How to fill 3d model house?

[Horia 0]

Hello, I want to print only the exterior of the house and the original model has open spaces inside and furniture, walls, etc.

My problem is that I can't find a solution to fill the interior of the house and leave me with a solid 100% filled model.

If I have a solid house I can hollow it with my slicer and print with only the supports and infill without any interior details.

[Nicolinux 288]

Hi,

That's not that easy to do. It depends on the source file format and the tool you are using. I fought with Blender a while ago trying to do the same but gave up at some point.

[ignatius 23]

As @Nicolinux said, is not easy.

You will need to fix and modify your file to make it printable as you wish.

Is a tipical problem with architectural models, because the software doesn't make you to draw it to be 3d printed in a 1:100 scale, but to draw it with a 1:1 definition, making imposible to achieve a nice and clean miniature model.

I use to clean up the models with Rhino, because when the model has been cleaned up, I can merge everything as a single solid and test the mesh if it has open faces and repair it.

But it takes time.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Guest

[Horia 0]

I'll try to make a filled shape simmilar with the house and roof (like a streched pyramid placed on top of a cube) and place inside the house then combine the objects.

[Horia 0]

So the things I tried:

- filling the house with geometrical shapes to fill holes and tried to merge objects... program crashes (123d Design)

- filling the house with geometrical shapes and then combining into 1 stl when saving, didn't work, the slicer doesn't recognize the shapes inside the house model

- tried in blender to subtract the house from a bigger shape (cube), didn't work, it says that it can't perform the boolean action.

I talked to the architect and he will try to fill the house with extrusion of the floors or sealing.

Any other Ideas?

[ignatius 23]

If you want/can

You can send me the file, and I can try in Rhino

 

So the things I tried:

- filling the house with geometrical shapes to fill holes and tried to merge objects... program crashes (123d Design)

- filling the house with geometrical shapes and then combining into 1 stl when saving, didn't work, the slicer doesn't recognize the shapes inside the house model

- tried in blender to subtract the house from a bigger shape (cube), didn't work, it says that it can't perform the boolean action.

I talked to the architect and he will try to fill the house with extrusion of the floors or sealing.

Any other Ideas?

 

[tommyph1208 55]

So the things I tried:

- filling the house with geometrical shapes to fill holes and tried to merge objects... program crashes (123d Design)

- filling the house with geometrical shapes and then combining into 1 stl when saving, didn't work, the slicer doesn't recognize the shapes inside the house model

- tried in blender to subtract the house from a bigger shape (cube), didn't work, it says that it can't perform the boolean action.

I talked to the architect and he will try to fill the house with extrusion of the floors or sealing.

Any other Ideas?

 

Mocking up the exterior of the house as a new model is you best bet... Depending on the complexity of the model and your skills with 3d modelling, this is no trivial task.

as previously mentioned, architectural models are not really made for 3d printing... If you can approximate/simplify the outside of the building as a new mesh in your 3d modelling program of choice, you can get a watertight, print optimized model that will look somewhat like the architects but print much nicer.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Guest

[Nicolinux 288]

I wonder... this feature was needed by many so why aren't there any workflows in place to simplify it. Something like a digital mold from an existing object.

[Horia 0]

I wonder... this feature was needed by many so why aren't there any workflows in place to simplify it. Something like a digital mold from an existing object.

 

Great idea, is there no software, or online service that can isolate the outer shell geometry and transform it into a full solid?

[Horia 0]

I've seen that Meshmixer has some tools to select the outer mesh.

Can it select the outer mesh, scale it to make it bigger and then fill it?

Edited April 1, 2016 by Guest

[ignatius 23]

As an architect, I have to deal with this problem all the time.

Mostly, it´s a problem in how the architectural software works: the model has too many details, the *.stl file that it creates is not watertight and with a very high mesh complexity. As a result, boolean operations doesn't use to work.

I have two different Ideas about how it could a plugin work with this situation, but I can't write code and I cannot test it. Anyway, the exported *.stl files use to have such a poor quality, that I think that the problem must be solved directly from the architectural software itself, with a clean up plugin to 3d print or something like that.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Guest

[yellowshark 153]

Hmn, we model buildings without problems using Solidworks. You want it solid in the model? you get it. Want it empty, you get it. Want it with partition walls, you get it. Normally we work from 2D drawings in AutoCAD. I know Autodesk or Solidworks has an extra architectural module, something like Revit, I guess that could cause problems although not sure why that would be. We use the drawing dimensions but rescale the model before exporting to .stl

You can use "digital moulds" in Solidworks and thus I assume Autodesk. We use the technique to create custom insoles from foot castes.

[peetree 3]

This is something the Architecture side of my firm struggles with (they use ArchiCAD). It's important to give feedback to CAD software company about it so they can improve the 3D printing workflow. It doesn't solve your immediate need :\ but hopefully it gets architects a better solution soon.

As an example, Solidworks has a tool called "defeature" which essentially takes complex hollow assemblies of many parts and reduces them to a single solid blob which is easier to convert to a closed mesh.

[gr5 2,266]

I've seen that Meshmixer has some tools to select the outer mesh.

Can it select the outer mesh, scale it to make it bigger and then fill it?

Try meshlab - it does this with one command I think. I haven't used this in a while but try this - it kind of does a plastic-wrap-the-model feature where it fills in all interior spaces. Don't think of it as 2 steps - it's really just one step.

Read these - just do the meshalb step:

http://dynath.blogspot.com/2012/04/shelling-3d-models.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/cad/comments/1xy18x/besteasiest_way_to_shrinkwrap_an_stl_model_to/

or google "shrinkwrap my stl"

[Horia 0]

 

I've seen that Meshmixer has some tools to select the outer mesh.

Can it select the outer mesh, scale it to make it bigger and then fill it?

Try meshlab - it does this with one command I think.  I haven't used this in a while but try this - it kind of does a plastic-wrap-the-model feature where it fills in all interior spaces.  Don't think of it as 2 steps - it's really just one step.

Read these - just do the meshalb step:

http://dynath.blogspot.com/2012/04/shelling-3d-models.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/cad/comments/1xy18x/besteasiest_way_to_shrinkwrap_an_stl_model_to/

or google "shrinkwrap my stl"

 

Thanks, will try

[Horia 0]

As an example, Solidworks has a tool called "defeature" which essentially takes complex  hollow assemblies of many parts and reduces them to a single solid blob which is easier to convert to a closed mesh.

 

Nice feature, but it's out of my reach, that software is too expensive for my needs.

[yellowshark 153]

...snip>>

As an example, Solidworks has a tool called "defeature" which essentially takes complex  hollow assemblies of many parts and reduces them to a single solid blob which is easier to convert to a closed mesh.

 

Interesting, we have never experienced Solidworks producing a mesh with an error, but then we never work with complex assemblies as we tend to make parts that fit existing assemblies or are stand alone.