Crystalvalen

This is the first 3D model I ever printed and I was and am very proud of it.
 
A few months ago, I started working in a university library makerspace. I had never worked with or used 3D printers before, so I felt a little in over my head. In the week before I began, I brushed up on research about what makes a good 3D model, how to sculpt objects, etc. I ended up downloading a sculpting app called Forger on my iPad and spent about six hours one afternoon shaping a sphere into the shape of this fox head over many iterations. After a while, I got the hang of it and it felt conceptually just like molding clay in "the real world." On my second day of training when my supervisor showed me how to use Cura, I sliced and printed the .obj out of PLA on one of our UM3's. It took just about 4 hours at a 1.0mm layer height, if I remember correctly. It is still one of my proudest creations out of all of the things I've made here with the 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutter/plotters, etc.
 
In a small way, I think that experienced ruined TinkerCad for me, since I had already poured so much effort into learning sculpting softwares first. I love showing TinkerCad to students who are just starting out, but I often get frustrated with its limitations. I'd love to graduate to Blender eventually, but there's so much going on and it's a bit overwhelming to me still. Right now on the computer, I stick to using Meshmixer, which is somewhere in the middle, like a more robust version of what I was using on the iPad. If anyone is interested in sculpting their own organic models, I highly recommend checking it out.