Transcript:
Hey, everybody, this is a short cinema 4d tutorial that goes over a volume builder for 3d printing. Alright, so since I’m gonna be 3d printing some models, the first thing I want to do is set up my project that will fit the 3d printer so most 3d printers are going to work with a volume That’s roughly about 200 by 200 by 200 millimeters within that range of some sort so. I’m going to start off by setting up my project to do so in millimeters. Now if it’s not already, you simply need to go up to edit preferences and find units and here we want to make sure that our unit displays millimeters which it is, that’s good. If it’s inches change it to millimeters, it will close it out next next. We’re gonna hit command. D and that’s going to bring up our project settings here here. You want to make sure we’re under millimeters as well and what I’m gonna do with this is just instead of one. Millimeter, I’m gonna hit point one millimeters and hit enter all right now. What that’s gonna do is gonna scale our project down to millimeters so that when we bring in a primitive object like this, it’s really typically small, so this is starting out at 200 millimeters just under an inch. An inch is about twenty-five point four millimeters. So this is a good scale for us to work with our 3d printer. Bed is about 200 by 200 by 200 millimeters, so if we work within that scale to begin with really much easier, all right, so let’s talk about volume building what volume building can do for us is we can take primitive objects and use them in different ways to create much more complex forms, so let’s start out with something like a sphere. Go to primitive models. We’re bringing a sphere and I am just gonna simply first change the segments to a little bit higher so from 24 segments to 180 I’ll get into what that means later would take the sphere. Copy it Command, C Command, V and V. I’ve got three Seers now, and I’m just gonna take one over here and I’m gonna take another one over here, and then I’m gonna go to my volume builder. So here’s the volume builder right here. Click this in and just simply take these three and drop them inside. Now we’re in when you do that. You’re gonna see that there’s this real pixelization. It almost looks like there’s a bunch of building blocks and making up the form and so what the volume builder does is it approximates the structure of just the exterior and for 3d printing? That’s really important, you just want the outside form so that the slicer can make up the structure on the inside without having crossing geometry and other difficult things to print So what I’m gonna do with this because it does look a little pixelated. I’m gonna go to my radius if you click on volume builder the voxel size and one millimeter right now. I’m just going to change this to 0.25 It’s gonna give me a bit more smooth modeling and what I’m looking for now. The cool thing about the volume builder is when you’re in this mode of the hierarchy. You have the bottom sphere Which, in this case is my middle one, and then the two above it, so in the volume builder menu down in the object manager, all right. I’m sorry an attribute manager. You can select either union or subtract, so I’m going to do subtract on this one and subtract on this one and notice already this cuz That’s a much more complicated model, which is really interesting, so with this, I can start adding more and more things to it. So, for example, maybe I want to bring in Taurus and Taurus. Let’s see I’ll choose Z plus, and then I’m gonna reduce this down. Lady is here, okay. That looks pretty good. Bring the Taurus In As well. It becomes a part of the model. It could be like this, which looks pretty interesting or I can again subtract it, and now I’m getting again much more complicated model for me, so you can keep going with this in multiple different ways to create highly interesting, complicated forms. I’m just going to well. Was it bringing another tourist because that’s kind of interesting form? Make this a little more complicated. It’s gonna produce this down and this time. I’m just kind of rotate a little bit to give it some asymmetry and again. Drop this in and again subtracted right so now. I’ve got really interesting, much more complicated form and again, the more and more you do with this more intricate and interesting Your forms can be. I add and subtract team. Copy paste, repeat and give you a really complex forms now. The other thing that’s cool about. This is we can make intersecting parts, so just as an example, let’s say. I wanted to create a base. I’m just putting the cube. There was down, all right, and we’re gonna keep the base pretty simple. I’m just gonna add a little bit of a fillet to the base. Give it some rounding. Maybe instead of four millimeter for the radius. I’ll just give it to okay, and I’m gonna step this down. Maybe just to one, so it’s a bit more geometry there. So with this, then I can also give it a Molly and builder there. Nice weave in there, and then maybe with that as we’ll bring this down a point to five and finally. I’m going to get a little bit of a what I want to hear. I guess I’m just giving a cylindrical base. Alright, shrink this down. Make it a little bit wider. Bring it down here for the base of the bottom. Um, let’s see caps will do for