YenChih Lin
Master Member
What program is the best for 3D printing? And which is easy and quick to learn, as well as resulting in best printing result without much rough surface finish?
What's the best 3D program for 3D priting, which is easy for beginners?
- Thread starter YenChih Lin
- Start date
The software doesn't determine the surface finish... It's the detail of the model. As far as what software is best for printing, that depends on which printer you're using...
TheRocketeer
Master Member
I would go the Blender route rather than Sketchup. You cant really do anything with a model that comes outta Sketchup.. in other programs I mean, and the stl format that it converts to seems to be pretty bad in my opinion.
Blender has a lot of tutorials and recourses for people to learn, its free because its made by programers and artists that give free time to create it, its always getting updated with new stuff and it should always be free to use
My son who is 13 feels its an easy program to learn, I use Max, Maya, Softimage and Lightwave so I don't use Blender.. but if I was to learn a brand new package that is very robust and free it would be Blender
My 2 cents
Blender has a lot of tutorials and recourses for people to learn, its free because its made by programers and artists that give free time to create it, its always getting updated with new stuff and it should always be free to use
My son who is 13 feels its an easy program to learn, I use Max, Maya, Softimage and Lightwave so I don't use Blender.. but if I was to learn a brand new package that is very robust and free it would be Blender
My 2 cents
YenChih Lin
Master Member
Thank you all for your input! I have also looked on the net for a similar question, which boils down to these three: Blender, SketchUp and Rhino. I have looked into Blender and I was a little bit shocked about how commands and shortcuts are deviating from the standard. And also the steep learning curve… I actually started learning SketchUp 8 via YT vids from the official channels and it's very quick'n'easy to get results. And while Rhino was also mentioned on some 3D printing communities, it's out of question, because of license and the cost to aquire it.
So, if I print a STL file from SketchUp, it could be also smooth… right?
I have already downloaded the newest version from the blender site and I'll see what I can do under Ubuntu.I would go the Blender route rather than Sketchup. You cant really do anything with a model that comes outta Sketchup.. in other programs I mean, and the stl format that it converts to seems to be pretty bad in my opinion.
Blender has a lot of tutorials and recourses for people to learn, its free because its made by programers and artists that give free time to create it, its always getting updated with new stuff and it should always be free to use
My son who is 13 feels its an easy program to learn, I use Max, Maya, Softimage and Lightwave so I don't use Blender.. but if I was to learn a brand new package that is very robust and free it would be Blender
My 2 cents
Tim Allen
Sr Member
I am just getting into 3d modeling and after research and reading a lot of different forums it seems to be the consensus is to just start out using Blender to get the feel for everything and a good understanding of 3d modeling. Then if you want to transition to organic type shapes Zbrush is one of the best for this, or if you want to go into more visual effect type stuff Cinema 4D is great and plays well with applications like After Effects.
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Kubla Kraus
Active Member
Without knowing what kind of objects you are wanting to create or do with them, its difficult to make specific recommendations.
For simplicity of getting something made, I've been using Sketchup (most of my designs are fairly mechanical rather than organic) and there are tons of tutorials all over youtube, and a sketchup for dummies is pretty cheap on amazon. I have been having my prints done by i.Materialize. You can upload your sketchup files directly without any converting. Their software checks and converts it and gives you prices there on the spot. The roughness of your prints depends on the shape of your model and which material / process you have your object printed in. Clear resin can come out nearly smooth as glass, or some of the materials come out with a rough "sandy" finish. It depends on the process / material. I have have had pretty good results so far. Check their materials tab.
3D Printing Service i.materialise | Materials
also the guy in the Stan Winston Eye Mechanism DVD uses AutoDesk 123D (FREE download) for the design of the mechanical components. It looks like it would be pretty useful once you get into it.
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials
For simplicity of getting something made, I've been using Sketchup (most of my designs are fairly mechanical rather than organic) and there are tons of tutorials all over youtube, and a sketchup for dummies is pretty cheap on amazon. I have been having my prints done by i.Materialize. You can upload your sketchup files directly without any converting. Their software checks and converts it and gives you prices there on the spot. The roughness of your prints depends on the shape of your model and which material / process you have your object printed in. Clear resin can come out nearly smooth as glass, or some of the materials come out with a rough "sandy" finish. It depends on the process / material. I have have had pretty good results so far. Check their materials tab.
