kmanstudios

The big question is "What kind of modeling?" And yeah, they all have a bunch of tuts available. But seriously, some are bad. But the first question needs to be looked at first.

That is because I simply know what I went through to understand things. I am nowhere as versed in the program as I could be since I use it mainly to model and prep models for printing. But, you comments are appreciated. :)

🙂

Yeah, it is a different animal than Direct mesh modeling. It takes a bit of experimenting. But, remember that for the object you showed, I would not go more than 3,000.000 voxels to start with. AND when you export, select the layer and use 'Export Selected.' Then make sure you are going down to at least 1. 5 million polys or even less. Otherwise you will get really banged up in Cura. It is a bit of a dance between how many voxels to hold detail and how many will go into Cura nicely. One key to seeing how much detail you actually have is if you look at the image you posted last, you will see that it is picking all the mesh polygons, even at that high resolution. It does become more workable as you experiment.

It is actually sharper than you think. It is one of the vagueries of voxels. It will slice sharp. You have to realize how much you are zoomed into it.

I forgot to add a clarifaction of nomenclature: Texture: The physical change in surface features or roughness. Shader: Something that is applied to a model to cause rendering or colour changes. These two terms get used a lot interchangeably. This can cause issues until you can understand the context of their usage. For this thread, I will attempt to use These two terms as I have outlined in this post.

Or use of a different set of words that make sense to one person one way and not so much in another way. I have seen times when several people will be trying to help others on the site. And then one last person hits that magic phrasing that makes sense. And, it is usually the last person because it is understood and then moved on. But once in a while, you get someone that wants to excoriate others because they were not 'helpful' enough. It is a crap shoot and why it is always helpful to ask questions.

I honestly think it can be read both ways. And there are times the chip is not detected for a variety of reasons....damage, etc.

There is an example of this below. But basically, use the 'Infill Overlap' to make the infill poke out. It is not implemented with the Gyroid just yet, but, is on its way, I would assume. A. Regular Infill settings B. Infill poking out of walls using 'Infill Overlap.' Hilited to show its location. C. Using gyroid with same 'Infill Overlap' showing no change. It will get there soon though.

The only caveat I would offer is that profiles seem to still be buggy when upgrading to a new version of Cura. So, after I make my settings for a specific 'off brand' of materials, I will save a project file instead. They seem to be able to go between versions just fine. Oddly enough, I find the UM profiles for materials to be very good at getting very, very close to actual settings I will settle on. Also, they off a range of colours in the screen to see details when I need to be able to view them. Also, in certain project types, I will 'colour code' them so I know what material should be what. What is a transparency, what is an infill, what is a support, etc. Edit: Oh yeah, very nice write up and spot on. Thanks for helping people understand this quagmire. 👍

Ahhhh, ok, here is the trick with getting something into 3D coat. First off, if you are looking to add texture to the model, then you must convert to a volumetric object. BUT!! make a copy of the object then convert. Why? So you have a lo-rez proxy in back up. Here is a quick breakdown on the basic interface as I use it for modeling: A. This button will toggle you between orthographic and perspective modes. B. Make sure you 'park' the 'Tool Options' to make it easy to get to things. Say, if you move and scale and rotate (transforms in 3D parlance) it will remember that. If you bring in a new model into a new blank layer, it will remember that. So, you just hit 'Reset Space' and it puts the transforms back to their original values. C. This is the 'Ornament Alphas' I use for a lot of my decorative things. For instance, this is a set of transorms from 'JRO Tools.' Not that expensive and very, very useful. Can find on Gumroad easily. Can also just search as well. D. I use the Polymer colours for colouring my models to differentiate between parts or just setting a base colour. Keeps you from getting the 'black' look you got on your model import. E. VOX tools. I just put them there because I use them a bunch and want them very easily accessible. F. Where you can increase resolution if you want to 'slow down' the effects of the tools. More on that in a moment. G. This is the 'Duplicate Layer' button. I find this useful if I am doing work and want to save 'stages' of development. Basic workflow I use. Import model into a 'Surface (S)' layer. This preserves the raw model without changes. Click on a 'colour box' in the 'Shaders' box. This will assign a colour to the layer. It will remain when you duplicate the layer. Duplicate a layer to preserve my original model (G). Where there is an 'S' on that new layer, left click and it will bring up the 'convert to Voxels' dialogue. Now, this can be a bit tricky until you get a feel for what you are working with. It usually (not always) defaults to some odd voxel value like '200,000'. Just left click into the value field and it will pop up a dialogue that lets you retype the numbers to your liking. This will be way too low to preserve detail so, I usually start somewhere around 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 to see if it is what I want. I usually decide by a quick test of how fast it will stamp things or the grow or smooth tools operate. When you do this, your model will be resampled into the sharp edges you expected. Usually for stamping options using the Alphas, I use the 'Extrude' tool. Your interface does not look like mine, but you can move those interface sections around to suit your organizational desires. Tools I use the most are at the top of the left hand side: Grow, Smooth, Scrape, Pinch, Smudge. This should get you going enough to really play a bit.

