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Scale big drawing? or Draw small?


Benson Shaw

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I'm creating a vwx model (v2019) of a real life gazebo/pergola, preparing for 3d export and ultimately 3d print.  Model contains sweeps (at .70°segment), extruded circles representing pipe (highest 2d & 3d conversion), a few vwx sphere objects, and some other kinds of objects.  Model is 1:1, representing a structure about 12' tall. Ultimate print will be jewelry, a pendant or charm bracelet charm about 3/4" tall.  I think they are planning to print wax for casting in silver or gold. The project is rather fluid.  I should know more about the mfg as things progress.

 

Some of the pipes will likely be too small, but I can resize components in vwx as needed for printablilty.

 

But overall scale sequence for best print?

     • Scale down this big drawing, its' about 1:200, then export to STL or other (print shop will tell me desired format)?

     • Redraw everything very small then export?

     • Export at full scale and let the slicer do the rescale?

 

I don't know enough about 3d printing to predict what will happen to the spheres or sweep segments or circular extrudes during rescale. Or in general best approach to export for rescale. I could probably redraw the whole thing as NURBS lofts, but what happens to vwx NURBS when converted to solids and then translated to 3d print formats?  NURBS can get faceted in a vwx screen.

 

Any comments welcome!

 

-B

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7 hours ago, Benson Shaw said:

I'm creating a vwx model (v2019) of a real life gazebo/pergola, preparing for 3d export and ultimately 3d print.  Model contains sweeps (at .70°segment), extruded circles representing pipe (highest 2d & 3d conversion), a few vwx sphere objects, and some other kinds of objects.  Model is 1:1, representing a structure about 12' tall. Ultimate print will be jewelry, a pendant or charm bracelet charm about 3/4" tall.  I think they are planning to print wax for casting in silver or gold. The project is rather fluid.  I should know more about the mfg as things progress.

 

Some of the pipes will likely be too small, but I can resize components in vwx as needed for printablilty.

 

But overall scale sequence for best print?

     • Scale down this big drawing, its' about 1:200, then export to STL or other (print shop will tell me desired format)?

     • Redraw everything very small then export?

     • Export at full scale and let the slicer do the rescale?

 

I don't know enough about 3d printing to predict what will happen to the spheres or sweep segments or circular extrudes during rescale. Or in general best approach to export for rescale. I could probably redraw the whole thing as NURBS lofts, but what happens to vwx NURBS when converted to solids and then translated to 3d print formats?  NURBS can get faceted in a vwx screen.

 

Any comments welcome!

 

-B

 

Hi Benson,

 

I've approached this two ways - 

  1. Scale things down in VW. To do this my recommendation is to ask the print shop for their model standards and then do the math to convert those standards to equivalents for your full size model. Make any adjustments while your model is full size. Combine your entire model as a solid addition and then use the scale factor fields in the OIP to scale the object for printing. This method means you can go back and edit things by entering into the solid addition. If you scale all the individual parts separately using the scale command it becomes a lot harder (sometimes impossible) to adjust things later. I also always keep a clean copy of my full size geometry on a separate layer.
  2. Export the full size model as an STL and scale things later in the 3d printing software. It again means you need to do the math as above so your model meets the print standards.

There will also be some differences between what is printable and what is castable. You can get a sense of what will work by using a free account from a service like Shapeways. They have automated tools to check models and show you problem areas. You may also find that a CNC wax might give better detail than a printed wax.

 

Kevin

 

 

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Thanks, Kevin!!

 

Very helpful, just what I needed.

 

Received a bit of a reprieve. The prelim sizing is 1" instead of .75". But those 2" OD tubes still scale to about .01", so not gonna work!  I will fatten things up.  Sort of a caricature of the original.  Still a fun project.

 

Thought I responded to this last night, but guess I didn't press the Submit button!  So, again, huge thanks!

 

-B

 

 

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