How to add texture to objects surface?

[onkelgeorg 36]

Hi all,

after designing a few technical parts I want to go ahead with some more or less 'artful' designs.

Therefore I want to add textures to objects. For an example, let's say there is a simple cylinder that should be decorated with a texture (let's say hearts). Or another example is the fairphone case. There was a basic case which was decorated by different people in different designs: https://www.fairphone.com/2014/07/07/launching-fairphone-3d-printed-cases-with-3d-hubs/

My question is what kind of software di I need to add the texture to the object?

Until now I worked with 123D Design, Sketchup and Meshmixer. All 3 seem not to be capable of doing this.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Cheers,

Joerg

 

[cez_etc 0]

Well, there's a well-hidden menu in Meshmixer for modifying surfaces. You can bring it up by selecting "Sculpt" on the left hand side and then pressing "3" on your keyboard (pressing "2" makes it disappear again). BUT this only works well if your model has a fairly high number of polygons, otherwise the results are a bit confusing. (Disclaimer: They might be really confusing anyway.)

 

[onkelgeorg 36]

Hi,

thanks for this hint, I didn't knew it. Meshmixer is always some kind of wonder bag

And yes I can confirm that the results are pretty confusing.

So this doesn't work for me - any other suggestions out there?

 

 

[brumbaer 0]

Hi,

thanks for this hint, I didn't knew it. Meshmixer is always some kind of wonder bag

And yes I can confirm that the results are pretty confusing.

So this doesn't work for me - any other suggestions out there?

 

 

Cinema 4D is able to do things like that.

There is a MoCloner Object. It does the usual stuff like arranging objects in an array, sphere circle and such. But it also has the option to put objects onto surfaces.

It will put the object at every vertex or quad of the surface.

You can use more than one object to choose from sequentially or randomly.

This would look like this:

In addition you can use effectors to move or rotate the objects by value or randomly.

In this case to objects are put on all surfaces of the cylinder, but you can restrict it to any set of quads.

[edit] mixed up the images, sorry[/edit]

 

[brumbaer 0]

Here is a object that made use of that feature.

There is a basic shape underneath all those tiles. The tiles are placed on the center of the polygons of that basic shape, the type of tile, orientation, position and scale randomized by a small margin. If I change the shape the tiles will automatically rearrange themselves making changes very simple.

 

[deepshots 2]

Most CAD packages will have commands like this... search something like "project to surface" or "flow along the curve/plane/surface...."

For planar surfaces it is easy as you can just use boolean union or difference to stamp the decorations on.

 

[tmrevlje 1]

I confirm that C4D is very usefull for these types of things, also using a shader (with the image of the pattern you want, black/white, depending on what you want extruded) in Displacement settings of the Material can be used for this. Or projection, but that's a bit tricky... - projecting actual vectors on to the surface and adding extrusion.

 

[onkelgeorg 36]

Hi all,

thanks for the answers.

 

Unfortunately C4D is too expensive I'm looking for freeware possibilities.

@Deepshots: Unfortunately 123D Design has not

Is there any freeware this can be done with?

 

[Daid 306]

Blender can do what you want I think, with "displacement mapping".

 

[solid-print-3d 30]

3D-Coat V4 has a very cool feature where it lets you pick a texture image and paint that texture on to the model.

Here's a clip of it being used

 

When importing into Cura, the newly textured .stl looked exactly how I wanted it to.

 

[chopmeister 0]

For adding detail to a model (and I use "detail" on purpose since texture means color data in 3d modelling language), you have 4 options.

A.) Physically model the details, either from a NURBS surface or subdivision surface, depending on the software and workflow used.

B.) Use a black&white texture for displacement mapping, where polygons on the object get displaced according to the information in the texture.

C.) Scatter objects around the base mesh (like the C4D example above) and subsequently use boolean operations to attach them together.

D.) Use a "sculpting" program, which is in essence a combination of A and B, but without having to know the details behind the procedure since you're basically just painting detail.

Physically modeling all the details is tedious work, but generally not so hard to do, depending on the base model and type of detail you are adding.

From the software you mention you used, I would say displacement mapping is not a feasible option since it requires knowledge about UV mapping to use successfully, which although not that hard for simple base objects, takes quite a while to master for anything complex.

Boolean operations are best avoided in poly-based modelling programs, especially for 3d printing because they tend to produce bad resulting topology and models which are not watertight. In certain situations it will work, but not always.

