Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Design an SD Card Holder

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Design an SD Card Holder

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

Want to model a 3D printed prototype of an object that needs to be replaced or broken? This book will teach you how to accurately measure objects in the real world with a few basic measuring techniques and how to create an object for 3D printing around the objects measured. In this book, you'll learn to identify basic shapes from a given object, use Vernier and Digital calipers and grid paper tracing techniques to derive measurements for the objects. With the help of measurements, you'll see to model these objects using Blender, organize the parts into layers, and later combine them to create the desired object, which in this book is a 3D printable SD card holder ring that fits your finger.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

The Edit mode


In Blender, the Edit mode allows more access to the shape of a single object so that it can be manipulated in order to change its shape. To enter Edit mode, use this method:

  1. Select an object.

  2. In the 3D View menu, locate the mode pop-up menu and select Edit Mode or press Tab on your keyboard.

In Edit mode, the 3D View menu, Tool Shelf, and Properties all change, adding new functionality only available in Edit mode:

Parts of objects

In Edit mode, objects are broken down into three parts:

  • Vertices: Points in three-dimensional space. Vertices don't have any shape by themselves

  • Lines: Two points are connected with a straight line between them

  • Faces: Three or more lines can be connected to make a face

There are many ways to think about vertices, lines, and faces. For instance, if making a kite, the vertices are the joints, the lines are the sticks, and the bits of paper are the faces. If the location of the vertices is moved, the shape of the kite will change. It's the same with a 3D object...