Solid v:s hollow?

Discussion in 'My Work In Progress' started by yvesbodson, May 31, 2013.

  1. yvesbodson
    yvesbodson Member
    I have modeled a family armorial some times ago and they ask me to make prints of it.
    So I have a plate onto which are the armorial and I wonder if I must extrude the plate in full, meaning all the vertices insides which will create inside walls, or only the sides and then make a back face ?
    I use Blender for that model
    Can somebody suggest a direction ? Do I extrude all vertices or only the sides and close with a face?
    Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

  2. AmLachDesigns
    AmLachDesigns Well-Known Member
    Hi Yves,

    I think which method you choose depends on what you are trying to achieve:

    1. If you want a solid plate, then I would create a back face. The problem with this is that this will create a print with a large volume which will be quite (very!) expensive. Perhaps you already know how to do this, but the method I would use is:
    - Select Edit Mode;
    - Select all the Vertices at the back of the plate;
    - Press E for extrude and then immediately press Esc;
    - Merge the Vertices at Center.

    2. If the plate does not need to be solid, but you just want to give it a certain thickness, then I would use the Solidify Modifier. I see that you have already set up the units, so you can directly enter whatever thickness you want. The only problem here is that with such a large print maybe it will warp when it prints (i,e, the print will be slightly curved) - so it might be an idea to add some internal bracing structures.

    Good luck
     
  3. yvesbodson
    yvesbodson Member
    thanks for the suggestions.
    Here is a pic from the model.
    I have two questions, one is I use a texture for the small tree in the center, it is with alpha. What do I do with it? Do I pack it with the model when I upload it or else?
    Second as I read the requirements for printing, I will use the boolean modifier to join all parts into one.
    What is about quad to tris modification? Do I have to do that to?
    Thanks for your help
     

    Attached Files:

  4. AmLachDesigns
    AmLachDesigns Well-Known Member
    Well, looking at whatever that is you are doing with the texture/material (the little 'flowchart') you are way ahead of me!

    I am not sure about alpha, whether it works with Shapeways or not - I think I remember some people having problems with it.

    Normally you make sure the texture and the .stl file are in the same folder (and make sure the model references the texture in this location) and zip them together before uploading.

    You can join the components, but if you do not SW should do it. If you can do it yourself, then you can be sure it is correct.

    Quads (and higher ngons) are ok but will be converted to triangles. It is triangles that count towards the 1000000 triangle limit for SW models.

    If you upload and it looks ok in SW (the static model - the rotating view is sometimes wrong) then it is correct.

    Good luck - and nice work!
     
  5. lensman
    lensman Well-Known Member
    If your intent is to create a COLOUR model then you can ONLY print this in Full Color Sandstone and you must follow the design rules for this. You CANNOT put an stl and a texture file into a ZIP file and expect it to work. Please search out more info on this site for working to produce colour models.

     
  6. yvesbodson
    yvesbodson Member
    I got that already. I tried x3d, obj and vrml but no results.
    I haven't found yet pages specific on color printing but I'll keep looking for.. BTW if you know about them I would appreciate a link..
    Thank you for your post.
     
  7. AmLachDesigns
    AmLachDesigns Well-Known Member
    Yes, my mistake not Yves'- sorry!
     
  8. lensman
    lensman Well-Known Member
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013

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