I purchased what it turns out to be a fairly low poly helmet that I want to 3d print. I have tried tinkering around but for some reason I cant get a completely smooth finish or make the walls thicker.
I have tried subdivide and smooth but the initial lumpy shapes are still prominent.
I have tried to extrude in several ways but I think the shape is too complicated.
I was wondering if anyone can see the model (not sure how to upload file or screenshot into the post but can email) and offer advice on how to get it print worthy. I am trying to make a helmet for my boss who is retiring and has done a lot for me. I think it is a nice thought, but only if it doesn’t look like its made of Lego haha.
Hi and welcome, without seeing anything is a little complicated (at least for me…), to upload an image just drag & drop the image inside the message form.
Ok, even if I’m absolutely no expert in 3D printing (for now… ) looking at the grid at a first glance it seems a LOT big, my advice is to scale it to real world size and then APPLY the scale. I see that the model already has some thickness so I don’t see any reason you should extrude it, unless you would like to modify it.
And subdivide and smooth it seems absolutely doable to me, below a little example.
That’s brilliant thanks, I think I may need to look into the bevel/supporting etc because when I do that it doesn’t usually look as nice as your pic haha. also I know its large, but that ok because I can scale it down depending on the printer without loosing and detail.
The smooth shading is simply visual trick that doesn’t smooth the geometry at all… this is doen with an aproicate level of subdvision.
In traditional subdiv workflow someone has to add “support loops” to maintain the “edgyness” of some… edges. This said: blendee can do edge greases ( shift-E mouse drag) to do somethign like thsi:
hiya. I have gotten the smoothness required but my R is bloated out.
I have tried creating a sharp edge but no matter what way i move the mouse i loose the detail.
any other tidbits would be geat.
Also I wanted to add the thickness because when i resin print the model, the walls are less than 1mm thick. I would like to get to about 2 mm min. I have tried solidify too btw
Well… if you provide some wireframe screenshots soe someone coudl judge this…
…or even a blend file (only the R part with some additional polygons needed… ).
You can do anything you want instead, as I said before you just need to give support to the edges of the R but, as Okidoki also said, the best way to do it depends on the topology of the mesh.
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Also I wanted to add the thickness because when i resin print the model, the walls are less than 1mm thick. I would like to get to about 2 mm min. I have tried solidify too btw
I think it’s a bad idea using solidify modifier on a mesh with thickness already.
Great. Regarding the thickness: if there are no alternative tools within the 3D printing software, I think it is better, fast and clean to directly remove the internal faces of the model and then apply a new solidify modifier. And remember what Okidoki said about smooth shading in 3D printing.
If you want, I’d love to see some images of the printed product!
) looking at the grid at a first glance it seems a LOT big, my advice is to scale it to real world size and then APPLY the scale. I see that the model already has some thickness so I don’t see any reason you should extrude it, unless you would like to modify it.
