Shapeways says my model is too small, but it's being uploaded at a tiny scale [SOLVED]

Discussion in 'Design and Modeling' started by MimicryMetals, Jul 13, 2014.

  1. MimicryMetals
    MimicryMetals Member
    Hi, I'm relatively new to shapeways, I made some blank Space Marine chests to use as a scale to make other parts and for some reason Shapeways says they are 0.6cm wide even for a set of 10 sprued together while the model is a full 15cm wide.

    In fact I made a scale mistake and made them twice the size of a miniature (doh) but it still comes out as too small at 6mm wide.

    I make stupid mistakes, but I can't see what would be making this so much smaller, I set my units to millimetres in my 3d modeller (3ds Max) and the same when uploading, any ideas?

    Again, these were to check the scale so I could make some extra bits etc, I don't intend to repeatedy make/sell these.

    Edit: Hope it's ok to put this in general, I couldn't figure out where else to put it.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jul 14, 2014
  2. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    That mismatch is suspiciously close to the 2.54 (or .39) of metric/imperial conversion. Check if there is a separate entry for export units in 3dsmax (or just
    rescale your model in netfabb studio basic before uploading)
    Usually this kind of question gets posted in either of "Work in progress", "3d printing" or "3d design", but moderators will move threads to the appropriate forum if necessary.
     
  3. MimicryMetals
    MimicryMetals Member
    Thank you, I'll take a look into that and post the results if any.
     
  4. MimicryMetals
    MimicryMetals Member
    Result! (In case anyone comes across this thread with the same issue).

    So I couldn't work out why it was so small, it exported correctly so I can only figure that 3ds Max can't make things at a mm scale accurately, in future perhaps I should make things in Generic Units then upload at mm scale...

    Using Netfabb basic was the key to changing the scale accurately since it can do it uniformly and with mm/percent scales, the only issue is I needed to measure the original which is potentially inaccurate, thank you for the suggestion.
     
  5. MitchellJetten
    MitchellJetten Shapeways Employee CS Team
    Good to know you've been able to solve it :)

    For the record, these are my settings in 3ds max, never had any scaling issues!
    fyi.JPG
     
  6. MimicryMetals
    MimicryMetals Member
    Bingo, I forgot about the System Units Setup button (been over a year since I last 3D modelled) The scale was set to 1 = 1.0 inches, as mkroeker mentioned it was close to the metric/imperial conversion, thanks for showing me that screenshot Mitchell, I wouldn't have noticed that (It's only the biggest button in the box, after all...)
     
  7. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    Thanks Mitchell for the screenshot. Think you can talk your colleague Duann into adding it to his tutorial ? :)
     
  8. MitchellJetten
    MitchellJetten Shapeways Employee CS Team
    Which tutorial are you referring to [​IMG]
    I'll be happy to ask him to add it :)

    It's funny, the picture I showed above I created at home.
    In the office I have this picture on my desktop as I use it regularly to show customers.

    The System Unit Setup is the part most people are missing.
    So they create a model in millimeter, but the system still calculates it as for example inches in the background.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    Must be as hard to find as the system units menu you showed us - title is 3D Modeling in 3d Studio Max for Shapeways (first entry under the heading "Using your favorite 3d software with shapeways" in the tutorials section).
     
  10. MitchellJetten
    MitchellJetten Shapeways Employee CS Team
    Hmm that one is really outdated :p
    I should find some time to write a new tutorial :)