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)

Drawing the face


In this section, we will make the face for our puzzle. Under the Brush tool, there is a whole palette of tools to use:

The default brush, F SculptDraw, is the most common and is already selected, so we'll start with it. Switch to the Top view (Numpad 7) and follow these steps:

  1. From the middle, nearer to the bottom, click and drag in a curve to make a smile:

  2. Repeat the action a little lower down to finish the lips:

Tip

Remember, you can undo (Ctrl + Z) until the lips look the way you want them to.

Because of the symmetry setting, anything done on the left is repeated on the right, reducing work and making it easy for you to make a pleasing shape.

Because of dynamic topology, the rough polygons of the original shape are smoothed out so that all the details of the drawn shapes show through. This effect is easier to see if the view is switched to wireframe mode (Z).

Dynamic topology will continue to add detail where we need it as we sculpt:

  1. In the Tool Box, increase the Radius setting...