I would suggest using a sculpting program if the detail you want to add doesn't have to be too precise, and the aforementioned 3d coat has a fully functional (I think) trial available.

 

[vascocrocha 0]

Here is a object that made use of that feature.

There is a basic shape underneath all those tiles. The tiles are placed on the center of the polygons of that basic shape, the type of tile, orientation, position and scale randomized by a small margin. If I change the shape the tiles will automatically rearrange themselves making changes very simple.

 

which software are you using for the texture application? do you have a stl texture to apply over a surface or over a SHAPED STL? or you have a black/white image to generate the texture?

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I use the heck out of 3D Coat. It is very reasonably priced and has a lot of power and flexibility.

And you can kiss boolean problems goodbye while in Voxel mode. Boolean meshes are a pain no matter what program you use.

although, you can get a really, really dense mesh that needs to be optimized on export to mesh, which it will do internally.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Guest

[geert_2 557]

If your model consists of geometric shapes, you can do this in DesignSpark Mechanical. This is a freeware 3D-editor for geometric shapes. I have used this feature once to rotate text around a cylinder. It uses the "project" feature, but I don't remember the exact procedure, so you will have to google a bit. There are training videos or tutorials around the internet showing it.

[kkmmsaito4 0]

Hi guys newbie here, so I'm planning to create a 3d model to be 3d printed. I made it in sketchup and I'm just wondering if i will be able to add texture to the model using 3d coat? And also, can my model be 3d printed with the said texture? Hope someone will reply. Thanks a lot!

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Hi guys newbie here, so I'm planning to create a 3d model to be 3d printed. I made it in sketchup and I'm just wondering if i will be able to add texture to the model using 3d coat? And also, can my model be 3d printed with the said texture? Hope someone will reply. Thanks a lot!

 

I know that Sketchup has difficulty creating watertight or manifold objects. I am not sure how that would work in 3D Coat. If you pop a simple model through, I would be happy to see if I can import it for you so you do not have to guess.

Also, let us refine our use of the word 'Texture'. Being very cross disciplined myself, and the evolving nature of the language in 3D graphics, it can have different meanings and be a bit confusing.

In traditional 3D Modeling, texture/material/shader are all the same. If you make a sphere and put a material/texture/shader for glass on it, it controls rendering properties.

As far as I can gather, we are using texture here to define actual relief detail like dimensional scales on a dragon or dimensional stone relief for cracks and layering type of looks.

The primary difference is that in traditional 3D graphics, it is a rendering effect and not an actual modeled in detail on the mesh.

[eldrick 65]

Do keep in mind that the minimum-sized features in 3D printing are not small - any texture applied would have to be fairly coarse to have details visible.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Do keep in mind that the minimum-sized features in 3D printing are not small - any texture applied would have to be fairly coarse to have details visible.

Define 'coarse.' It will always be limited in X & Y by way of nozzle size for wall thicknesses and in the Z by way of layer depth.

But a subtle inset can be achieved because it is an offset of the outer wall and not limited by nozzle size.

I may have to cobble up something that shows what I mean if this is not clear.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Damned forum ate my reply,......GRRRrrrrrrrrr *TWICE!!!* At least this time I copied it before posting.

OK, I went into a file I am actually using and created some examples of what I meant.

This is the setup file with actual measurements in mm.

This is the resulting slice and you can see it picks up all the pieces as needed. In this case, the really tiny bumps (0.107mm) are meant to be just bumps to act as a slide stop. Will I need it to be larger? I will find out. But, you can see that the slicer did pick up the detail at approximately 1/4 the nozzle size. And, the lettering is very sharp now because it is slightly larger than nozzle size. And, this is only at 0.2mm layer height.

This is an actual prototype print I made, that is smaller in physical size than the images I am showing above. The print was only about 0.2 mm deep and that is why I did offset the type just over nozzle width in the newer, larger model.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Guest

[Heisenblurb 0]

Was searching this same question. I found a Blender plugin called "Conform Object" that seems to do exactly what the OP is asking. It's a $10 plugin, and Blender is free, so very affordable. Haven't tried it myself yet, but I'm pretty excited to give it a whirl. Use cases I'm interested in: wrapping a lithophane around a curved surface; adding 3d wood grain textures to an object.

 

I found the plugin on this list of Blender plugins: https://cgcookie.com/posts/the-ultimate-2022-guide-to-the-best-blender-add-ons