Yes, I am using modifying objects to do gyroid differences in the model, that way the dress part looks like it has stitching or decorations in it. I will post more as I am doing a limited print series in different colours as well as a few solid ones. I would model, then take it into Cura to see where the overhangs were, then go back to the modeling program and correct it. Back and forth, back and forth. Thank you 🙂

I kinda haunt the forums. If you post a 3D question in the tips and tricks and use the "@" and the forum name to tag me, I will be happy to respond. I am telling you, modeling is something everybody who is printing should learn. Maybe not to be a master, but to really be able to do some nice stuff when needed, fix things, etc.

It just occurred to me. Did you just double click on the file? Try opening Cura and use the file open command. The 3mf file option may not have been enabled when installing. Or the PC file does not carry the resource fork that allows for it to open. Ok...just now see the post. Yeah, I get that. I am only 58 and I feel it happening already. sigh......you know what they always said....youth is wasted on the young......if we only knew then what we know now....all those cliches. Glad you got it open though 🙂 Good luck!

??????? What? The 3mf file or the PNG file? Kinda need more information.

You cannot open the 3mf file? You should be able to open it and change printers without losing the model. as for programs on the mac, I would go with things like meshmexer, et al to see what works. Just google free 3D programs mac. I am on a PC, so....

unless you post a project file that did that, it is a loooooot of guesswork.

Tricky print with no supports. A little clean up to do, but much less than cleaning hard supports. sooooooo.......

Most of the OEMS I have seen are versions of 1.5X.

How I print with Non UM filaments. Ohhhhh, say Colorfabb PLA. I choose PLA. Set my desired temps and other stuff. Send through Cura Connect. Tell it to override. Easy peasy, Printer squeezy. As for all the latest foo fufarahs, I just let it settle out a version or two. Today's software in general, too fast on release, too buggy. This goes for the entire tech industry. Basically, all users are beta testers it seems. At least Team UM does not force it on you like MSoft does. Edit: And I have not used a printer profile in almost 18 months because of this stuff happening.

Ok, I want to clarify something about merging models and regular placement of models. We discussed the merging of models, as well as turning off the "Automatically drop models to buildplate.' If placing models without merging and something is going to 'float, then yes, it must be turned off. But if 'Merged' then no. Vid link: www.kmanstudios.com/NoNeedDropToPlateOff.mp4

OK, I explained how to merge, and how to move independent parts of the models. That is all I explained. So, what settings are you referring to because that is all I explained. That is all I attempted to explain. Yeah, that was lost on me. But to be honest, I am also lost on how me modeling something is going to help. But, fusion....see below..... In preferences, general. Do not use Fusion, so cannot help there.

I get that. But it is most helpful, to give information concerning printer, modeling program, screenshots, not necessarily videos, etc. I am also assuming quite new to modeling as well, so that is why I asked questions in the list. The list of things I suggested are specifically to start guiding him now that I can see what he is attempting. I see it as a give and take,but until there was some sort of image, it was a bit of mindreading and guesswork. But now that there is a list of things, maybe he will actually ask about them and get more specific guidance. There is a lot to learn, granted. And, I can see how he logic'ed himself into the two parts. Think about it, it does make sense when not familiar with things. Part a one colour, part b the next colour. That being said, It has also been overlooked that he said something about sketchup. This will bring a whole other set of issues.

You have a part selected within the merged group and actually rotate it (about the 56 second mark). So, kinda not seeing why you cannot move it. Why model in two parts when a single part is all that is needed? If you were using two extruders, the two parts would make sense. But with a single extrusion, it is not helpful Your 'sped up video' is so fast I cannot tell if you have two different diameters. If so, why not just lathe the thing as such? If you modeled the pieces in the proper location and they merge as you modeled them, why are you trying to move them again? That defeats the purpose of modeling within a program. If there are two different diameters, then watch out for the overhang as it can create an issue if it is too large

I am not 'un-calm.' It is just that there is a lot of discussion when we really cannot see what it is you are trying to do. You keep explaining but it still goes nowhere.