:43:04

Works for me, now. Did not before. Hope to see more of these.

kdispoto on 01/13/2011 12:23:20

Ta-Da it works and boy does it look sweet spinning around! Now when are you going to to the other hundreds of Santas from your magazine. (you can't blame a Santa carver for tryin' - can you'?)

jsfabric on 01/18/2011 10:33:17