How to add thickness to polys in 3Ds Max

Discussion in 'Design and Modeling' started by 371494_deleted, Aug 6, 2013.

  1. Hello everyone,

    So I have this car model i designed a few years back on 3Ds MAX, i started with a plane, converted it to an editable poly and just started modelling on the blueprint of the car. I seem to have a problem when I want to print it because of the minimum wall thickness. Does anyone have a clue on what i can do to make it 3D printable??

    here's the email I got when i wanted to print it:

    "Reason: Bad file
    Additional information: The minimum wall thickness for this material is .7mm. Please thicken the walls of the model. The polygons in the model are not well connected. The wheels are not fixed to the car. A part is missing at the rear of the car"

    About the rear part being missing, this only shows when i upload the file, it actually looks fine on 3Ds MAX. Any idea what might cause that?

    Really appreciate the help
    Thanks guys

    Mo.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. hatts
    hatts Member
    - The standard way to "thicken" in 3DS Max is to use the Shell modifier . Thicken the model a safe distance suitable for the material you're printing in.

    - Otherwise, as you can see from your attached JPEG, the model is kind of a mess. If it looks fine in 3DS Max then that means you had an exporting problem, or that Shapeways couldn't manage to import it decently, which is also your problem. Fix the following modeling problems and then try exporting into various formats until you get one that works.

    - Your vertices might not be properly welded, which might be the reason it imported badly, and might be why the Shapeways rep told you your polygons are "not well connected". Look up welding in 3DS Max.

    - If your wheels are meant to actually spin, you need to intentionally design it that way using the right clearances and mechanical parts. Tutorials on the Shapeways site can help with that. If the wheels can be fixed, then you need to model some connections to the body of the car.

    Good luck