MeshMixer help
I am trying to break up this single part model to make it MMU friendly, but I'm having some trouble:
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/mini-prime-optimus-prime-transformers
Many of the details are small and only constitute a perimeter off the main model and I think this is the source of my issue.
Take the license plate, for example, even with a 3mm offset it only wants to print the left and right edges. If I turn "detect thin walls" on it will add one perimeter for the center of the plate.
Here is what it looks like in MeshMixer:
And in PrusaSlicer's preview (.15mm quality):
With "detect thin walls" turned off only the two solid bits on the ends are there.
I had similar issues with the indicator lights as well, though they do give me enough meat to print. You can see, however, from these images that there are artifacts so the lights themselves aren't solid:
Anyone have ideas on how I can break off these "surface" parts so they'll actually print?
RE: MeshMixer help
Are they already shells?
ps: I don't have an account there and can't download to have a look.
RE: MeshMixer help
As an aside, if the feature is too small, you can always try increasing the minimum part size ... try expanding the Plicer XY compensation to extend perimeter 0.1 or 0.2 mm. It works well enough for external regions, not sure what it will do to an internal/abutted region. Again, this can only help if those regions are already separate shells.
RE: MeshMixer help
Sorry. I saw it showed as free so I thought anyone could download it (I actually got it through another source).
I'm a 3d modeling idiot (what little I have done has been with TinkerCAD and I wouldn't call anything "complex") so other than seeing references to "shells" I don't know what that means.
Is the XY compensation something in MM or the slicer? (I see you edited that post while I was posting) Everything on the model is on the exterior, the only reason it has depth here is that I made it so in an effort to give it something to print.
RE: MeshMixer help
Sorry - thought the image was obvious enough it's Slic3r / Plic3r ... as for downloading - they want you to sign up to the site. You can zip the STL and attach it here. Add something like not for printing ... lol ... if there is a license problem.
Is the part multiple shells? When loading into Slicer check the status area, it will tell you if there is more than one shell and if the entire part is monotonic/closed aka MANIFOLD. I'd imagine it has to be multi-shelled to print multi-colors - how else can the printer know where to swap filament.
Anyway - how slicer treats color changes is a mystery to me. I don't have an MMU and from the complaints and vastly negative reports probably never will.
RE: MeshMixer help
To answer the inferred question: yes, Meshmixer has the ability to "extrude" areas to make them larger, and it can be done by part, surface, or group, among other ways to isolate the change. But often - unless you are a MM expert user and know all the shortcut keys - it can be tedious.
RE: MeshMixer help
Sorry - thought the image was obvious enough it's Slic3r / Plic3r
Yeah you added that pic while I was posting.
... as for downloading - they want you to sign up to the site. You can zip the STL and attach it here. Add something like not for printing ... lol ... if there is a license problem.
I got it from the designer's Paetron page and I know he also sells it on Etsy too. I just made assumptions about accessibility from that site.
Is the part multiple shells? When loading into Slicer check the status area, it will tell you if there is more than one shell and if the entire part is monotonic/closed aka MANIFOLD. I'd imagine it has to be multi-shelled to print multi-colors - how else can the printer know where to swap filament.
As designed it is a single part model with no info for multi-material printing. I'm trying to use MeshMixer's grouping and Split Complex to break it up.
Anyway - how slicer treats color changes is a mystery to me. I don't have an MMU and from the complaints and vastly negative reports probably never will.
It's definitely finicky to get up, but once I got through it it's been happy when I've used it.
Unfortunately the timing of getting it sucks and I'm kinda lackluster about printing at the moment. Leading into it I was at the end of a full month of solid printing, but the last print just wouldn't happen without jamming badly. Then 3 weeks of fighting with the MMU upgrade and some bearing/bushing annoyance. Of course in the middle of that came the website change which has been it's own source of annoying. And now I'm finding that MMU printing isn't so great if you aren't capable of creating your own multi-part models. So the result is that printer has sat idle longer than all it's idle time in the prior 4 months I've had it.
