3D Design tools, Art of Illusion, Blender, CAD tools, etc. What are you using? What are your favorite tutorials? http://dev.forums.reprap.org/list.php?80 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:30:12 -0800 Phorum 5.2.11 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,28666,28666#msg-28666 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,28666,28666#msg-28666
I'm a CAD newbie, and it looks like any CAD program I choose is going to require significant learning curve. If I decide to try something else, there will be switching costs (I have to learn something new). So I'm looking for advice on which package to start with so I don't have to learn 4 different CAD programs until I find the "right" one.

I am affiliated with a university. Because of that, I have free (and legal) access to all of AutoDesk's product line. Also, through my school, I can purchase a low cost ($55/year) subscription to Solidworks. It is likely I can get access/purchase other high-end tools as well (though I don't even know what other tools in that league exist to ask about).

So my question is, for the purposes of learning CAD that I can use for design of something like a RepRap derivative, is Solidworks or Inventor the way to go? Is there another commercial tool that would work even better? Are any of the free/low-cost tools even close in terms of what those two packages can do?

My experience is literally limited to doing a couple of the basic Inventor tutorials, so it is hard to figure this out on my own.]]> quadshop 3D Design tools Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:47:05 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,28197,28197#msg-28197 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,28197,28197#msg-28197 splinescan.co.uk] - a DIY 3D scanner that I've been working on. The project is quite old, but there has been a long period of inactivity.

Over the last few months, I have resurrected the project as part of my PhD. project and I have produced a number of templates and diagrams to facilitate the creation of 3D scanners.




In the next month, I will be unveiling a new, graphical front-end for Splinescan. The new gui is codenamed Babylon, and is designed to interface with the computer controlled scanner on the www.splinescan.co.uk website, producing meshed models with a 2000th of a degree accuracy. The code is written in Python using Pygame and Scipy, and should run on windows and linux out of the box.

The current incarnation of the scanner is designed to analyse ancient artifacts, and with a little tweaking to the code and hardware it should be possible to create texture mapped models for general use. The Babylon code features intelligent hole filling and multiple lasers.


The project is opensource under the GPL, I hope that some of you might find this project interesting, and I would really appreciate feedback once the code is released.

In case you are wondering about me, My name is Andrew Lewis, and I'm a computer scientist, author, lecturer, researcher and freelance journalist. I have a strong interest in 3D scanning and computation, and I am currently conducting research in archaeometrics at the University of Wolverhampton.

You can find more information about the project at www.splinescan.co.uk, and about me at [mara-3d.org] - including some links to some of my articles in make magazine.

Thanks for listening!
Andrew]]> Andrew Lewis 3D Design tools Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:57:05 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,27798,27798#msg-27798 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,27798,27798#msg-27798
Thanks in advanced, just getting to grips with it.]]> amiller112 3D Design tools Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:14:24 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,27084,27084#msg-27084 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,27084,27084#msg-27084 It does export stl files, so I'm hoping it will come in handy for reprapping when I finally get my extruder working.]]> MattD 3D Design tools Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:46:44 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,25775,25775#msg-25775 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,25775,25775#msg-25775
Has anyone heard of 3D Coat? It's a voxel sculpting program, here are links to some videos:

Voxel logo
Bear With Hoodie

When I saw the logo video I immediately thought, Reprap!]]> karligula 3D Design tools Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:37:40 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,24258,24258#msg-24258 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,24258,24258#msg-24258
Has anyone considered or even used Sketchup with their RepRap?

As one of my long term goals with CopperRap, I want to develop some software to take a Sketchup file and print it on the RepRap.

Is this doable? Are there any issues I will come across that have prevented people progressing in the past?

Phil]]> philwaud 3D Design tools Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:48:24 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,23789,23789#msg-23789 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,23789,23789#msg-23789
There are a significant number of weird and arbitrary conventions that have to be memorized. However, once memorized, they don't detract from the user experience too much and Blender's power starts to become apparent.

