3D Printing

Notes on 3D printing.

Initial foray into 3D printing will be getting something reasonably small and simple printed - exaggerated terrain, or a complex shape.

Shapes

Shape File Formats

More about STL files: STL Files

3D shape files

STL file - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_%28file_format%29

STL = stereo lithography file format, commonly-accepted 3d format

3d printing wiki page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

3MF - 3d manufacturing format, xml-based format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Manufacturing_Format (contains more information than stl files can hold, about metadata)

AMF - additive manufacturing format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_Manufacturing_File_Format

CAD - i guess "cad" is a file format too.

Map file formats

Maps and topological information come in many other formats as well.

National Map Viewer offers the following data formats:

3DEP - 3d elevation products

• arcsecond DEM - at various resolutions 1/9 arcscond, 1/3 arcsecond, 1 arcsecond, etc.
• Highest resolution is only available in IMG format
• Second-highest resolution is available in other formats
• Contours
  • available in shape file format, or fileGDB 1.0.3

Downloading Shape Files

Map Shapefiles

Using the National Map Viewer, crash course:

Open the National Map Viewer and zoom into your region of interest.

Now pick a type of file format you wish to download, from the list on the left-hand side. Let's start with contours, in shapefile format. Check Elevation Products, the Contours:

Now click "Find Products": this will bring up a list of different map data sets you can download. You can add stuff to your shopping cart by clicking the shopping cart Plus+ button.

Of course, this is a huge amount of data, chunked together, so we'll need to trim it down to what we are interested in.

Defining Your Own Shapes

Blender - http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/prepping_blender_files_for_3d_printing

Google Sketchup? This was hoakie and overly complicated last time I tried it. See how it is now.

CAD software - FreeCAD and AutoCAD files to 3d printer shape formats

Defining Shapes for Stuff

If you want to 3D print a shape for a case or a handle or a physical widget, you can either go low-budget, low-effort, or you can use something more sophisticated.

Google Sketchup gives you a low-budget, low-effort way to create a physical model. Not super great, but it'll get the job done.

If you want something with better tolerances and more exact shape definitions, you probably want CAD software like FreeCAD.