3D Printing Service i.materialise | Materials
also the guy in the Stan Winston Eye Mechanism DVD uses AutoDesk 123D (FREE download) for the design of the mechanical components. It looks like it would be pretty useful once you get into it.
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials
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jmaxwell522
Well-Known Member
Minimal hijack here with a question. I've got a ring model I commissioned and need to reduce the wall thickness and add a few lines to the surface. I have Blender & Zbrush. In Blender I can open it but am having trouble figuring out the controls and brushes (its not simple lines like sketchup), and in ZBrush I can make it a tool and paste a million of them but can't edit the surfaces. Any help would be great.
YenChih Lin
Master Member
Ha! Got me… it's prop related. It was just two days ago, where I was thinking about making progress with my Star Trek combadge design remaster (The first ended up a bit smaller as intended) http://www.therpf.com/f9/star-trek-future-combadge-concept-147924/ . But then when I thought about the tedious cutting the styrene sheets to laminate them and then sanding, priming and putty it - well, I was like "**** it…" I thought about, why not 3D print it?
The top view of the concept badge has a lot of round bevels and some sharp bevels - I started creating it with SU, but SU told me I can't extrude curved lines… WTF?! I'm a bit stuck here…
The top view of the concept badge has a lot of round bevels and some sharp bevels - I started creating it with SU, but SU told me I can't extrude curved lines… WTF?! I'm a bit stuck here…
Kubla Kraus
Active Member
You can't extrude curves, but you can make a curved wall (see video below), make the shape pattern that you want perpendicular to the wall face, then extrude that shape pattern through the wall, then merge faces. This will cut the shape you want out of the wall. Kind of like a very deep cookie cutter cutting through a balloon. Then delete the parts of the wall you no longer want. This should leave you with a generally com-badge rounded faces. Or make one side of the wall flat, and you will be able extrude that face to make the thickness you want. If you are trying to make something as small as a com-badge in sketchup, I would suggest making it at 10 times the scale (there is a scale tool under the tools pull down) as sketchup sometimes has a problem working with small scale things, then scale it back down to the desired size afterward. You may have to make the different bits separately and join them together. I don't know the exact shape of each part of the badge, but this sounds very doable in sketchup with a little trial and error and experience.
when making your curved wall, you will have to start with circles or arc. select your circle and right click to get the little attributes window. Sketchup will by default make you circles out of 24 segments, in the window you can change this. Just ballpark imagining this thing you will probably want a wall in the neighborhood of 3 feet in diameter (I'm thinking yoga ball). at this scale, each face of a 24 segment circle would be a couple of inches wide so you cutter would probably cut a flat section of the sphere. You will probably want to bump your number of segments (its in the attribute window) to a couple of hundred depending on how smooth you want the arc to be. Remember to scale the whole thing up before cutting. You'll be cutting a 1 foot badge through a 30 foot wall, but you can scale it all back down easy enough. The short video below looks pretty much like what you will want to do except you will delete the wall instead of deleting the hole though it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KhaD6PBVa0
when making your curved wall, you will have to start with circles or arc. select your circle and right click to get the little attributes window. Sketchup will by default make you circles out of 24 segments, in the window you can change this. Just ballpark imagining this thing you will probably want a wall in the neighborhood of 3 feet in diameter (I'm thinking yoga ball). at this scale, each face of a 24 segment circle would be a couple of inches wide so you cutter would probably cut a flat section of the sphere. You will probably want to bump your number of segments (its in the attribute window) to a couple of hundred depending on how smooth you want the arc to be. Remember to scale the whole thing up before cutting. You'll be cutting a 1 foot badge through a 30 foot wall, but you can scale it all back down easy enough. The short video below looks pretty much like what you will want to do except you will delete the wall instead of deleting the hole though it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KhaD6PBVa0
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I'd go with blender too, or Cinema4D, but I've yet to see a beautiful smooth model made in sketch Up. Frankly I'd ditch it, it's good enough for architectural mock ups and basic modelling, but you'll quickly be limited once you want to add details and smooth your object.
Kubla Kraus
Active Member
another thing you might try is just to MOVE the curved face in the direction you want, not extrude it, it may functionally produce the desired effect. the connecting edges may just stretch to accomodate the move.
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YenChih Lin
Master Member
Thanks for the help! If I have any questions regarding SU I'll come back to you :thumbsup
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