Hi. I want to modle a ring and then have some place like Shapeways, if they still do that, to print it and turn it into a real ring in either silver or some same colored but cheaper material. I don’t think I can justify spending the money on a 3d printer and I can’t forge metal myself.
So, my question is how do I make this ring? How do I make sure it is the correct size? Are there things I need to know about specific to modeling for printing and how to I have it made into a real ring? Thanks.
Hey Cats. I have some experience with this as I did exactly that (designed a ring in Blender and then had it 3D printed in silver.)
You can learn from my mistakes as when I got it 3D printed it turned out a bit too small. If I had to redo it again I think shapeways would have been better (I had it done by a guy downtown) because with shapeways when you upload your model it gives you specs about your model and the size of it and if it has any issues etc.
If you go here: you can upload your .blend: Upload Your 3D Print Designs to 3D Print - Shapeways
Once you do that you can go to the “See size Info” for different materials and see the size info for that material. Then in Blender using the measurements tool to measure the size of your walls and details etc. One thing I found helpful is turning on edge length in the viewports display which helps with getting the sizes.
If you are going to print it in silver or gold or something, I recommend doing a test print (especially if its your first print) in something like plastic to do a test print and see the size of it (make sure the measurements are similar to the final print you’re going to do.) You can see the materials here: 3D Printing Materials: Plastic, Metal, and More - Shapeways
Again what’s cool about Shapeways is after you upload your model and choose the material if you click on Tools → Open in 3D tools, you will be brought to a page that has all the details regarding the measurements as you can see in the pics below. It will tell you if it passes or if there are issues.
Cool. Thank You! This might be a good idea for a new course showing us step by step how to create a ring and get it the right size and then explain wall size and other things. Just an idea.
