fae_alba

Wait till you see the animatronics that are coming next!

and the job is done...at least for now!

Testors has a plastic filler that I use quite a bit. 3D printing is tough to get perfect every time, especially with smaller finer detail. Use the plastic filler, then lightly sand. Then a good coat of spray paint primer and paint. Also, 3D printers are sensitive to the environment they are in. If your printer is in an airconditioned room, or a draft, or even an open window, it will affect the quality of the print, since it wants a controlled temperature for the PLA. But, that being said, your print looks pretty damn good to me! Keep experimenting and have some fun with it.

well it's taken a bit, but this project is ready for paint. Some stats: Papa Bear stands 4.15 inches tall. The base is 5.5 inches long. There are 5 separate prints done; Papa Bear, his fishing pole, the base, and the fins of the fish. All were modeled in A:M, exported at 64 subd. Printed under a normal setting with 100% infill (the fishing rod and fish fins) to 20% infill (papa bear and the base). The fish in the base is a perfect example of being able to print merged models. The fish is a separate model which I placed in a chor with the base, scaled down, then simply set inside the base and posed. The slicing software (CURA) had no problem with it. The fins I had to model and print separately since they were simply too fine and at a bad position for 3d printing. Once printed it took some cleanup. Heavy sanding to get the support ridges smoothed out, then I hit Papa Bear with two coats of model filler to hide much of the layering. Sanded, then painted with a car body primer filler spray paint. Now I will paint with some Testors Model Paint, then a clear coat. Then Papa Bear will take his place on the shelf of glory in my office!

that's actually a pretty normal time frame for a good print.

Well, broken prints happen to the best of us! This last run took over 4 hours. I ran it at a normal resolution with only a 20% in fill, full supports. Untrimmed it looks like so: Kind of looks like a melting fantasy game stature! Trimmed: Trimming uncovered a weakness in the wrist, which broke off since it was nearly hollow. So I'm now reprinting, a bit larger, at a finer resolution, and with 100% infill. This run looks like it will clock in at 7hours.

Once the larger, final print is done I will clean it up, hit it with some filler and paint primer, then paint it up, yes. This print only took about an hour for all three pieces. I'm printing the larger Papa Bear now. It's 4 inches tall and will take about 4 hours as opposed to just shy of 2 inches for the first copy.

Here's a time lapse of the print just for giggles

I haven't had too much of an issue with multi-mesh models. The canon carriage that I did a while bit was actually multi individual models laid one over the other. I just had to make sure that there was a bit of overlap to the mesh or it would just fall apart. I will say that 3D printing is not straight forward nor easy. There is a lot of thought process that goes into it, and each 3D printer has different capabilities and mannerisms. But it is fun, and it is rewarding to see a model created in A:M or any other application printed so you can hold it.

In between other projects and work, I sometimes get a free moment to continue with A:M. Of course my latest obsession is my 3D printer. I decided to push the limits and create a print of Papa Bear fishing. Below is an A:M chor image of my model. The base with fish, Papa Bear, and the fishing pole all will be printed separately and glued together once cleaned up. As a first test run I printed them at a small scale (Papa Bear is only 2 inches for the test) with a "normal resolution". Papa Bear I printed standing up, with full supports to try and reduce the amount of surface contact and clean up. This is what he looks like coming off of the printer... Cleaned up (roughly since I'm only interested in deciphering what may need to be adjusted ) the entire model looks like this: Already I can see the hands need to be opened up a bit so the rod can be fitted better, and re positioned a tad. Also Papa Bear looks a little off in his pose so that needs some addressing. But overall, I'm happy with how the first pass looks. Next we print larger with a higher resolution.

It is definitely wrong facing normals. I took your model and exported to stl then brought into MeshMixer (yet another free app, but a nice one becuase it can analyze and identify problems with a mesh). Your A:M model looks like this Note the normals facing the wrong way on the shoulder. In mesh mixer it looks like this: Now, back in A:M I flip some normals on the shoulder and leg And check again in meshmixer Having the eyeballs free floating isn't really an issue with 3d printing, and has its uses (we can model a gearbox with multiple moving parts in one model and print all at once if we want) but of you model the eye and socket too close they will be merged(printed) together simply because the tolerance of the print nozzle is larger than your gap. Once the normals are set right, the only real issue I see with your model will be the snake on the headdress. It is small, and the printer will need support printed or it will break. It being so thin, once printed removing the support could very well break it off as well. I usually print things like that as a separate model and super glue it on after the fact. Fix your normals, and you will be off to the races!

