3D-Drucker/Blender

How to Create a 3D Printable Blender Model

Using Blender to create 3D printable models is easy, if you remember some stuff:

1. Make sure you do not have duplicate vertices: [editmode] W -> Delete Doubles
2. Always make sure, your objects are manifold: [editmode] [deselect all] Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M
3. Make sure all normals of your faces are pointing outwards: [editmode] [select all] Ctrl + N
4. Slic3r seems to have problems with coordinates below z-zero from time to time, move your object accordingly.
5. Select the objects you want to export, export to STL and have fun!

Fixing Modifier Artifacts

Some modifiers are not really suitable for 3D modeling as they create non-monifold objects. To fix this, find all vertices around non-manifold areas with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M. Then you have a number of choices:

1. Fix is manually, for example by deleting some of the affected vertices, edges or faces and recreate them as you wish
2. When two vertices are close enough to each other so it does not matter to the 3D model at the problematic area, just join the vertices.
3. If you only wish for a fast solution, use the 'W -> Remove Doubles' feature and increase the threshold.

If Nothing Helps

... there is always http://cloud.netfabb.com/

Other Resources

• http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/prepping_blender_files_for_3d_printing
• http://cloud.netfabb.com/