How do I make this?
With the MMU on the way I'm trying to figure out the best way to create multi color models to slice and print. I run Linux so Mesh Maker is out for me unfortunately. Unfortunate because the community has a treasure trove of stuff available for that product. The closest thing for me on Linux is Mesh Lab. What I'd like to do is create a collection of all the patches I wore during my 20+ years in the Army, so I have a few. I "think" they should be easy enough. This coming from the guy that jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. I know in Cura you can import jpg's and stuff to kind of make a 3d print, but I really want to stick with Prusa Slicer, Super Slicer, etc, etc. Below are two I would like to start with. 4 colors tops?? Maybe 5? I don't know where to start.
Anyone familiar with Mesh Lab or have any ideas on what I can use? Blender looks like a great product, but, I'm not looking to design rocket engines, just make some quick multi color .stl files 🤣 Thanks in advance!
If it was me I'd start off with Adobe Illustrator and trace out the patch as a vector graphic, then I would export the paths from AI and import them into my 3D program of choice and extrude them, you mentioned Blender I think that's a great place to start learning 3D if you haven't already. If you wanted you could even skip the Adobe Illustrator part, and go straight into Blender with an image of your patches, image mapped to a plane (not the kind we jump out of), and polygon or spline model your parts directly over the image map for a guide.
If you don't know some 3D software package your going to have to start learning one at some point, I'm going to recommend Blender, it's free its powerful it really is very easy to learn as 3d packages go, it has a great community and lots and lots of free tutorials.
Good Luck
Swiss_Cheese
The Filament Whisperer
RE: How do I make this?
Thanks. I had given up on Wine many years ago (like at least 10) because it was finicky and I didn't have time to mess with keeping it updated and stable. NOW after 10 years I see Wine has really changed into something that workable. I installed and was able to run Mesh Mixer with no issues; it's great! Not the same experience it was back in the day. I started working on the patches and I'm almost at the point where I can run a test print. It's discovery learning to say the least, but, this community of hobbyist is pretty great and there are plenty of tutorials and whatnot out on the web.
If it was me I'd start off with Adobe Illustrator and trace out the patch as a vector graphic, then I would export the paths from AI and import them into my 3D program of choice and extrude them, you mentioned Blender I think that's a great place to start learning 3D if you haven't already. If you wanted you could even skip the Adobe Illustrator part, and go straight into Blender with an image of your patches, image mapped to a plane (not the kind we jump out of), and polygon or spline model your parts directly over the image map for a guide.
If you don't know some 3D software package your going to have to start learning one at some point, I'm going to recommend Blender, it's free its powerful it really is very easy to learn as 3d packages go, it has a great community and lots and lots of free tutorials.
Good Luck
Swiss_Cheese
RE: How do I make this?
Hey that can be really fun, when I first started learning 3D their was no such thing as computer graphic classes, you would just jump in and start playing. I still do that to some degree 🤔 .
Wine, I think it's been more then 10 years 🤣
Have fun
Swiss_Cheese
The Filament Whisperer
RE: How do I make this?
Your probably right. I used to run Slackware.... Does that age me? I used to be that guy that thought package managers were for whimps and I built everything from tar balls. That's certainly not me anymore. I like the Debian Package Manager, it's pretty slick and I don't have to fool around with manual dependency issues.