#taking photos of a clay perfume bottle I made for one of my finals

[aliciaphen]

Today’s work

[juanita5418638]

Week 9 - Preparing a 3D Scan for Printing

(Open the photos for a clearer image resolution.)

Pre-Class: Watching Andrew Simpson's video gave me a better insight into the importance of prototypes and models when creating a product and his mention of using different materials to recreate the size and weight made me realize I never took the weight into account. Although blue foam is a good way to recreate the shape, it is way lighter than the final product which is made up of glass filled up with liquid. As such, it gave me the idea to create my next model out of clay as it is closer in weight and still allows a high level of moldability.

Part 1 - Scanning & Meshing

This week was a fun way to learn how different software programs interact with each other and help produce a model for 3D printing. One main thing I learnt was that using a 2015 MacBook to run Rhino and 3ds Max is an insane choice and possibly an inventive way to cause an explosion.

After many failed attempts to boot both programs, I gave up and decided to complete this exercise at home as I had a stronger WiFi connection and a PC with (way) better specs.

Onto the actual work! After the lovely staff of the MCIC helped me scan my perfume bottle model into a 3D scan saved as an .stl file. [F.1] I got to opening it in Rhino and applying a quad remesh as this allows easier manipulation of the model in 3ds Max. [F.2] As someone who used Rhino previously it was comforting to be using a familiar program and had no issue completing this part.

[F.1] Scanned Perfume Bottle.stl

[F.2] Model Before and After Quad ReMesh

Part 2 - Orientation & Modification

After last week, I dedicated myself to watching tutorial videos on 3ds Max throughout the week so as to get more affiliated with the program which really paid off during this exercise. Once I had the file prepared, I imported it to the program and quickly dealt with the orientation. [F.3]

[F.3] Unmodified Model

The modification got a bit tricky after this though as my model had a few bumps around the surface caused by my nails which is less than ideal. The smoothing tool was a great help when combating this issue and luckily the dents were not too deep. I also used the symmetry tool to ensure my front and back view were identical. However, the mirror tool was really tricky to orientate as it is harder to view and the program was lagging heavily. I will look into better options to combat this issue as the lagging should not have occurred at all. Once the model looked ready to print, I saved and exported the file and moved on to Cura. [F.4]

[F.4] Finished Model

Part 3 - Preparing for 3D Printing

With the file ready to go, once it was uploaded to Cura the rest was quite straightforward. I ensured the scaling of the bottle was right and made sure all the edges were nice and smooth. I then sliced it and my model is ready to print. As I do not have access to the printing services right now, I unfortunately cannot print my model but I could at least preview what it would have looked like. [F.5]

[F.5] Sliced Model Ready to Print

Bonus - Carl Update

Since this exercise did not take too long to complete and I was looking to implement something fun, I remembered how on my previous weekly post I had mentioned that I wished to learn how to 3D print the friend I made, Carl the Capybara. So I decided to do so!

With a quick tutorial, I learnt how to merge together Carl into a singular poly mesh on 3ds Max which meant he was ready for exporting! Once exported, I uploaded him onto Cura and scaled him to a friendly keychain-like size. [F.6]

[F.6] Carl

Once sliced, I realised I should add support beams for the stomach and do an infill to ensure the printing result would be sturdy. Once done, Carl was ready to print! [F.7]

[F.7] Perfection

This week was a fun small activity and I really hope to print off Carl once I am back on campus as a great reminder of what this class has taught me and the progress I have made. He shall keep me company on my desk at home :)