3D printing of GroBoto models?

[chucky3000]

Has anyone tried using one of the online 3D printing services to produce real world hard copies of their GroBoto creations?

I see some Z-brush items over on the Shapeways site, so I imagine exporting a mesh from GroBoto and then working it in Z-Brush, then uploading THAT would work.
I haven't looked into this too much, that's why I ask. It looks like Shapeways has certain rules about the types of 3D models it can print. Something about "normals" being set up properly.

Here's a list of currently supported applications
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/s...d-applications

And Here are a few items from the gallery. Some of the algorithmic stuff reminded me of GroBoto bot objects.
Fractal Spiral
Noahs Propeller
Ora Knot object
All Terrain Walker There's a picture here of the object next to an American 25cent piece to give an idea of scale and how well the tiny details print.

Another option to Shapeways would be to use a Maker Bot. I don't know enough about it to know if you could print GroBoto objects with it.

[Whoop]

I have a friend with a 3D printer that owes me one. I have not tried it yet, but I have spoken to him about the process. Basically what you need is a model with integrity, ie no mesh errors, intersecting or overlapping polygons, that kind of thing. And yes the normals for each polygon all need to be unified and facing outwards. Above all, you want the shapes to be solid and have no holes in the mesh.

How you proceed depends on the type of model. Is it comprised of hard planar polygons, such as the Terrain Walker, or is it to be a Catmull-Clark control mesh that can be further subdivided?

A polygonal model will simple be drawn in 3D to the resolution of the printer. If this mesh has been made out of straight sections for the curves, then this will appear in the final model and be far more prominent than is visible in a 2D rendered picture, where the surfaces are smooth shaded together.

On a 2D render you will only see the facets along edges of high contrast and the eye is quite forgiving. With a 3D object where light shines on it from all angles as you turn the object or move around it, the flat facets become much more obvious, especially if the object is large. So showing miniature objects makes them look better than blowing them up big. Looking at the waxy surfaces in Z Brush show you how the little flat polys can show up so easily.

Catmull-Clark meshes can be divided down mathematically to provide the level of smoothness necessary for a given purpose. Ideally, to work predictably well, all polygons should be quads, four-sided. Groboto I think creates meshes that are formed entirely of quads and tris. One level of subdivision will create a model with all quads. Try drawing a triangle and joining each side to the middle. You will end up with three four-sided shapes. So a Groboto mesh, if it is well-formed, is perfectly acceptable for subdivision and indeed is intended to be so. Considerable effort has gone into how and where it adds seams and giving you control over these seams and edges, although at present Groboto can only apply the same set of controls across the entire model.

For the delicate models that come out of some 3D systems, the fragile objects can be soaked in cyanoacrylate glue to give them somewhat more strength.

[Davey]

Has anyone built their own 3D printer. There is an interesting website about it. I used to build 74mm scale soldiers from anything I could get my hands on this looks like it could be useful for all sorts of stuff including GroBoto models.

http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

Interesting stuff. You can buy a ready built device for about £2000. But the rep rap is a lot cheaper.

Dave

[ronaldsmack]

Excellent information! The details are really very helpful. I have recently utilized the service of Protoswift for 3d printing at reasonable prices and i completely satisfied with their quality services. Thanks for sharing the valuable information.

[saracriss]

Interesting Idea Chucky: well i haven't tried it before, ill check your provided links and will give you feedback about their services. Thanks!

[johnmcrin]

Groboto has fair trial version, but not an excellent one. I would have had it fully functional, capable of exports, with a 14 day timeout.

[kerry]

well, good I did not try 3d printing of groboto models. However your information look very interesting, I will provide feedback to you after trying it.

[DuctTapeMachinations]

For anyone lurking about who's interested, I just got my first print.

I've been working on the model since I sent it off, but the printed model had all the details it's supposed to. And I was able to use the model directly, in fact trying to clean it up manually caused issues with the printing service.


groboto.jpg

IMAG0112.jpg

[JKJOHN]

Love Grotobo ....GroBoto is a unique 3D modeling tool that combines the freedom and intuitive ease of modeling based on simple primitive shapes ...

[ChrisScoff]

3D models made by GroBoto are very hard to print by with. For this purpose you have to acquire specialties of 3D model printing which is available now. This difficult task is made easy by using latest technologies.