Hey! New to the community, been learning blender for a few months. I’ve figured out most things that I want to do but can’t figure this part out.
I know Blender doesn’t technically create solid objects. However, I’ve tried so many different things and still can’t get my exported .stl files go be solids. I’m mainly working on things to 3D print do solid objects are necessary.
I’ve tried Fill, solidify modifiers, etc. What could I be doing wrong?
Attached image may not be super clear but it’s a model of legs.
So share the stl is what you’re saying? I’ll do that once I’m at my computer.
Thought I explained it enough but:
When I export this as an stl it remains hollow. I’ve tried to “close” the top off (what’s open) and even when I do that it doesn’t appear solid once exported.
One thing I tried to the “select non manifold” function. It did highlight some parts. All of the posts I found said “delete as necessary” but when I delete the pieces found as non manifold it leaves huge gaps on the model.
Ok here it is through Wetransfer…never knew that service existed, so hopefully it works!
All I did was upload the file (it’s a .rip, but the same thing happens if I do it as an .stl, and .obj, etc.). I know the legs are currently open at the top but the problem is, when I close them off (ie. put the torso on top) the whole thing remains hollow. If it will help, I can upload a .blend with the body and head on there.
I took a look at the model and it is not really optimised for 3d printing.
There is a lot of intersecting geometry and vertices taking up the same spot.
I did some minor cleanup so there are no errors though the printer will have some problems with the boots without some supports. Leg Test2.blend (1.0 MB)
Would you mind explaining a bit of what the process is to clean it up? This is just one of many items that I’m working on, and would like to be able to fix them myself.
Or, if there’s a good tutorial for this sort of thing id would greatly appreciate it.
(I’m still fairly new at blender and have no other design experience!)
It basically comes down trying to make the mesh manifold and understanding what issues are causing it to be non-manifold. There can be a large range of issues like doubles vertices, intersecting geometry, loose geometry, etc.
For the above mesh, i removed doubles (Merge>merge by distance), i had to remove the loose faces on the boots since they were creating some intersecting geometry, there were some loose parts as well that i connected to the the main mesh.
Blender comes with an addon called 3d-Print toolbox that you have to enable that can help you check for non-manifold issues.
Wow! Thanks a lot that’s extremely helpful. Knowing 3D printing well enough, overhangs aren’t a huge issue (just support them). But this does seem like a lot going on. Definitely going to try my hand at it.
If you don’t mind another question, when you say you connected loose faces to the main mesh…how do you do that?
Selecting one vertex of the boot and pressing ctrl+L will only select the connected geometry, you can see the disconnected pieces when i move the boot.
Merging by distance will fix the loose sole, for connecting the boot with the leg it was fairly simple with bridge edgle loops since both had to same amount of vertices at the affected spot. Sometimes you will have to modify the whole area by deleting, moving and creating new geometry.
I was just checking back to see what happened with this, since I was too busy to follow earlier.
Nice work and explanations @GrimZA !
Btw @WLaredo2 while you are editing in Blender you may want to convert to quads, you will have better tools available. I’ve never done 3d printing but I think you need to go back to triangles for that (?)
What program are you using for the 3d print? I have never made a model solid as my 3dprint software does it for me…I just have to specify wall thickness…you don’t get these problems when it is insetting on a slice.
I use Cura 15.04 ( it’s an old version but so is my printer)!
