Create round objects

[ChrisAckeret 0]

Is it possible to create a more round object by allowing to have more faces in a circle. On larger round pieces, one can see and measure the "straight" travels in the print. My guess, a circle is made up of 48 straight faces. I understand that this will require more memory, but doubling it would make a smoother print. Can the program for a circle be altered?

[gr5 2,000]

This is a cad setting.

STL files contain only triangles.

 

Assuming like most cad software your software stores an object internally as a circle (or cylinder/cone/sphere) but when you export to STL there should be options to control how much precision you want for your circles and all surfaces.  At that moment your circles are likely getting chopped up into multiple segments.

[geert_2 556]

As gr5 said, search for the STL-export settings in your CAD-program.

 

In DesignSpark Mechanical you have the options course, medium, fine, and custom. Fine is a good balance between file-size and smoothness, although the triangles are still visible in balls. Course and medium are too rough to my taste.

 

For really smooth surfaces, a custom setting is required. But be aware that a finer setting (=more triangles and thus a smoother curve) can soon make the file-sizes really huge and unmanageble. Instead of 2Mbyte it may easily jump up to 20Mbyte. And this might create other issues: the slicer slowing down, printer slowing down, wasting 95% of hard disk space for little improvements,...

 

So I would suggest that you experiment with all settings to compare the results, and then go for a good balance between quality and file size.

 

[ChrisAckeret 0]

Big thanks and appreciation. I would have never thought of it!