You can now purchase your very own full colour Sintel 3D print!
As seen on the Blender for 3D Printing Training DVD.
Sintel figurine
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013Released!
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
I am proud to announce the release of the 12th Blender Foundation Training DVD entitled Blender for 3D Printing! It took me nearly 2 months to create the videos (I had to learn how first) and it’s been a very exciting process! The DVD is available in the official Blender.org e-shop. And also available for download!
Perhaps the scariest thing was using a camera to add myself in the tutorials. But I think even though it took some time to get used to it… it was a good choice. The end result is very much how I normally teach. I think this DVD comes as close as possible to what it’s like to be in a classroom with me teaching.
The DVD contains nearly 5 hours of tutorials! And a series of free to use 3D models released under creative commons atttribution 3.0. It shows you how to get started in Blender, model a simple shape, check it for printability and export to a printable format.
Series one
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Blu is a friendly guy. He likes meeting new people, and helping them make something fun. Somehow though he had a bit of a run-in with an IKEA pencil.
Not to worry… he seems to be coping ok!
You can get your own Blu at my Etsy shop!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/macouno
A seat handle for the Lada Niva
Saturday, September 15th, 2012Before the summer we bought a Lada Niva 4×4. It is a great car, and we had an excellent time with it in the Alps this summer. But a whole bunch of stuff needs fixing. I don’t expect it to ever be problem free really, though it’ll keep running forever!
To download the design I created and print your own you can go here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30484
Missing parts
One of the most annoying little bits that’s missing on our Niva is the seat handle on the passenger side. Now the driver has to get out every time someone wants to get in the back… or you need to mess around with a sharp piece of metal. I put a little bit of cork around it with a tie-wrap to make it less sharp (that worked)… but not a neat solution!
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I created a new part in Blender 3D and printed it on my Makerbot Replicator. The design could do with some refinement (the hole is too small… and it’s not quite sturdy enough. I need to find a way to fill certain parts so they’re solid plastic.
It seems to work well enough for now, but I might do another iteration!
To download the design I created and print your own you can go here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30484
Creating a light mask for the BiOrb
Friday, September 14th, 2012At long last I found a moment to start playing with my Makerbot Replicator. As a first project I decided I wanted to do something relatively straight forward around the house.
We bought a 30 liter BiOrb fish tank by reef one about a month ago, to function as a winter home for the little fish (Danios) from our pond. Sadly… some brownish algae are becoming quite a nuisance. Usually that means there’s too much light… so for a few days I just left the light off…. Then it occurred to me, I can create a mask that removes some of the excess light! I could do it with a sticker, but… more fun to try it with my brand new Replicator!
If you want to download the files to print your own you can do so here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30428
Step one… design
To make sure I got the shape of the design just right I made a rubbing of the logo on top of the tank, which happened to be the exact same shape as the light underneath. I then scanned this into the computer. At this point I didn’t care about the DPI or anything. I measured the light so I knew the relative scale.
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Blender 3D
Even though the design is mostly 2 dimensional I used Blender to create it… I went through quite a few iterations before I was happy with the result. Blender’s bezier curves are really quite powerful once you get to know them.
Once finished I exported to stl and opened the file in the Replicator G software. BTW… it really helps if you have a neat mesh apparently! Creating the code for the printer is then much much faster.
The print!
Sadly some parts of my original design were too thin for the printer. So after half an hour of printing I had to cancel the process and redo my design. This ended up being a good thing because after checking the mask I made in front of the actual light I realised I could make it with much less space for the light to shine through.
Cleanup
I had to remove the base, and some loose strands of plastic before moving to the aquarium, but that was a small job.
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Coolness!
I have to say… I love the look of the design just this way… too bad I’m not going to be seeing it much.
Fitting the mask
I used two medium sized tie-wraps to fasten the mask to the light in the BiOrb. It was already pretty tight, but I like to make sure.
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Satisfying results
The result isn’t clear to the camera when seeing the entire aquarium, but I have to say… the light is much less bright inside the tank now! I could improve on the design even more, but for now I think I will give it a go the way it is…
If you want to download the files to print your own you can do so here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30428
I’m quite happy with the final result! On to the next project!
Final piece
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012Downloadable Files
- scout.13.blend (182)
The Scout is a variation on the theme of the Sentry image. The final render was done in Blender 2.62 in 08-2012, but the design was finalised nearly 2 years earlier.
Shipwright
Thursday, September 8th, 2011I generated space ships based on the nicknames of all Blender 3D coders.
The code is based on the entoforms scripts… which you can find here: http://www.entoforms.com
You can download the base blend from: http://www.blendswap.com/3D-models/vehicles/shipwright-06/
You can download the scripts from: http://code.google.com/p/entoforms/
Shapewright
Thursday, September 8th, 2011This page should like to shapewright.com
Temperature visualisation
Thursday, September 8th, 2011This is an experimental visualisation of all temperature readings between 1800 and 2009,
It uses the HadCRUT3 subset January 2010 release from: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/land-and-atmo…
The music can be downloaded for free from: http://www.ichiigai.net/release/spielgelbild
The animation was generated using Python in Blender 3D (all free software). Each spike stands for a location where temperatures were recorded. The length and colour reflect the temperature.
Selfportrait
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011