Blender 2.8

stoneill

I was using sketchup for a few small 3d print projects, handy and intuitive. Now it's gone all paid content and the web version is a bit crap, I came across Blender.

It's looks complicated! Anyone here got to grips with it yet?
I managed to make a cylinder, that's all so far!

oscarBravo

It is a bit complicated, but I suggest finding some video tutorials and patiently following along. Make sure they're focused on 2.8, as the UI has changed quite a bit.

You might want to look at some other packages also. Most of my design work for 3D printing I do using FreeCAD. It also has a learning curve, but I find its parametric modelling approach lends itself better to precision design than Blender's workflow.

croo

I played about with Blender about 10 years ago ... and yeah it was complicated!
But, from my memory of it, it was more about creating 3D animations than a CAD software. Sure you could create the 3D object but then you could make it move & define lighting sources etc...

I've not yet experimented with 3D printing but assumed a CAD program would be more what is required? FreeCAD or something like that?

There was a web site called osalt.com that allowed you to enter an application and it recommends an opensource equivalent. I've not used it in years but perhaps check it out to see if it has recommendations from Sketch.

** sorry for the duplication oscarBravo got there before me!

Johnboy1951

Would this be of interest?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSCAD

It is mostly used to design 3D printed parts, which are exported in STL format.

oscarBravo

I've used OpenSCAD also, to good effect. For someone coming from a coding background, it's pretty easy to pick up.

sheepsh4gger

I'm a Blender power user since 2007 and refuse to install anything else.
It's a very good program. I learned it from a free e-book called 'Noob to Pro' and a DVD by Andreas Goralczyk called 'creature factory'.

Render to EXR then use Photoshop or Luminance HDR to tone map it. That gives the most realistic result similar to HDR photography (no burned highlights or clipped shadows).

croo

sheepsh4gger wrote: »

Render to EXR then use Photoshop or Luminance HDR to tone map it. That gives the most realistic result similar to HDR photography...

And is that required for 3D printing?

sheepsh4gger

For the past 3 years I use Blender exclusively for making *.STL models. I use them with 3D printers (FDM, SLA). It can help you find non-manifold edges and other stuff that makes slicing software reject your model. Many people use Blender just to repair the mesh they have and don't know how to model.

To answer your question, no you don't need to render your model into a digital negative for 3D printing. That being said you would probably want to preview your model before printing. I said that because a lot of people give up on this program not knowing about this, assuming the internal Cycles renderer will always give them washed out images.

AlphabetCards

oscarBravo wrote: »

I've used OpenSCAD also, to good effect. For someone coming from a coding background, it's pretty easy to pick up.

Some of the stl files produced by openscad need to be opened and saved in another programme (blendr, or meshlab) in order to print correctly. Some of mine that I printed direct from openscad stl files came out with random hollow parts.