Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Octopus Pencil Holder

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Octopus Pencil Holder

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

This book will cover the very basic but essential techniques you need to model an organic and functional object for 3D printing using Blender. Starting with pen and paper and then moving on to the computer, you will create your first project in Blender, add basic geometric shapes, and use techniques such as extruding and subdividing to transform these shapes into complex meshes. You will learn how modifiers can automatically refine the shape further and combine multiple shapes into a single 3D printable model. By the end of the book, you will have gained enough practical hands-on experience to be able to create a 3D printable object of your choice, which in this case is a 3D print-ready octopus pencil holder.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)

Transforming the object


In Blender, transforming an object changes the size, direction, or location of a thing without changing its shape. There are three basic transformation commands that are used frequently: Grab and Move, Rotate, and Scale.

To transform an object, be sure the object is selected, and then, from the 3D View menu:

  • Select Object | Transform | Grab/Move or press G on the keyboard to move the object

  • Select Object | Transform | Scale or press S on the keyboard to scale the object

  • Select Object | Transform | Rotate or press R on the keyboard to rotate the object

Then, move the mouse or use the arrow keys to transform the object. When the transformation has been accomplished, press Enter or the select mouse button to end the operation, or the transformation can be cancelled by pressing the not-select mouse button or the Esc key. The following diagram shows these object transformations:

Transformations can also be undone after they're completed by pressing Ctrl + Z.

Note

Transform the...