like caps on those as we’ll give it a little more interest and add this into the bottom border so now. I’ve got this base pediment. The last thing we do with this ceiling is have more rotation segments 72 to make it a little bit more smooth, curved. You’ll see the pixelization goes away A little bit more than Im. Just gonna bring it down a little bit more – like that is more interesting. Okay, so I’ve got my base for my sculpture. I’ve got the pediment and now the sculpture and the last thing I’m gonna do is just add a little connector, so I’ll print this base separate and the sculptural piece separate and then I’ll make a connector, Then I’ll print separate as well, so three pieces that I’ll connect together to build this form so to do that. I’m just gonna grab a cylinder. I am going to reduce this down in its diameter and also in its height. Okay, and this is going to be the connector that goes into the base and into the sculpture, so I can print these separately so they can hover above almost like some stuff, A Lego building blog kind of piece, so I’m just gonna take this and I’m gonna make the radius one millimeter. Okay, so it’s pretty even there, and then I’m just gonna copy this and paste it and what we want to do with. This is eventually get everything to be on the ground level for right now. I’m not gonna worry too much about it, but I’m gonna take this pasted on Im. Just gonna move over here for now. Okay, so that’s gonna be the positive piece that I connect into these, and then I want to make a negative out of those other two pieces, and I can fit them all together, so I’ll take this one. Which is the original and with this one. You want to make sure that if you’re if this peg right here that I created is one millimeter that make the hole exactly one millimeter -. It’s never gonna fit. The tolerances are way too close. So what we want to do with this first One is actually make it a little bit bigger, so I’m just gonna make this 1.5 millimeters just to give it a little bit more width so that that piece will definitely fit in. You can always use a little bit of superglue. If your 3d printing to get them to connect, all right so. I’ve got this one. I’m just gonna bring this into the volume builder here. This is the base, alright and notice that it’s connected. I’m just going to go to volume builder and make this a subtraction. One, Okay, so now. I’ve got a hole right here that eventually this peg that I print will fit ends are there and I want to do the same thing for this top model. I remember with these models. You could always hide them so. If you double, click on this little button on the top that’ll disappear, it’s not gone. It’s just hidden so the same thing. I’m gonna do with this here. Copy this command, C Command Z. I’m gonna take this cylinder and bring it down into this volume builder, which is the sculpture. The same thing is true with this one. I’m just going to go to volume builder and subtract that as well. So now I should have a hole in that one, not much of a hole, so I am gonna raise it up a little bit higher into that form so but there’s definitely a hole in there. Alright, that is going to look too high because it’s starting to pop out the edge to get down a little bit so that it’s gonna remind me actually to take this one and make it to start the talk there. We go ok so now. I have sculpture the base and I have this peg. That’s all gonna fit together so now we need to actually make these intimations. So with the volume builder of what you also need is volume measure, so the volume builder goes into the volume measure And that is what the create sort of form. Now, one thing you want to check with this? Oh, the other thing. I wanted to add was sorry about this. You can add a smooth layer to your missions as well. So if you’re in volume builder, make sure that’s click, make sure that that is selected. Click smooth layer and that is gonna smooth out any of the inconsistencies that you see there. Now notice it drastically changed my shape, so with smooth layer. Click on this. You have different types of filters that you can use. You can also change the percentage, so if I went down in percentage getting more of that form back right so that could be a simple way to modify that looks pretty good, but if I went back 200% here, you can also go from Gaussian to mean which changes a little bit. That actually looks a little bit better median. How much change medium curve is actually pretty good? That gives us pretty much What we had to begin with like the Gaussian. Cuz it smooths out tool, You know, a little bit more and I’m just gonna bring it down a little bit. Maybe 50 percent is pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that. No expectations here. So that’s what I’m gonna work with there and then I’m gonna go to this one as well and add a smooth layer. That’s gonna smooth that down as well. It looks pretty good and then. I’ll keep the peg as is so volume measures here now and what you want to do with all you measure is just simply change quickly to shading to shading with lines. What you’re looking for is how the polygons are, but this one looks pretty good if you were to click on this and it would look totally black, like totally condensed with polygons. It’s probably way too many. If you ever need to change