Book Image

3D Printing Blueprints

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Blueprints

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

A new industrial age is here. Machines designed to build useful and interesting objects have moved from the factory to the home. Whether you have a 3D printer or not, learning how to design your first 3D models is the best way to become part of the 3D printing movement. 3D Printing Blueprints will teach you, step by step, the tools and techniques of using Blender, a free 3D modelling program, to build 3D models for printing with simple and fun hands-on projects.3D Printing Blueprints uses engaging and fun projects that teach Blender modeling for 3D printing through hands-on lessons. First you'll learn basic modeling and make a small simple object. Then each new project brings with it new tools and techniques as well as teaching the rules of 3D printing design. Eventually you'll be building objects designed to repair or replace everyday objects. Finally you'll be able to even tackle other people's models and fix them to be 3D printable. Through the course of doing the blueprints you will custom build one-of-a-kind objects that you can call your own. Starting from a custom vase formed from a picture, lessons will progress to a multi-part modular robot toy. Then simple machines will be designed with custom gears and functions. Eventually you'll learn how to download models from the Internet and make custom objects. Finally you'll be able to build models with near real life specifications and make a print that can be used for small object repair. 3D Printing Blueprints will teach you everything you need to know about building custom 3D models to print successfully on modern home 3D printers.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
3D Printing Blueprints
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Tracing the silhouette


In Blender, an object can be just a single-shaped line that can later be turned into a 3D object. Blender doesn't have a single-line object, so instead the simple objects if possible will be added and a single line will be extracted from it. Perform the following steps to trace the silhouette:

  1. Add (Shift + A) an object.

  2. Under the Mesh menu, click on Plane:

  3. Begin the Rotation (R) operation.

  4. Press X to lock the rotation around the x axis.

  5. Type 90 to rotate exactly 90 degrees.

  6. Press Enter or left-click to end the rotation operation.

  7. In the Object tab (the one that looks like an orange cube) on the left-side bar, name this object Face Line.

Unlike before, when we added a cube that only looked like a square because of our viewing angle, a plane really is just a square and has no depth. A plane isn't enough to define a printable shape but it can be used as a starting point for making a printable shape with depth.

Note

All 3D shapes are comprised of some basic building block. Vertices...