RE: MeshMixer help
So when I load the original model in PS it says there are 3 shells and it is a Manifold.
RE: MeshMixer help
If the part wasn't originally designed to be color printed, only three shells implies it wasn't, and two of those shells may have been what you've done in MM...
Meshmixer - if you are an expert - might be able to do what you want, but it's going to be work. You can use boolean tools to cut out shells where you want color. Duplicate, then choosing blocks or rounds to remove a section from the original and invert the selection to remove the material from the section you want to keep. But boolean ops are 1) cpu hogs; 2) fraught with math collisions that crash the app.
Not sure how you've managed to get sections "colored" - but perhaps you can select those areas (pretty sure they are shells) and extrude them back into the model. Then use booleans to remove material the "main" shell. Then put the colored part back in place, doing a final combine when you have all the pieces set the way you want.
RE: MeshMixer help
There is only a single printable mesh (shell) in this model:
So a lot of work needs to be done to separate it into multiple meshes 🙁
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
There is only a single printable mesh (shell) in this model:
So a lot of work needs to be done to separate it into multiple meshes 🙁
Yeah. Due to learning MM at the same time my original deconstruction took about a month for me to break it all up (I think there were something like 60 parts when I was done as I didn't group things together at all). I could reassemble it in Slic3rPE and print it as a single color without any issues and the result looked (to my eye) identical to the print I made of the original model.
The issue is that when I went to slice it for the MMU many parts simply weren't there as they were effectively "sliced" off the main model (e.g. the indicators) and were less than the width of a single perimeter. So I started trying to recut the model to give those bits depth (as shown in the pics above), but that has not been going well.
It did beat on it some more last night with lots of iterations of selecting, grouping, generating/spliting complexes, exporting, and importing into PrusaSlicer and managed to get the indicators, license plate, rear tank, side tanks, and "knees" cut up in what appear to be printable forms. I'm stuck on the wheels at the moment (which were a PITA last time as I recall). The indicators and license plate still have some non-perfect artifacting going on, but on such a small model I don't think it will be that obvious.
@pjr, I'm curious what kind of results you can get in KISS with the new paint tool you told us about.
RE: MeshMixer help
Have you tried the XY Comp ? There have been a few models where portions were small, 0.1 mm, and failed to slice properly (no extrusion at all): increasing XY to 0.1 or 0.2 allowed those portions to slice and even print normally.
RE: MeshMixer help
@pjr, I'm curious what kind of results you can get in KISS with the new paint tool you told us about.
Yeah. I was hoping you wouldn't ask that...
I will have a look in the morning.
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
OK, so this took about 5 minutes, assigning E1 (red) and E2 (Orange):
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
Sliced in KISS:
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
@pjr does KISS have a preview mode like PS does that shows you the layers and paths?
Selecting the parts is mostly easy though tedious in MM, it's how it cuts them up and PS wants to slice them that is the issue.
The windshield actually was never a problem as MM created a clean inset with no weirdness since it is all contained. It's things like the indicators, license plate, or insignia that are more troublesome as they aren't raised very far compared to perimeter widths.
So what I'm interested in (if KISS has an analog) is to see the license plate painted and then the slicing preview at a layer that contains the licence plate.
Sorry to ask so much. That'll learn you to crow about another slicer 😝
RE: MeshMixer help
Sliced in KISS:
Peter
Man I keep posting while you or tim are still working on posts... 😆
That is a cool preview and definitely gives me an idea. I'd love to see the same for the license plate though.
RE: MeshMixer help
I'd love to see the same for the license plate though.
I'd love to know where the license plate is. If you let me know, I can colour that as well.
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
Sometimes, it's quick and easy to colour triangles. The extras here only took 5 minutes:
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
RE: MeshMixer help
KISS "Models and Paths" view:
Viewed at eye level
BTW, the Pink are unsupported paths; I did not slice with support to make things clearer.
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…