Blender for 3D Printing

A quick look around the Blender interface to show you what you can find where. And how to look around your models in the 3D view.

How add objects, and change them in the most basic way.

Manipulating models to create complex shapes in a way that makes them easily printable.

Modifiers can be added to automaticly change your 3D mesh/shape just like filters do for photographs. They can add extra detail, or even simplify your 3D scan data.

Adding text to a 3D shape using the curve modifier & booleans.

There are many formats for exporting. We have a quick look at how to export both with and without colour and what formats to use.

This is arguably the simplest way to colour your model directly inside Blender and export straight away in a single file.

Before you can use an Image texture in Blender you must unwrap your model into a 2D shape.

You can paint directly on your model in Blender's 3D view and save the result as a high resolution image which you can pack with you model.

Have Blender generate a nice reference image which you can use in an external program, and then attach the externally generated image to your model. In this case Inkscape is used to generate the final texture.

Baking can be used to render Blender's lighting and materials/textures into an image texture that you can print a model with.

You can set up Blender to work in real world units and measure them using the brand new Ruler. You can now also retrieve a model's Volume and surface Area.

Manifold is like a magic word... it pops up everywhere, and you know your object must 'be it' before you print it... learn what it means, and how to fix your model if it isn't Manifold!

If your 3D model is too thin, it can not support it's own weight. In this lesson we look at 5 methods to check your models.

In this lesson we look at two ways to fix your wall thickness... by hand, and automated using the solidify modifier.

Both of these don't nessecarily make a model unprintable but are a very good indicator of something being wrong. We look into finding and fixing both.

Extrusion style printers can only print jutting shapes (like and arm sticking out of a model) if there is support for it. We look into fixing slopes and extruding supports.

Hollowing an object can save you a lot of money if you use a commercial service that charges by the cubic cm.

What you need to get started. Where to get the right version of Blender, and a look around the original Sintel file.

If we want to bake & render hair, we must make sure the render works properly.

A look at Sintel's rig, and how to pose her.

Once the model is posed, you must detach the meshes from the armature and make sure they are manifold and printable.

To print a coloured model you must create an image texture with all colour data in it. For hair we must make a mesh replacement, because strands can not be printed (yet).

As a final step you want to merge your meshes, scale your model, make sure the materials are removed & export.