3D Printing with Maya Notes

3D Printing Vocabulary

• Additive Manufacturing
• Manifold
• Normals

 

Our printers:

Spec	Replicator 2	Replicator 2X
Material:	PLA  -  1.75mm diameter	ABS  -  1.75mm diameter
Material Characteristics:	- Smell is barely noticeable - Created from processing plant products including corn, potatoes or sugar-beets - More rigid than ABS - Much less part warping Prone to curling of corners and overhangs More brittle - Low temperature resistance and parts spending the day in a hot car can droop and deform  Extrude at ~180-200°C -Lower layer heights and sharper printed corners. -wider range of available colors and translucencies	-Smells bad -Is a polymer, petroleum based  -Preferred plastic by engineers and those with mechanical uses, do to its strength, flexibility, machinability, and higher temperature resistance   Prone to cracking, delamination, and warping More flexible -Higher temperature resistance Extrude at ~225°C -Soluble in Acetone allowing one to weld parts together with a drop or two.  Parts can also be smoothed or polished with acetone
Build envelope:	285 mm × 153 mm × 155 mm 11.2 in × 6.0 in × 6.1 in

 

Basics for 3D Printing.

• Output – STL file format

• Thickness – 0.7 mm?

• Open vs. Closed Surfaces

• Interlocking Parts

• Normals

• Manifold vs. Non-manifold: Every edge must connected to at least two faces

• Working Units for a scene in centimeters.

  • Default scene units are centimeters

  • Recommend grid display units.

    • Grid lines every: 1 units.

    • Subdivisions: 10 units.

    • Subdivision lines: Different color then the 'Grid Lines'

• Maya is Y-up by default and the Makerbot printer is Z-up

•  

 

• Maya Plug-in Manager
  • Load
    • objExport.bundle
    • vrml2Export.bundle
• Software
  • Makerware
  • MeshLab – great for converting 3d format types.
• Maya Distance Tool
  • Create > Measure Tools > Distance Tool

 

• Common Problems
  • Close up gaps
  • Fill holes
  • n-gons
  • Reversed Normals

 

• Modeling Tips
  • ???? The physical model being printed cannot reach over 1.75 million polygon count. The  general range you are looking for, is around 1 - 1.5 million polygons. If the model is over 1.75 million polygons , please consider retopologizing. Topogun is great for this.
  • Combined vs. Boolean
  • Combined all geometry
  • Triangulate all models, so you don’t have non-planar surfaces
  • Make all edges “Hard”,  so you can see the way your model will actually print.
  • Ensure base is flat
  • Must be a closed object.  Water Tight!
    • Turn on the “borders” of your polygon model to verify.  If you see border edges, then your model is not water-tight.  Display > Polygons > Custom Polygon Display Polygons
  • Convert all NURBS and Subdivs to polygons

Prepping Model

• Convert your model into polygons,
• Make sure your model is “water-tight”
• Triangulate and view with Hard Edges
• Export into a .stl file