MakerBot Industries

We’ve liked 3dTin for awhile now; it was a clever, useful app since it debuted.  But, unlike many clever, useful projects, this one has actually had its development continue, and it’s seen some major improvements.  In fact, there are a couple of big ones you should know about: first, they added cylinders!  And now, they’ve added the entire library of primitive templates that you see above.

3dTin is probably the most accessible way to get into 3d modeling, so it’s really great to see it becoming a more powerful and full-featured tool.  Most of the designs are still a bit, well, low-rez, but it’s clear that it’s much more than a one-hit-wonder.  If you like what you’re seeing with 3dTin (and Cadmium, a 3d modeling library for Python) you can support them by purchasing the premium app on the Chrome store, or just logging on and making cool models!

Curvey bits in 3DTin.com

If you haven’t checked out 3DTin.com in a little while, it’s definitely worth another look.  When 3DTin.com appeared a few months ago it could only be used for designing 3D objects out of cubes.  Designing with just cubes can be quick and reasonably easy, but the end result can have a rough texture.

Since then, Jayesh Salvi, the creator of 3DTin.com has been hard at work developing even more functionality.  He’s added 11 new shapes including cylinders, cone, wedge, sphere, and several variations on these.  You can even specify some of the parameters for these components – such as the radius or height of a cylinder.  Once added, these new parts can be rotated and flipped to suit.

This new functionality is going to allow people to design even more interesting and detailed objects.  These would be amazing additions in any 3D design program, but their inclusion in a browser based program that can export directly to Thingiverse is just plain incredible.

Suzuki by jyro

Thingiverse citizen jyro used the “Import” function on 3DTin.com to have it import an image into the super-user friendly online solid CAD program.  When you import an image, it will pixelate the image, and then turn it into a huge slab of voxels – essentially adding a uniform depth to the entire image.  What jyro must have done is carve away at the parts around the image and sculpted it to have a more rounded appearance.  The result is probably the best looking model out of 3DTin I’ve seen uploaded to Thingiverse.

Hydrant Totem by tbuser

Yesterday morning, moments after learning about the Tinkercad beta, MakerBot Operator TBuser dived in head first to test what he might do with the tool. Before necessarily arriving at any specific sense of what his model might be, he sent me the model (simply by passing me a Tinkercad link).

Five minutes later, my bot was printed his object first at 1:1 and then at 2:1 scale without any cleanup or manipulation of the model other than centering it on the build platform. The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic on my desk (with a Stepstruder MK6 and 0.4mm nozzle) had no difficulty printing the model despite a number of challenges (like the cylinder cut through the middle) at either scale — and I was able to hand over the models to Tony before he had had much time to notice that I was printing it out.

Take a look at Tony’s Thingiverse release of the item (now a “Hydrant Totem”) and consider the implications of this workflow model. Not only is he able to generate a printable STL with a one-button click (which can be easily revised and adjusted in a host of STL scripts and tools) but he can also share a link to the model in Tinkercad so that another user might duplicate the project, make revisions, and then print a new model.

This is game changing, folks. Imagine how much easier this route is than jumping through hoops to share SketchUp files.¹ Share a Tinkercad link and others can work on your model in its original design environment right in your browser.

TinkerCAD is still in beta, so I suggest you jump in to push this tool hard as well — and send constructive feedback to the developer. This tool is shaping into something I have been waiting for since exploring the charming 3dtin.com.

Hydrant Totem by tbuser

Playing with tinkercad.com It sort of looks like a fire hydrant and sort of looks like a totem. View it on tinkercad: tinkercad.com/p/acc0c5996fe6d9d4

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1. The past benefit of Sketchup being the wide adoption and lower learning curve for modeling. [↩]

Cloud Options

Whatever your preferences and skill level, there’s now an online CAD program for you!  There have been several really amazing online CAD programs released in the last seven or so months. ¹  There’s Tony Buser’s CloudSCAD, 3DTin.com, and just today TinkerCAD just entered open Beta.  Interestingly, I don’t see these three CAD programs as competitors.  If 3D design were building blocks, 3DTin.com would be the Duplo – quick, intuitive, and easy to use with the trade-off being limited resolution.  CloudSCAD is the web based version of my favorite modeling program, the open-source OpenSCAD.  I’ve only used TinkerCAD a little, but it’s looking very promising so far as a full-fledged solid CAD program that lives in your browser.