I wrote this tutorial to help people get past the initial "shock and disgust" reaction to the tool:

[www.maskedretriever.com]]]> MaskedRetriever 3D Design tools Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:35:58 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,23159,23159#msg-23159 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,23159,23159#msg-23159
... here you can find an open source CAD/CAM-programm for easy creating and milling 3D-objects: [code.google.com]

Viktor]]> VDX 3D Design tools Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:10:34 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,22940,22940#msg-22940 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,22940,22940#msg-22940 Art and Design and The Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at De Montfort University, Leicester are delighted to present a two day conference, Inside Out focusing on the areas of development in Creative Technologies using Rapid Prototyping:
Workshop: Monday 22nd June 2009 9.30am – 6.00pm
Symposium: Tuesday 23rd June 2009 9.30am - 6.00pm
Combined Fee £250
Website: www.ioct.dmu.ac.uk/inside_out
Email: hnaran@dmu.ac.uk
Key Speakers
The Conference is an opportunity to hear the views and debate future change in this field with three leading authorities on digital creativity and Rapid Prototyping:

Keith Brown (Sculpture), Paul Brown ( Theory) and Marcos Novak (Architecture)
Invitation
Come to Inside Out: Art and Design in the Digital Age to find out about the future developments of 3D creative technologies and how they affect Architecture and Interior Design, e-culture, Digital Arts, Sculpture, Crafts, Design and Manufacture. Rapid Prototyping technologies are increasingly playing a strong role within creative arts; design and craft, linked to business models, best practise, entrepreneurship opportunities and the internet economy in general. This conference brings together leading theorists and practitioners pushing at boundaries and highlighting opportunities and future directions for creatives

Who should come?
Anyone who wants a taste of what’s rising on the horizon of creative technologies but especially Academics, Artists, Designers, Crafts people and Cultural Theorists, Businesses, Entrepreneurs and Technologists interested in:

Rapid Prototyping technologies and 3D forms, Design and Manufacturing integration,
Tailored Product Design and Hands-on experience of a full range of tools
About The Conference
Workshop
The two-day event will combine workshop formats with presentations of research and demonstrations with an invited day of speakers of international standing reflecting on the relationship between theory and practice made possible by emergence of the digital.
A one-day international workshop jointly organized by Art and Design and supported by IOCT will include a tour of the rapid prototyping facilities by Peter Ford and David Wimpenny. Case study talks by Annie Catterall, Peter Ford, and Lionel Dean, panel discussions and practical collaborative group work on actual production items.

Conference
An International one day Conference. This conference looks at the advent of digital design tech¬niques and the growth of rapid prototyping tools and methods. (Design and manufacturing have been revolutionised by new digital processes and the ability to instantly turn a design into a three dimensional object) . Artists and designers using virtual computer visualisation and integrated digital technologies, alongside established techniques have new insights for many contemporary makers. There are now opportunities to create objects and forms which were previously impos¬sible to produce or difficult to envisage.

The Symposium will examine the evolving nature of the plastic arts, craft and design in the face of the impact of these new digital methods on the production of ‘unique’ objects. The presenta¬tions and discussions will look at the latest developments in technologies such as ‘rapid proto¬typing’ and related technical processes and attempt to locate these emergent practices in a new theoretical framework. Speakers: Katie Bunnell, Justin Marshall , Tavs Jørgensen, Drummond Masterson , Michael Eden, Bruce Gernand, Geoffrey Mann, Ann Marie Shillito
Chair: Martin Rieser, Professor of Digital Creativity at De Montfort University’s Institute of Cre¬ative Technologies]]> mrieser 3D Design tools Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:05:56 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,21061,21061#msg-21061 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,21061,21061#msg-21061 [blog.makezine.com]

I tried DAVID 3d and it works if you have a good setup (good cam, narrow laser) It can also stitch multiple scans

The open source tool [meshlab.sourceforge.net] works very well for optimizing 3d scan data. I use it to stitch mutiple scans into one model, close holes, smooth and simplify the mesh. Available for OSX, Win, Linux.]]> unfold 3D Design tools Tue, 19 May 2009 03:49:04 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,19461,19461#msg-19461 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,19461,19461#msg-19461
Its not freeware (sadly enough). It is costly, and it wil cost at least $995 for a starters package. You can get a trail version, but the manual is saying "The Rhino evaluation version is fully functional to give hands-on experience. After the first 25 saves and exports, models or renderings will no longer save."

The mayor difference with normal renderers is that its using something called NURBS. Its like vector drawing in 3d. Normally a sphere isnt really a sphere, but a lot of faces. With NURBS, the faces are connected to each other, making a perfect sphere. This way you can make very complex shapes without using lots of rendering work.

