new to 3d and if i had hair i would have pulled it out by now

[alvin]

hi from bonnie scotland
well at the age of 57 i need something to do and learn, i have ordered a 3d printer from the bay and now it`s time to find the software.

what i want to do is copy items and i thought 123d catch was what i needed and then i found out it no longer exists, i would want to put an item down then take the 30 or 40 pics of it then load it into the software and reduce or enlarge it before printing it. i am not looking at designing from scratch at this moment but simply taking the pics then altering the size before printing.

now the question is do you guys know of an easy free bit of software which will allow be to do this?

i would love to know your thoughts on this as there must be easy to use software out there that covers something as straight forward as a simple copy process, once i get used to that side of it i will no doubt look further into the fun of 3d printing but that is something for the future.

thanks guys.

[curious aardvark]

the biggest issue I've had with trying to make a 3d model from pictures (never succeeded) is that you have to move the camera round the object.
That said - here's the best way to do that I know of : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1762299

What printer did you buy ?

[alvin]

hi
thanks for replying, i will have a look at you link thank you.
no idea which printer it is, its a no name job however if allowed i could post the link to the ebay page which gives all the info.
thanks
al

[awerby]

If making accurate, high-definition and printable 3D models from real objects was as easy and cheap as you wish it was, then nobody would spend thousands of dollars and hours on 3D scanners and their associated software. 123D Catch was an attempt at short-cutting the process, but it never really worked very well. I haven't tried the Thingiverse thing aardvark points out, but from the mesh in the picture it doesn't look like it manages to capture detail on small objects with any kind of fidelity. If you're using the meshes in something like an animation project, then a low-res mesh like this can be all you'd need, since the photo-texture mapped on top of it conveys an impression of detail as it moves. But for 3D printing, the detail needs to all be there in the mesh.

[curious aardvark]

looks like a prusa I3 type. decent build volume too - which is good :-)
£137.88 !
Even for a kit, with heated bed, decent psu - that's amazingly cheap.
You realise it's a kit right ?
ie: you'll have to build it from scratch.
Interested to see how it goes - that's stupidly cheap.
None of the pictures show filament being fed. Can't work out if it's direct drive or bowden.
Bloody hell you can get them with delivery from uk warehouse for £129.99.
wonder if they work :-)

As far as the guns go - you'd be better off with digital calipers and designing from scratch.

Have a look at Openscad. http://www.openscad.org/

I find it much much easier to use than most cad packages as I don't have to draw anything :-) Just tell it what I want and where I want it and it does the rest.

[alvin]

well its turned up and yes it is a kit which to be honest i never realized but i suppose i will learn a little more about 3d printers! so from what you have said about the printer it seems to be a decent spec for the price paid, lets hope it measures up then lol.

yes i have digital calipers to measure the parts needed for the lee enfields, they are only wall guns so no one would know the difference anyway.
i have found software which allows me to photograph the items from all angles so i will get on with that before using the final file into software for printing.

[curious aardvark]

what software are you going to use for the scans ?

And yes you will learn an awful lot while building the printer :-)

It's not quite as straightforward as: take 100's of perfectly exposed photos all under identical lighting conditions, let program make 3d model. Realise what you have is a distorted pointcloud and you need to convert that into a mesh and then try and repair the mesh and then convert it into an stl file. Then you'll need to edit and adjust it so that it almost-but-not-quite resembles the thing you took the pictures of in the first place. Then repair that so that it prints.

That's been my experience anyway :-)

Oh, and under no circumstances be tempted to buy a ciclops 3d scanner for $99 - you can have mine for £40+p&p, they simply just don't work.
Somehow they've made a video that lets you think they do work - do not be fooled. They are completely and totally useless.
Mine is still for sale though ;-)

[alvin]

i will try regard 3d, here is the link to the youtube video, also the top right link on the right is another option

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaYfpGcXxmA

obviously i will need further software to convert it for the printer, i will need to watch the video again to see if the end result is an stl file. if not then any suggestions into the easiest converter would be welcome.

[JustMatt]

I've got a very similar, if not the exact same kit, alvin. The box mine came in was branded Tronixy (or something similar)and came from Gearbest. I'm fairly certain it is a direct drive extruder.

The biggest challenge for me was leveling the bed. If you plug around the printer's menu, there's a way to move the head around to four different positions to check the distance between the nozzle tip and the print bed. I used a piece of paper as a feeler gauge to measure the distance. I made it close enough that there was a little bit of resistance moving the paper around between the nozzle and bed. However, from what I've been reading here, I may have had the nozzle on mine too close to the bed. Other than that though, assembling it was pretty easy, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you.

I agree with what Curious Aardvark said earlier, in that starting from scratch would be another good option. However, while I'm very intrigued with openscad, I don't think I could use it myself. There's a really good sticky post with a list of different CAD software options on this very board right here. There are a lot of high quality, powerful options for making your designs that are free or low cost. Most will have a feature that allows you to use a picture as a background that you can then trace over to copy a design.

[curious aardvark]

Hmm, that software looks very interesting. Can't find anywhere that says you have to move the camera round the object.
Camera on a small tripod and object on a lazy susan, gives better results as all pictures are taken with the same exposure and lighting.
I'll have to give it a go :-)

Most of the really cheap i3 kits appear to be tronxy.
The rest seem to be ctc - tronxy would probably be better.