Jump to content

Importing a STL into 3D-Coat


Recommended Posts

Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

I am trying to import an STL made in Fusion 360 into 3D-Coat. I want to add some texture to the surface and basically just learn. But I cant figure out how to maintain sharpness/quality of my model.

I'm hoping for some guidance from @kmanstudios or anyone else who has actually worked in 3D-Coat.

I will let my screenshots do the rest of the talking since I'm not really familiar with what I'm doing and therefore don't really know how to describe my issue in a good way.

 

1.png

2.png

3.png

Lock saltvatten.stl

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    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:

    3DCoatInterface.thumb.jpg.df9ccc463a131c50c0ff2eda46476369.jpg

     

    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.

    1. 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.
    2. Duplicate a layer to preserve my original model (G).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.

    • Thanks 1
    Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    I forgot to add a clarifaction of nomenclature:

     

    1. Texture: The physical change in surface features or roughness.
    2. 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.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    Thank you so much!

    In my screenshot I have converted to voxel choosing 10,000,000 as voxel value and the edge still isn't sharp? Tried 15,000,000 but then my computer started to argue with me and wouldn't let me do anything smoothly afterwards.

    Could you load my STL file and see what value you would choose?

    This particular model is to be used as a lid on an small glass I have with salt water.

    Skärmavbild 2018-11-30 kl. 14.10.58.png

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    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.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted (edited) · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    It feels like you nail every question I have and the next three as well.

    It is time to do some experimenting on my own now, it's easy to get lazy and start asking about every little thing.

     

    I have previously asked you about 3D-Coat in an other subject, and you made me wanting to give it a go and I downloaded the demo, then now on black Friday they (3D-Coat) had an offer with $100 taken of the standard price and I could not resist. Haven't told my wife yet though...

    Just wanted to let you know and that I appreciate it a lot. *edit; your help and input that is.

    Edited by TMicke
    • Thanks 1
    Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat

    🙂

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Importing a STL into 3D-Coat
    26 minutes ago, TMicke said:

    It feels like you nail every question I have and the next three as well.

    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. :)

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • Introducing Universal Cura Projects in the UltiMaker Cura 5.7 beta
        Strap in for the first Cura release of 2024! This 5.7 beta release brings new material profiles as well as cloud printing for Method series printers, and introduces a powerful new way of sharing print settings using printer-agnostic project files! Also, if you want to download the cute dinosaur card holder featured below, it was specially designed for this release and can be found on Thingiverse! 
        • 0 replies
      • S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
        (Sorry, was out of office when this released)

        This update is for...
        All UltiMaker S series  
        New features
         
        Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
          • Like
        • 0 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...