Its using an interface I am used from old quake editors (with 4 screens, top, front, side and perspective). It cant create games (like blender), but this piece of software is purely designed for creating prototypes and good quality renders.

If you want to check the program for yourself, I suggest you would take a look at [www.rhino3d.com].]]> Mr. Seeker 3D Design tools Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:57:11 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,19406,19406#msg-19406 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,19406,19406#msg-19406
I finally got CoCreate up and running (by logging into a completely different network, via Jet Fuel Coffee!), and it won't import STL files either. It's interesting, there seem to be two camps of 3d design software, STL compatible ones, and not. All the ones I want to use are not STL compatible. Interesting. Possibly because STL is such a bad format for solids...

What I've found so far is:
STL Import - AOI, Blender, Meshlab, RepRap Host, Skeinforge

STL Export, but not import - CoCreate PE, Alibre, Sketchup (free version with CADspan's plugins)

Still trying to figure out BRLCad, it might work. Can't tell yet.

I still have not found a way that works to import STL's into Sketchup, but I can now produce them using CADspan's free tools; I think I'll try printing something from Sketchup. So far I've been using Blender for simple scaling, rotating and positioning, but I can't seem to do any useful modeling in it; probably because I come from a CAD background, as opposed to a 3d modeling background. Just found a Blender tutorial that Beaglefury posted, that might be the way to go...

Wade]]> Wade 3D Design tools Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:39:36 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,18921,18921#msg-18921 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,18921,18921#msg-18921
Aside from Blender (which is pretty cool too) ... has anybody here tried FreeCAD?
[juergen-riegel.net] Homepage
[juergen-riegel.net] Feature list
[juergen-riegel.net] Download

If the development (of the 2D-draft module) was a bit more advanced it would be perfect for creating models for RepRap (think: cheap version of any commercial 3D CAD software).

Right now there is only a rudimentary 2d-drafting tool (which has to be downloaded separately! [1]), but you can see the power that lies in this program already.

Of course it would totally rock if RepRap is pushing development of FreeCAD (or vice versa).

Cheers,
Martin

[1] [juergen-riegel.net]]]> mbue 3D Design tools Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:05:13 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,16041,16041#msg-16041 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,16041,16041#msg-16041
You get it by following some registration procedures. Having a business name, goal, and plan helps. They don't just give it away but it can be had for free. I even got them to send the CD media so this installation can survive a hard drive crash; it wasn't just downloaded.

If there is interest here, I will retrace my steps and post relevant links.

I am subscribed to this thread; replied will come to me by email and I will attend to them by returning here to post.

Doug Goncz
Replikon Research
Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394]]> DGoncz 3D Design tools Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:16:37 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,15005,15005#msg-15005 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,15005,15005#msg-15005
Microsoft has purchased Caligari and offers the 3D-program "Truespace 7.6" for free as collaboration-platform.

You have to register, but then you can download the program and many sample-videos (complete over 300MB) - here the registry+download-link: [cart1.caligari.com]

And here the german article-source: [www.heise.de]

Viktor]]> VDX 3D Design tools Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:42:17 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,14069,14069#msg-14069 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,14069,14069#msg-14069 gfx-3d-model.blogspot.com] . Low poly game models are also available here.. Updated everyday.. 3D Models are also posted on requests in my shoutbox from the visitors..

FERRY]]> FERRY 3D Design tools Tue, 26 May 2009 14:25:49 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,13968,13968#msg-13968 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,13968,13968#msg-13968 In object mode, space -> Object -> move to layer will move any selected objects to the specified layer.
number keys 1-9 (not keypad) will show the specific layer.
shift + number key 1-9 will toggle layer visibility.

2. If you are doing CSG modeling:
- Create multiple objects, each one a set that does not intersect itself.
- You can include non-closed shapes, I.E, three or four cylinders, in the same shape.
- It is easier use intersection by inverting the normals on the object that is to be cut out of another object, rather than try to remember which order you have to select the objects for a difference operation.
- When unioning objects, make sure you have some overlap to ensure proper boolean operation.
- Be patient. Intersect and Union appear to take time if the models have lots of detail.

