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You're reading from Blender 3D Printing by Example Learn to use Blender's modeling tools for 3D printing by creating 4 projects

Product type Paperback

Published in Dec 2017

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781788390545

Length 430 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Languages

C++

Tools

Blender

Concepts

3D Printing

Author (1):

Vicky Somma

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Table of Contents (23) Chapters

Title Page

Credits

About the Author

Acknowledgments

About the Reviewer

www.Packtpub.com

Customer Feedback

Preface

1. Thinking about Design Requirements FREE CHAPTER

2. Using a Background Image and Bezier Curves

3. Converting a Bezier Curve to a Properly Sized 3D Mesh

4. Flattening a Torus and Boolean Union

5. Building a Base with Standard Meshes and a Mirror

6. Cutting Half Circle Holes and Modifier Management

7. Customizing with Text

8. Using Empties to Model the Base of the House

9. Mesh Modeling and Positioning the Details

10. Making Textures with the Array Modifier and Scalable Vector Graphics

11. Applying Textures with Boolean Intersection

12. Making Organic Shapes with the Subdivision Surface Modifier

13. Trial and Error – Topology Edits

14. Coloring Models with Materials and UV Maps

15. Troubleshooting and Repairing Models

Scaling and sizing the mesh

Before we go any further, this is a good point to reflect on the thoughts from Chapter 1, Thinking About Design Requirements, and to size our piece appropriately for the function and the printing process you have in mind. Looking at pendants I already own, I'm thinking a suitable size for this pendant would be 1 1/2" tall. This is an item that may look fantastic in cast metals from a 3D Printing Service Bureau. If I did decide to go that route, I would make the piece thinner to save on cost.

My starting dimensions would likely be as follows:

Dimension	Service Bureau(Shapeways Plated Metals)	At home(FFF/FDM)
Length	1 1/2" (38.1mm)	1 1/2" (38.1mm)
Width	Proportional to length	Proportional to length
Height (thickness)	0.8mm	2mm

Converting to the metric system

For those of us used to the United States Customary System and inches, I highly recommend thinking and modeling in the International System of Units and millimeters instead. 3D printers and slicing software work in microns...