The Simplify3d Tips and Information Thread

[Serena]

Posted this in the general info thread but in case you guys don't see it:

This software sounds really interesting- It's called "Make it Stand"and it allows you to distribute the weight of a print to make it balance in a certain position. Check out the video to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drZksLRx94

It's being beta tested and you can download it. I was going to, however, it requires some mathematics software (mosek which needed python knowledge to download I think- I couldn't figure it out) which was complicated to install and I don't have it in me to figure it out right now. But thought maybe someone would like it.

Download page:
http://igl.ethz.ch/projects/make-it-stand/

Sounds pretty cool for those who are more tech savvy than me.

[curious aardvark]

You know you can do something similiar with s3d. The example they use on the tutorial section is a weeble gnome.

Printed with a dence base and hollow top.

I guess if you're printing a lot of artistic models that balance stuff would be really useful.

Dargonfly and geoff should go play with it :-)

[curious aardvark]

You can use the 'convert image to 3d' add-in to generate very interesting organic looking extruded text.

Here's my test. Tried a bunch of settings and settle on a gaussian index 0f 2.0 for the best overall result. Went with 0.5mm bed and 10mm overall height.

So here's the text shown from the top and bottom

caextrudedside_800x248.jpg

Can you guess what it says ?

caextrudedproper_800x112.jpg

Created from this png file:

curiousaardvark-text.png

It's weird, but surprisingly effective :-)

OH yeah - remember to save all files as .png NOT .jpg/jpeg

[jimc]

haha CA, thats cool. never tried that feature with text. here is a lithopane project i did back in may. i made a few of these for the kids to give as mothers day gifts. very cool because you can just easily swap out the photo with whatever you want. just take the pic, put it in s3d and print it out to size. the box has a simple ac adapter to plug into the wall with a switch on the back of the box powering a white led light.

IMG_2897.jpgIMG_2898.jpgIMG_3550.jpg

[curious aardvark]

what settings did you use for that ?

I've tried colour photos with very little luck - so greyscale is the way to go then ?

[Dargonfly]

what settings did you use for that ?

I've tried colour photos with very little luck - so greyscale is the way to go then ?

I pulled some color images trough the program too, here's some steps I took to give it a better resolution & contrast:
- load the image in Photoshop (or GIMP, or any photo editing software of your choice) and up the contrast (if you use Photoshop CS5 and its contrast algorithm then you can easily MAX that contrast and get good results.)
- in S3D: when using the plugin to convert the image use settings that are a multiple of the actual settings that you want (for instance, multiple XYZ dimensions times 10 - don't increase the Guassion factor times 10 though...)
- let it convert & load the model, then scale it down times 10 (or whatever multiplication factor you've used)
- 100% infill, 1 shell (for sharper lines), and a layer height as small as possible (0.1[mm] or lower)


X & Y dimensions are up to yourself, but try the above mentioned trick to increase the .STL quality. (trick works for Z dimension too)
Try to make the base as thin as possible (to increase contrast, because the base has the same thickness everywhere) I used a base of 1[mm]
Keep in mind that your final 'color-depth' = Z-height-variation / layer height.
So, with a Z-height variation of 10[mm] and a layer height of 0.1[mm] you have a color depth of 100 .. which is somewhat similar to the color depth of 128 which is 'normally' used for digital black/white images.
Higher color depth = more contrast of course.

I've used this for some color photos of some friends of mine, they had this really bright picture (some sort of filter) with very little contrast, but after these steps I got a very good print from it
Do note that you need to backlit these images!! Else they look creepy as hell ..

[Dargonfly]

Posted this in the general info thread but in case you guys don't see it:

This software sounds really interesting- It's called "Make it Stand"and it allows you to distribute the weight of a print to make it balance in a certain position. Check out the video to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drZksLRx94

It's being beta tested and you can download it. I was going to, however, it requires some mathematics software (mosek which needed python knowledge to download I think- I couldn't figure it out) which was complicated to install and I don't have it in me to figure it out right now. But thought maybe someone would like it.

Download page:
http://igl.ethz.ch/projects/make-it-stand/

Sounds pretty cool for those who are more tech savvy than me.

That looks pretty fun! Will see if I can play around with that some day, thanks for sharing.

[jimc]

oh boy, settings..man that was back in may and i havent done it since so i dont really remember. i can dig it up though. i do know that it was a good professional quality color photo and i didnt do anything special to it. no photoshop or anything like that. it came out perfect. viewing from the smooth side will always look a little blurred because of it being diffused by the first couple layers. flip it around though and the detail really is pretty amazing. it was printed in white abs. let me look for those settings and ill get back to you.

[jimc]

oh wait a min i just open up the option in s3d and i think i kept my last used settings. depth scale is 2mm and platform height is .4mm gaussian factor was 1.0 and invert depth profile is checked. i think i printed it at .1mm layer height.

[curious aardvark]

cool.

Just trying my first dual process print. Basically for the first 87mm it just needs 10% infill and then for the rest I've gone for 60%
I've stopped the first one at 87mm and started the second one at 87 - not sure if this will work. It looked fine on the preview :-)


Basically it's a handle for an electric sweeper. Only the end plug needs to be superstrong.

Interesting to see how this works. Will save plastic and print time if it works.

I've also switched from abs to pla - so reduced the model size by 1% before slicing. There is no leeway on this model. It either clicks into the sweeper or it breaks. And the difference is measured in a few 100ths of a mm.
I'll let you know what happens :-)