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3D-Printing Problems


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Hello, 

I am kind of new to Vectorworks, and especially to 3d printing. I have an architectural model with surrounding buildings on a contour. When I take this file for printing, it shows errors, and my model is too detailed with lots of components. I don't know how to reduce these elements to a simple volume for 3d-printing. Any tip? 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Normally you would disable the classes (or layers, depending how you have things categorized) that housed the small details like furniture and hanging fixtures, leaving only the classes or layers with walls/windows/doors and the site model.

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Thank you JimW for helping!

 

But I am talking about Window frame for example. I am able to turn off any furniture or anything that is not related to the structure. However, the wall and window have lots of details and I just want to get more or less simple outline without the need to do another model just for 3d printing. 

 

Maybe I should ask, is it possible to 3d-print a complex architectural model from Vectorworks? 

 

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31 minutes ago, RamiahL said:

 

Maybe I should ask, is it possible to 3d-print a complex architectural model from Vectorworks? 

 

I think its possible. I've printed some complex set models using VW. What scale are you hoping to print at? That will make a lot of difference to how you approach it.

 

32 minutes ago, RamiahL said:

But I am talking about Window frame for example. I am able to turn off any furniture or anything that is not related to the structure. However, the wall and window have lots of details and I just want to get more or less simple outline without the need to do another model just for 3d printing. 

In my models I did a fair amount of prep work to be able to print the appropriate amount of detail. I rebuilt things like windows with larger dimensions or removed them leaving openings instead so 2d detail on transparency film could be added later. I think this is what Jim is suggesting with classing. Much of it depends on how its being printed too as certain printing software will deal with the small details by ignoring them while other software will generate errors.

 

Kevin

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The main issue is the resolution/material of the printer - and how it relates to the scale of the model. In my limited experience, most 3D printing could be equivalent to using a 72dpi $50 dot matrix printer; passable at 1/4" scale on an E size sheet, but not on a 1/16" scale letter size page, if that makes sense.

I just mentioned Shapeways.com on another post; they have great info on the minimum resolutions required, as well as a range of materials that support various resolutions. And a way to test your models with those different materials for free!

So i think the answer to your question is that while an exported model from VW will contain the exact details of that model (which would render perfectly in C4D or MAX), when using a 3D printer one will have to tailor the model to meet the constraints of the printer - i.e. the printer and scale of the model being used are the guidelines for creating a satisfactory print, not VW. 

 

Hope that helps

 

 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Shapeways is an excellent suggestion especially if you are new to all the various ins and outs of printing. They can often give you a quick consult (I think its a bit of AI mixed in there too) on what methods would work and what would fail specific to your model.

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Shapeways is definitely a great resource for assessing models. In my experience, most small detail from architectural models will fail their checks. When I've used them to print things I've done a lot of prep work to the model to meet their guidelines. If you use an FDM printer (filament based like a Makerbot or Ultimaker) you may have a lot more success with the small details. The slicing software is good at editing out detail that's too small based on the width of the tool path. The detail will either print oversize or not at all. Unfortunately Shapeways doesn't have this slop room. Its software will either say yes or no because they're in the business of guaranteeing successful prints. I've found that I do a lot less prep work when printing on my old Makerbot Replicator 2 than I would uploading to Shapeways.

 

Kevin

 

 

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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2 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:

 Much of it depends on how its being printed too as certain printing software will deal with the small details by ignoring them while other software will generate errors.

 

My model is going to be printed first on 1:1000 scale, because the machine I am going to use can only print as large as 380, 254, 203mm (xyz).

 

 

 

Edited by RamiahL
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17 minutes ago, RamiahL said:

 

My model is going to be printed first on 1:1000 scale, because the machine I am going to use can only print as large as 380, 254, 203mm (xyz).

 

 

That's quite small. It will likely mean that detail like doors and windows will all need to be adjusted (either deleted or altered so they create openings in the walls) for output. You may even have trouble with walls printing properly depending upon their thickness.

 

I'm guessing this is a massing model so it may make sense to find a way to generate the model as a single solid. If you export it as is with the doors closed and the glazing in place you may be able to "wrap" the model in something like netfabb to generate a single solid without all the internal detail.

 

Kevin

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