Blender 3D Printing Essentials

by Gordon Fisher

Overview

Like computing, 3D printing has been around for decades but it was expensive and was only used for making complex prototypes. Now, prices have dropped and third-party printing services such as Shapeways have become available, making the technology available to everyone.

Blender is an open source modeling and animation program popular in the 3D printing community. 3D printing demands more of a modeler than animation or virtual reality. The model maker must engineer their model to work in the real world. They must keep in mind the particular needs of the materials and printers that they are planning to use to print their model.

This practical guide gives Blender users all the information they need to design high-quality 3D printed objects. With a solid exploration of the 3D modeling process, design considerations for 3D printing, plus step-by-step exercises, you will soon be comfortable making 3D objects for real-world enjoyment.

Starting with an overview of 3D printing, this guide moves onto to precision measurement, fixing problems in a 3D model, and how to make it light and strong enough for real-world use.

You will learn how to scale, build, and detail a model for a 3D printer. You will learn to color and decorate it, as well as making parts precisely in the size you want them, so that multi-part objects fit together smoothly. You will also learn tips on saving money when you have printed your model.

With the help of this guide, you will be able to complete your project and learn how to export the file so it is ready for a variety of 3D printers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783284597
Publisher:	Packt Publishing
Publication date:	11/23/2013
Pages:	114
Sales rank:	723,118
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

Gordon Fisher got his start in computer graphics working with industry pioneers at Information International, Inc. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was the first student to display computer generated artwork, and interactive computer graphics and computer animation at the UCSB Gallery. Since then, he has made 3D animations for clients including the U.S. Army, Ford Motor Co. the Dallas Cowboys, the Southeastern Conference, Costco and Southwest Airlines.

He has trained nearly 100 professionals around the globe. He works on all aspects of Salesforce, and is an expert in data migration, integration, configuration, and customization. He is a leader of the Navi-Mumbai and Nashik developer user groups in India. He is also the initiator of the Mumbai Salesforce user group. He organizes various seminars at regular intervals. In his spare time, he contributes to the Salesforce success community to share his views.

Gordon is the Creative Director for Point Happy Interactive and spends his spare time as a bicycling advocate and space activist.