Example, for the 'clamp' for the extruder, I created 5 mesh objects:
A. one large rectangular box for the main body.
B. one rectangular box for the 'tab'
C. one rectangular box for the raised area around one hole.
D. rectangular boxes for the boxy areas to cut out of the body, with inverted normals, so intersection will cut out interiors.
E. cylinders for cylindrical holes, with inverted normals, so intersection will cut out interiors.

Using boolean operations, I easily created the final object:
E. Union A and B to get a box with a tab.
F. Union E and C to get final rough shape without holes.
G. Intersect F and D to get shape with rectangular holes and cutouts.
H. Intersect G and E for final shape.

- keep intermediate meshes, move them to a different layer to hide them. They come in use if you make mistakes and have to reperform some of the boolean operations.

3. toggle "edge length" in the "mesh tools 1" window on the editing panel to get lengths (in mm). Create temporary edges between verticies if necessary. Toggle edge angles to get angles between edges (located in the same tool window).

4. Use a 2D tool to create rough pictures for one or two faces. Put them as background images to guide modeling.

5. Make use of cursor positioning and snap tools.
- view properties to set an absolute cursor position
- create 'empty' objects to mark important locations, use snap menu for cursor, objects, points, etc.
- you can snap all selected points to the closest grid displayed. Useful if you are 'freehanding' a 2D curve for fill and extrusion.

6. Bezier objects appear to work okay if you need a prism of a 2D graph.]]> BeagleFury 3D Design tools Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:21:45 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,12054,12054#msg-12054 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,12054,12054#msg-12054 en.wikibooks.org] to be the most useful tutorial.]]> jajo 3D Design tools Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:43:32 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,10268,10268#msg-10268 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,10268,10268#msg-10268
This thread can be a repository for questions/advice for the budding reprapper- I'd suggest aiming responses to the HS level mentality (as there seem to be a few HS age people asking questions on the forums).

Some things that can be discussed include:

1)Which modeling program works best for you.

2)PIC vs Anduino - advantages/drawbacks of each.

3)Where to get solid files to test and/or use.

Forgive me if I'm stepping on anyones toes here- I like the aim of the project and would like to contribute.]]> mcander 3D Design tools Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:37:47 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8975,8975#msg-8975 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8975,8975#msg-8975
1. In AOI, select file->export->vrml
2. Select "Export Whole Scene" and uncheck "Subdivide Smooth Meshes"
3. Save it as a wrz file (I used Bed-corner.wrz)
4. Create an html file with content like this:











5. Upload the 2 files

The results turn out something like this: [randomcrap42.googlepages.com]

I'm using the Cortona plugin for VRML: [www.parallelgraphics.com]]]> degroof 3D Design tools Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:54:18 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8415,8415#msg-8415 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8415,8415#msg-8415 bobt 3D Design tools Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:24:33 -0800 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8412,8412#msg-8412 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,8412,8412#msg-8412 [www.unwrap3d.com]
the plugin is free and the software is fairly cheap. You can't actually build in it, but you can open an obj, mdl, md2, 3ds, etc and using the plugin downloaded from their site export stl.
I tried it and imported a fairly complicated model into the host software. I still have to test a few things to see how to calibrate the sizing so you know what size you get, but it's a start for those with a library of stuff they want to build, but can't convert.


This one obviously won't work with FDM because of the overhangs and it also gave me some errors about positive verticis, but it works.

Dylan]]> Dylan 3D Design tools Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:35:24 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,7683,7683#msg-7683 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,7683,7683#msg-7683
In this case, the researchers used a bunch of photographs of buildings (like Notre Dame Cathedral) from flickr:
[uwnews.washington.edu]
They start out with random photos with no explicit camera position data and end up with a (slightly lumpy) digitalized model of the building.

This is applicable to RepRap because we'd be able to use a digital camera by itself as a 3D scanner; digitalizing a desktop-sized object just by taking a bunch of pictures of it

This is the journal article associated with the press release:
[uwnews.org]]]> SebastienBailard 3D Design tools Sun, 15 Mar 2009 08:12:55 -0700 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,7559,7559#msg-7559 http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?80,7559,7559#msg-7559
If anyone else has used this software and figured out what to do I would appreciate the help.]]> Nighthawk 3D Design tools Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:52:27 -0800