{"id":32934,"date":"2017-07-25T11:31:23","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T15:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=32934"},"modified":"2017-08-01T11:51:47","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:51:47","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-27-design-complexity-structure-synth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/tutorial-tuesday-27-design-complexity-structure-synth","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday 27: Design for Complexity With Structure Synth"},"content":{"rendered":"

What would you make if designing complex objects were actually easy? For some years now we’ve been hearing the buzz-phrase that “complexity is free<\/a>” with 3D printing. With an SLS printer, the cost of printing a plain wireframe cube is the same as the cost of printing a complex, knotted wireframe cube, provided that they both take up the same amount of machine space and printing material. Unlike traditional manufacturing methods, 3D printing makes it easy to create highly complex, topologically unreasonable objects, at no additional cost!<\/p>\n

But, to leverage the power to print such complexity, you need to be able to make models that are complex! One easy way to do that is with\u00a0Structure Synth<\/a>,\u00a0a design program from 2010 that can quickly generate models of staggering complexity and beauty from just a few lines of “design grammar” written in\u00a0EisenScript<\/a>\u00a0code (you can download it for free<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Wait, don’t click away yet \u2014 that sounded complicated, but it really isn’t! Even if you’ve never coded before, you can get started relatively quickly with Structure Synth, and be on your way to making crazy, fractal, impossible-looking 3D models. Let’s start at the beginning….<\/p>\n

Getting Started with Structure Synth<\/span><\/h3>\n

Start by trying to construct something very simple by following along with the design in the excellent introductory video 3D Printing impossible geometries with Structure Synth<\/a>, by Maker’s Muse:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n