I'm mainly a 3D animator, so when it comes to real-world measurements & manufacturing, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm really interested in 3D printing, but I have no idea where to start. I've read that you need to make sure your object is seamless, and it's a good idea to make them hollow to cut down on materials used, but beyond that I have no idea where to start.

For example, I've seen things like chains or rings linked together that were 3D printed. How can they "print" objects that aren't connected, yet are intertwined?

Also, how do you figure out what size to make the object? I mainly work in Softimage for animation & there's no real-world measurement system in Softimage.

I'd love any pointers or links to tutorials for people who know nothing about machining & manufacturing.


Thanks,

Paul

Hi Paul, check out Tom Meeks' blog here: http://cubifyfans.blogspot.com/ - try going back way to the start of his blog there and watching some of the videos that he put up when he first got his Cube 3D printer, he explains a whole lot of stuff and shows it in action with various kinds of tests.


> For example, I've seen things like chains or rings linked together that were 3D printed. How can
> they "print" objects that aren't connected, yet are intertwined?

They're able to do this just by the nature of building objects in a thin "layer by layer" method. There are also some kinds of "support structures" that get built up as part of the process which get taken out at the end, I think Tom has some of those in some of his videos so you can get an idea of some of the other things that are happening during the build process.


> Also, how do you figure out what size to make the object?

Well, it's totally up to you, it can be whatever size you decide you want to make it... But most 3D printers are primarily focused on objects not all that large something like 3 to 5 inches across or so.

There are quite a bunch of different types of 3D printing methods though each of which has different things it can do.


> I've read that you need to make sure your object is seamless

Yeah your object has to be a solid, not just a surface that has open edges around it. In MoI there is an "object type indicator" that shows in the upper-right corner of the screen that tells you some information about your object, when your object is a solid it will read as an object type of "Solid" being displayed there when your object is selected.

Then the typical way to transfer data to a 3D printer is to export to STL format which will make triangulated data. Then each printer has some software that it uses to read in the STL file and calculate sliced up sections, and the printer deals with one sliced up section at a time to build up the result.


But anyway Tom has a whole bunch of nice introductory videos especially earlier in his blog where he's showing the basic operation of the machine, which I think would help you a lot.

- Michael

Well as usual, Michael is first out of the blocks and seems to have it covered, but here's my contribution anyway.

These things seem to use a similar process to MRI Scanners seen in hospitals and suchlike. Whereby an item is 'printed' in a series of cross sections, which are stacked vertically, and eventually a replica is produced.

The cross sections can be generated by a kind of 'waterline' process.

So imagine your part is in a container that is filled with a small quantity of liquid - where the part and liquid meet is a waterline contour and is equivalent to the outline shape of the first pass of the print. Keep repeating the process by adding a small amount of liquid and recording the outline, and by the time your part is fully submerged you should have a complete image.

To simulate this in MoI, you could draw your solid chain (leave a small gap between the links) and do a Boolean Isect with a planar surface. This would be equivalent to a layer in the printed stack. Obviously a planar surface has no thickness, but the principle is there.

One way these printers work is to deposit layers of powder which are then solidified in the required areas by a laser. The remaining powder acts as a support for the item whilst it's being created, so the finished article is then 'dug out' and the powder is used again.


Martin.

Thanks guys!

I saw recently that Staples is going to start offering 3D printing at their stores, so it's apparently going mainstream.

In 10 years we'll just be emailing and 3D printing things to each other!

Paul

Hi Paulrus,

www.netfabb.com/download.php

Have fun with 3D printing.

Here's the type of machine that Staples will be using. It makes models by building up layers of paper glued together. It looks like it won't be capable of the fine details that some of the other methods offer, but it's supposed to be a lot cheaper. You can even print colors as the model is built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2h1k0cpgzQ

Steve S

SoftImage will be using "SI Units". These can be defined as anything. Just units. It appears that the intent is 1 SI units is actually 10cm. The input fields accept math functions, so you can define with that in mind. Alternatively, you could just work as 1 unit is 1 unit, then figure out the scale factor when the time comes.