that you can go to the measure and you can change the adaptive range here. So if I make this higher percentage, less polygons appear, it’s gonna actually be a smaller file size, which is important to at least are processing. But I like it. I think it’s pretty good. I’m going to keep it how it is so with that in mind. I’m going to go to the volume builder. Got the smooth layer on to the bottom base. We’re gonna go here again. And the head volume measure bring this volume builder into that measure. That’s our base. Okay, and I’m starting to get a little confused, so I’m just gonna double-click this and call it the base. Okay, there we go, so that’s that’s looking pretty good. That was -, okay, and so now when you’re ready, you know what I like to do with these is actually. I’ll select everything here. I’m gonna copy it and paste it. Two versions, right, and then I can make editable these two that I just made. I think that’s the end of the book okay now. These are just polygon meshes, just great. These ones. They cannot read, lets. Take up those for later. Okay, now, finally. I want this and I want the base in the sculpture in my 3d print. So what I want to do is set this up, so it’s ready to create an STL that I can just simply bring right into a slicer program. So here what I can do? I’m actually gonna make this one editable to be a little bit easier and I’m gonna go to the front view, okay, Animo’s zoom in here. And with the cylinder, don’t change on enable access. I’m gonna bring this down right to the bottom. Now, what do this? I always like to zoom in really close in just to see if I’m actually on the bottom, not quite on the bottom. Go up a little bit. That looks pretty good, okay. Turn this off once. It’s at the bottom in here, then. I’m just going to make my Y zero, all right, so that’s good, okay, and then sculpture, Actually let’s work with a base first. When I just in take sculpture, Let’s lecture take the sculpture. Move it over a little bit, here’s. The base same thing here got a turn on enable access. Bring this down to the bottom, just going to Center this zoom in really close. Make sure I really at the bottom of it. That looks pretty good. Go zoom back out. Turn this off! Take the! Y make it zero. See now, the base and the the peg. They’re on the same axis. They’re both sitting on the ground. Now, one thing about the let’s turn the shading off with lines. Okay, let’s go back to this and just think about how this is about a 3d print. Okay, so this thing is not gonna print very well in this orientation. What I’m actually gonna do with this is I’m gonna rotate it, so the rotate it down like that happen. We’re gonna rotate it basically, 90 degrees and in this orientation, It’s gonna print much better may need a little bit of scaffolding, but that’s not too big of a deal scaffolding, You know, the bridging that it creates to kind of print underneath objects or in the voids, it may or may not need any underneath here, but I think this orientation is probably the best of print, so it would take this again. Go back to my move. Enable access, and I’m going to go to the rotation at 0 just to get that Y access pointing back up straight again, so that’s pretty good. I’m just going to bring this in a little bit closer. I might actually just rotate it. A little bit looks pretty good. And then same with the peg. Just one thing, this one a little bit closer. Okay, and the last thing. I want to check in that front view. It’s like the sculpture is actually too low, so again, zoom in on this one able access. Bring this down to the bottom somewhere down there when again, let’s play that down a little farther. It looks pretty good. Okay, zoom out. I’m gonna turn that off. Take my Y here, make that zero. And now I’ve got these three objects all oriented on the Z. I’m the I’m sorry, base access, and then finally what I’m gonna do here. Is it’s going to take these three run a copy and come in and make a new file and V lets. Check them out. You look pretty good. I know I think a little bit about scale, so base is roughly just over an inch tall. What, I’m I’m actually just gonna scale this whole thing up. So if I if I hit Command D Scale project, if I make current scale one can make target scale – we’re starting out four millimeters and we’re ending in millimeters okay and notice. Now we’ve got 72 but 43 by 72 So that’s about three inches tall. It’s not too bad. I could probably print it a little bit bigger, but for what this is. I like the way that it is. I think let it go for it so with this. I’m ready to create an STL. STL is where we’re going to export to and bring into our slicer software. So for that file export is the DL. I’m just gonna label this one. Stl, save it somewhere. They weren’t ready to go. That’s about it so again. Let’s just go back to this file. Sorry, let’s go back to this file and think a little bit about the volume measures, right so volume building volume machine allows you to create much more complicated forms. You can use it to create different parts that fit together really easily positive and negative forms. And from here you can create a really interesting complex forms. So anyway, that’s it for now that is volume builder, and I hope you can use it to make some really interesting 3d prints. It’s all for now. See you later?