Book Image

3D Printing Designs: The Sun Puzzle

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: The Sun Puzzle

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

Jigsaw puzzles derive their name from when they were cut from wood sheets using a hand-woodworking tool called a jig saw back in the 1760s. Have you ever wondered how a model idea for a jigsaw puzzle is articulated, and how it was made with these traditional tools? Through this book, you will master the techniques of designing simple to complex puzzles models for 3D printing. We will quickly introduce you to some simple and effective principles of designing 3D printed objects using Blender. Through the course of the book, you'll explore various robust sculpting methods supported by Blender that allow you to edit objects with actions such as bends or curves, similar to drawing or building up a clay structure of different shapes and sizes. Finally, when the model is sculpted, you'll learn some methods to cut the model and carve out multiple pieces of perfectly-fitting edges of different geometries to complete the puzzle. ------------------------------------------- Note from CM - [Page count: 60] [Price: $9.99 eBook | $19.99 print]
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Creating the base object


Since the editing tools can only work on existing objects, the first thing to do is create a new object:

  1. Start Blender and select all objects (A) and delete them (X).

  2. Then, add an icosphere (Shift + A) through Mesh | IcoSphere.

Icospheres differ from normal spheres in that they don't bunch up at the poles. This will work out better for sculpting. But if viewed from the top (Numpad 7), the icosphere is not symmetrical from left to right. To fix this, follow these steps:

  1. Rotate (R) the icosphere 90 degrees along the Y axis (Y).

  2. To make the icosphere into a disk, scale it (S), constraining to the X and Y axes (Shift + Z), to about a factor of 5.

  3. When the disk is the right shape, apply (Ctrl + A) Rotation & Scale.

Tip

Applying rotation and scale doesn't have any visible effect on the model, but it will affect other things, particularly those related to the sculpt tools. Before applying rotation and scale, the object you see was actually another object modified with rotation...