Pitcher, Don't Give Up! Believe me, it took me a long time just to develop a basic understanding of how an A:M model translates into a 3D printed one. From what I'm seeing from your libraries screen grab you have most likely issues with normals facing inward. That gets interpreted as a whole when sliced. While it is a real pain in the A$$, inspecting each and every patch in your model to make sure normals are facing right will save a lot of grief in the end. Also, if you really want to see your A:M model in plastic, send me a message with your A:M model attached and I will tackle it this week.

I've gone as low as 16 without seeing a whole lot of difference in what the printed output looks like. A couple of thoughts on your model. Take a look at the headdress where it comes over the shoulders. Unless you add some "thickness" to those patches by extruding them, it may not print very well. A patch layer gets interpreted as a printed "wall", which will most likely be too thin to remain intact once the supports are removed. Also pay attention to your patch normals. If they are facing inward, they won't print, but will leave gaps. Inner patches also can sometimes cause mischief, though not as much as normals. There's a lot to learn I know, and if you had your own printer I'd say just start printing and learn as you go. But since you are using the libraries that may not be a good plan. You should fully expect to have problems, from full on broken prints to holes in your prints. It's the nature of the beast. I'd also recommend you use netfabb (https://service.netfabb.com/login.php). You can upload your stl file and it will inspect it and repair any errors if possible. I use it on every print. Also, if you want a second set of eyes on your model, send it on over to me (the A:M file). I can look at it and give some more focused pointers.

On to the next project! Building a "working" model of the Mad Hatter's Tea Cup Ride in Disney. Complete with spinning tea cups, and a dormouse that pops up out of the tea pot.

I usually export from the modeling window. If you do it from the chor I think it will only export the selected model. One other suggestion is to break apart your model of it is a complex,one. That will make printing easier. My Canon print was done in a dozen plus different pieces. I have also found that sometimes I have had to exaggerate features in order for them to print nicely. Also note that scaling is oft times an issue with most sliders shifting the decimal as well as the axis (most printers use the z axis as up and down, where that is normally y in a:m.

You will need to "slice" the exported stl files (export your model from a:m as stl). What this does is allows you to define the orientation of the model to be printed, whether or not you need to add support to the model (overhanging parts of the model in the z axis (y axis in a:m) need support or the print breaks). The slicer program (cura ultimaker is a good one and free) then normally will save the file as a gcode file, which is the machine language needed to run the printer. If you have the model of the printer I might be able to steer you in a more/clearer direction.

I'd love to see the model animated to fire, complete with ropes and pulleys, but I need to put it aside for now.

I oft times get sucked down the rabbit hole when it comes to A:M. Someone shouts "squirrel!" and I'm off on a tangent faster than you can animate a blink. Last month I bought some new filament for my 3D printer. It was advertised to print looking like wood. So I ask myself, just what can I print to test out that claim? My mind went to a pirate cannon. Of course it did. So I go straight to my favorite 3D modeling software (A:M) and model up a pirate canon, and send it off to my 3D printer. Needless to say the first time through wasn't all that great, but lessons were learned. Below are some images to show how this little worked out. I'm forcing myself to move on to another project, since if I allowed myself I'm sure I would be modeling a whole pirate ship! The A:M model looks a bit like this Of course I had to animate it: canon_fire.avi and the final 3D printed looks like this: The A:M model had to be broken up 18 separate models

Much like a maquette. I have several of those of Papa Bear sitting on my desk now. Flemm's ship would be cool, but you'd have to break it down to it's components then assemble like a model. Would be a fun project.

I'm putting your samples into the mail today/tomorrow. Been a little chaotic with the fed shutdown and my schedule (one minute I can work, the next I can't!). 3D printing isn't going to provide a perfect surface each time. There will always be some level of finishing to do. I use a spray paint primer-filler to do most of the work, then liberal sanding. I always figured if I were printing something to "mass-produce" then I would be spending time getting the surface finish up to snuff, then making a silicon mold and casting in resin.

Looks like abs plastic. It's pretty much the way the one in I printed in abs looks.

The blue glasses are in keeping with his costume, but those red ones are stylish and quite trendy!

Ok, I've printed this with PLA filament , on a "fine" setting, at two different sizes. The small one is 1 in high, the other is 2.5 inches. I also did a quick test with white ABS filament, but since I don't have my printer tented it didn't fair so well. But, the PLA prints look pretty good. They would need some cleanup, a bit of sanding then hit with a primer/filler spray paint. If you want them, send me a message with your snail mail address and i will send them along to you.

Speaking from experience, DUDE, CHILL! The forum (and A:M) will be able to muck along without your sage input for a bit. But you need to take care of yourself above all else. Working like you have been put me in the hospital with a heart attack many years ago. That was a wake up call that 100+ work weeks just aint worth it.

Send it on over. This gov't shutdown deal has me sitting around with nothing to do, so I might as well do some 3d printing!