Units for printing

Support Basics & Interface
#1

Hello! I’m new here, and relatively new to Blender as well. I was sent over here from Blender.org.

So, I have a Cube 3D printer and I’m trying to set it up so we can do our own models and print them up. Naturally, I suspect that there will be a failure of some point, at $50 a cartridge, I’m trying to limit the number of errors when I can.

The question I have is: How do I set Blender’s scale so I’m not printing a little teeny (or MASSIVE) object?

I see a grid… but I have no idea what scale that’s at. I’m willing to rig the model to that grid. The Cube’s print plate is 5" x5", so I can’t exceed that… I just need to figure out what one square on Blender’s grid equals. :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance!

—Guy (Aabh)

#2

Look at the ‘3D Print Toolbox’ addon that comes with blender http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Modeling/PrintToolbox

You can set the grid to use metric or imperial units. Object dimensions can be seen in the properties panel

For additional info on 3d printing with blender look at http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=160

#3

When I saw the thread title I assumed it was about setting dimensions for 2D prints, which is actually pretty useful is you want to make posters, illustrations, &c. I didn’t notice a built-in addon that lets you define render dimensions in terms of real-world units and dpi, is there a way to do that? All the presets are for video formats.

(I’ll pretend this isn’t off-topic because the thread title was ambiguous)

#4

I use metric system and I do my 3d print models always real size scale eg. if customer wants that shoe is 31.5 cm long, I model it with Blender that this object really is 31.5cm long, not 31.5mm or 31.5 units or 31.5m

#5

Awesome! Thank you for helping me out on this! This is EXACTLY what I need! I have one slight problem: I can’t find the download link… I know I’m probably missing it entirely, can someone point it out to my old eyes?

Thank you again!

—Aabh

#6

‘Render to Print’ addon http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Render/Render_to_Print

Awesome! Thank you for helping me out on this! This is EXACTLY what I need! I have one slight problem: I can’t find the download link… I know I’m probably missing it entirely, can someone point it out to my old eyes?
If you mean the download link for the 3D Tools addon, it comes with the blender install so just needs enabling in the User Preferences / Addons panel

#7

Got it! Yeah… I’m a newbie. Thank you for your patience with me. :slight_smile:

Okay, so I’m using a Cube 3D printer. I have the program set to Metric and have set the model to be the correct size… but when I import it into the Cubify software, I get radically different results. The first one was way too small (1-cm in Blender = .4mm in Cubify), the next one so large it didn’t even register in Cubify (Or rather the stage of the printer was waaaay into the center of the model; 1cm in Blender = 10-15(?)meters in Cubify). Most importantly, the numbers were random, it wasn’t a regular thing that I could simply make a mathematical translation for (e.g. 1cm=4.2232cms or 1cm=9.2019MMs)…

I wrote to Cube3D (Seeing as how my company bought this printer for company use, I figured they needed to help me with this), their response:

“Blender is great for making 3D art and animation, but it isn’t ideal for creating files for 3D printing because it isn’t parametric and therefore the files it produces don’t have the necessary references and relationships (as seen in the example of the non-referenced origin above). It would helpful if you’re able to figure out a way to create these references in Blender; if its not possible you may want to look into a parameteric modeling program.”

Well… I want to stay with Blender, so I’m going to have to go with option two: “Figure out a way to create these references in Blender”…

Anyone want to help me out on that? How do I get firm parametrics on my .stl files?

#8

“Blender is great for making 3D art and animation, but it isn’t ideal for creating files for 3D printing because it isn’t parametric and therefore the files it produces don’t have the necessary references and relationships (as seen in the example of the non-referenced origin above). It would helpful if you’re able to figure out a way to create these references in Blender; if its not possible you may want to look into a parameteric modeling program.”
I really don’t understand why you would need a ‘parametric modelling’ program if all you want to output is a .stl file. Other printers can use blender so don’t know why this Cube3D would be different

What are these ‘references’ and ‘relationships’ that it refers to.

Post an example blend file to http://www.pasteall.org/blend/ that demonstrates the problem

Before exporting always ensure the object has a scale value of 1 for each axis. You can clear any object scale with Ctrl+A/scale
What are your .stl export settings ?
Have you tried using another export format ?