- [Instructor] You understand the importance
of having a completely watertight model
for 3D printing.
At the end of the day, though,
your main goal is to make a digital model
that your 3D printing software can easily understand.
The same exact STL export from Rhino
could be interpreted very differently
between separate 3D printing software.
Now's the time to figure out
how forgiving your final software is.
So here we have a simple model of two separate blocks
and in most cases, what we're going to want to do
is of course, join these together.
And now we're ready for export.
That being said, if I ended this
and exported both of these models as an STL now
for 3D printing, there are some programs
that would interpret this massing as a single volume.
So let's look at four different 3D printing softwares
to see how they would interpret this same export.
Here, we're looking at the MakerBot software.
So it looks pretty similar
to our original export.
But if we go down a few layers,
you can see that this program has interpreted
an extra sheet of material right here
between the intersections.
So that's not the worst thing in the world,
but if you're doing a product prototype
where the overall structural integrity is really important,
this might become an issue
if your 3D printing program adds extra material
where you don't want it to go.
In our next 3D printing software, Simplify3D,
we see that the program has interpreted
the intersecting volumes as a void.
So this is probably the worst case scenario.
And if you're using a program like Simplify3D
or something similar,
you really want to make sure that your entire model
is one continuous volume to avoid gaps like this.
In our next program, Cura,
we can go down a few layers
and you can see that Cura
seems to have successfully interpreted
those two boxes as one volume.
So in most cases, I'm pretty satisfied
with how Cura has interpreted my STL exports.
Now, let's look at our final 3D printing software.
This is PreForm and it especially made
for resin printing Formlab products.
Because this is a resin print,
everything has to be one continuous solid.
There isn't any setting for a infill density,
like there would be with other 3D printing software.
So if I go through a few different layers,
you can see that PreForm has interpreted my two boxes
as one single volume.
And in most cases, I'm pretty satisfied
with how PreForm has interpreted my project.
That being said, I have taken for granted
how forgiving PreForm can be.
There have been instances where I've imported
a model that has hundreds of separate, solid poly surfaces.
And it looks as though it will print correctly
but I have had some issues with there being pockets
of resin, where it looks like there were intersecting
solid poly surfaces.
So even though programs like Cura
and PreForm can be pretty forgiving,
I still think it's a good rule of thumb
to make sure that most, if not, all of your model
is completely joined.
I have been pretty frustrated in the past
with certain 3D printed models
where I just can't join two pieces of geometry.
And that might happen with you.
I suggest, though, joining as much as you possibly can.
And for anything that you can't,
just see what you can get away with
in your 3D printing software.
So now's the time to look at your own 3D printing software
to understand what its limitations are,
and what you can get away with in your own Rhino model.