Advice...

[names]

These boards may be the wrong place for a novice like my self, But I am getting the urge to tinker in this growing field.

I have seen some astounding models created with some fairly (IMHO) inexpensive desktop printers,

So I would like to ask, would it be feasible to convert the attached image to a printable file?

Either as a whole, or more modular to allow for different colors?

And if this would be possible, would a sub 2k printer work for this project?

File is already vector(.cdr) and I have played with converting and extruding some bits in cad, but its all a bit much for me,

and again am just wondering if it is possible. And if so, maybe some pointers on how to get started.....

Thanks!!!!

[3dkarma]

This is absolutely the right place for you.

If you're starting with a vector file, creating a printable 3D model should be relatively straightforward for you. It sounds like you're already well along the path. To give you an idea of the overall process, have a look at this RepRap wiki article.

Regarding printing in multiple colours, the general process (assuming a reprap-style toolchain) is to create one part in your CAD software per colour (based on how many your printer can handle). Your slicing software will then assign each coloured part to a different extruder and print accordingly. This is over-simplifying it, but I hope you get the idea.

[Roxy]

There are very powerful Open_Source tools to do what you want. Check out InkScape. This tutorial on tracing images is here: http://inkscape.org/doc/tracing/tutorial-tracing.html

But here is the one you really should look at: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MAN...ngExample.html

InkScape will let you make a .DXF font file. And using Open_Scad, you can take layers out of the font file and extrude them into 3D things to print. (All of 5 or 6 lines of code if you have the image traced.)

[old man emu]

This is a very important Tips and Tricks subject. I suggest that the thread be moved to the Tips and Tricks and made a sticky.

OME

[Roxy]

This is a very important Tips and Tricks subject. I suggest that the thread be moved to the Tips and Tricks and made a sticky.

OME

Agreed on it's importance. In the next week I'll try to get a few lines of Open_SCAD code attached to this thread so anybody that traces a logo or other image can easily print it. Even if they don't know Open_SCAD.