FireFox users, be warned!  FireFox is kinda fussy about WebGL.  If you’re having problems getting FireFox to run TinkerCAD, give this page a shot.

1. Photo courtesy of Kevin Dooley [↩]

Heart Gears by emmett (Opened in Wings3D)

While MakerBot Operators are more than happy to print the thousands of incredible objects posted to Thingiverse, eventually many catch the design bug and reach out for guidance for how to get started designing models.

Your mission: to create a solid, manifold (“watertight”) STL-formatted file for importing into ReplicatorG. STL, created as the format for stereolithographic CAD files, is a ubiquitous format, so the design application options are vast. ReplicatorG also offers experimental OBJ and Collada file import capability — though the files are then converted into STL files. (You can open dozens of file formats in MeshLab, netfabb Studio Basic or similar 3D swiss army knife tools — and then export as binary or ASCII STL files, opening up even more models to ReplicatorG.)

Choosing Your Hammer

8-bit Heart by schmarty (3DTin.com image)

For design software, there are many powerful free and open source design tools for us to introduce to Operators. Favorites include 3dtin.com, Sketchup, OpenSCAD, Wings3D, and Blender. We have heard about but not experimented much with POV-ray (excellent tutorials here), FreeCAD, HeeksCAD, and Art of Illusion — apps that have serious fans in the 3D printing world.

Plastruder MK5 Solidworks 2011 Model by kai

For commercial solid CAD apps: Rhino (Mac users — jump on the free beta), Autodesk Autocad, Inventor, Creo, and SolidWorks are probably the biggest players in the field. But perhaps you don’t have upwards of $1k to spend on design software? Try the highly-capable $99 Alibre Personal Edition, Cheetah3D (mac only), or bonzai3d.

Below the fold is a handy five step exercise for brand new designers to get their feet wet with 3D modeling.

Read the rest of this entry »

No strings!

How do you design a structure in 3DTin.com that doesn’t have any blocks underneath?

It’s easier than you think.  All you have to do is create a system of supports, design your object on top of them, and then delete the supports!  I would offer two notes in this regard.  If no part of your object to be printed is touching the XY plane, ReplicatorG will automatically make the most negative Z point touch the XY plane. ¹  Second, if you’ve got some seriously crazy unsupported structures, you should definitely try the newest support structure options in ReplicatorG.

1. Thanks to Charles Pax for this tip. [↩]

Thing-A-Day.com!

The website Thing-A-Day.com challenges people to create a new thing each day in February.  Sign-ups start on January 21, 2011 and end on midnight of February 1, 2011.

And the timing really couldn’t be better.  Now that Thingiverse has incorporated Flattr buttons, people can even reward you with “digital tips” to help keep you motivated throughout the month.  So, dust off some old designs, get inspired to create new things, sculpt something amazing on 3Dtin.com, and share it with everyone!

Retroacan_004 by sergio.carrasco.a on 3DTin.com

3Dtin.com is an online 3D design program.  Imagine someone stirring up Sketchup, Legos, and playdoh in a big pot and then sticking it up on a web page for all to use.  The web interface is very intuitive and the mix of colors plus solid building block modeling system makes for a fun way to quickly mock up a design.  Although, the objects that you can create are highly “voxelated” (Read: blocky) an unbounded building system like this is really only limited by your imagination.

Solder Holder by pehr

Last, but not least, Thingiverse citizen pehr put together a Solder Holder by designing in 3Dtin and then exporting directly to an STL!