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3D printing with RepRap Cookbook

Chapter 1. Getting Started with 3D Printing

In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

3D scanning with a digital camera
Processing a 3D scan with 123D Catch
Viewing your scene with 123D Catch
Stitching photos with 123D Catch
Changing mesh resolutions with 123D Catch
Cleaning up the model with 123D Catch
Using the Autodesk 3D Print Utility
Slicing the models with Slic3r
Slicing the models with Skeinforge

3D scanning with a digital camera

The 123D Catch scanning process requires the use of an ordinary digital camera to take a series of 40 or more photographs while moving around an object. Virtually, any stationary object can be chosen, provided that you have a complete 360-degree unobstructed view around the object, and it can be photographed with good lighting.

For the following recipes to be more useful as a learning exercise, it will be helpful if you find objects that are similar to the ones shown in the following image:

The following are the specifications of the objects shown in the preceding image:

A coin measuring 30 mm across (any small object with very fine surface details)
A toy block measuring 60 x 30 x 55 mm (any basic geometric form with solid walls and some curves)
A statue measuring 68 cm high (any human form that is squatting or kneeling would be best)
A monument measuring 4 m high (any simple object that tapers towards the top with minimal obtrusions)

It is important to choose objects that do not contain protrusions, which span far out from the object, such as the outspread arms of a standing figure. It's also best to avoid large recesses or holes. Simplicity of the object's form is best when making your choice.

Acquiring objects with a variety of sizes and complexities, similar to the preceding examples, will help us test the basic capabilities of 123D Catch. They will also help us test different problems in the 3D printing process.

Getting ready

For this recipe, you'll need a digital camera with a good focus and exposure control. You'll also need the four objects that you have selected for scanning. For smaller objects, a flat surface such as a tabletop is required.

How to do it…

Prepare your work surface for the smaller objects. Try to avoid a shiny surface where there can be a lot of reflection. If possible, mask out a work area with a sheet of newspaper. This will provide a dull surface. For all of the objects, make sure there is consistent illumination. Don't use flash! If you are photographing outside, an overcast day or shade is preferable rather than the harsh lighting of direct sunlight, which can create deep shadows.

We will proceed as follows:

With the smaller objects, place them at the center of your work surface.
Position the camera at about a 45-degree angle, looking down on the model.
When photographing the large objects, position the camera as high as possible and place the object at the center of the picture frame, keeping the background detail behind the object in focus.
Take a photograph and continue to move around the object, taking photographs every 18 degrees or so. You'll need to move completely around the object. By the time you circle the object and reach your starting point, you should have about 20 evenly spaced photos.
Position the camera lower this time, almost at eye level with the object. Repeat the process by taking another 20 shots at this angle.
Save the series of photographs for each object in its own folder.

How it works…

When we photograph smaller objects, the camera's depth of field is short, and this will generally produce a blurred background. It's good to have an initial series of photographs that retains the sharp detail around the object. By placing a smaller object on a newspaper, the printed lines will act as registration points and help in sequencing all of the photos in proper order. With the larger objects, the camera's depth of field will generally be longer, and the background will be in focus, providing enough background information for registration. Moving around the object twice and photographing with high and low angles will help record more detail of the object's form.

There's more...

Sometimes, when photographing an object, there can be a glare on the surface from a light source that is improperly angled or is too close to the object. If possible, adjust the object or the light source to remove the glare. Sometimes, a shiny surface will have reflections, which can cause distortion. The following are several solutions that can be implemented:

Use light that has been softened with photographic diffusion gels or umbrellas.
Apply a dulling spray to the object. This can be purchased at many craft stores.
Coat the model in a water-soluble tempera paint that can be washed off when you are finished. This will flatten out the object's sheen.

In this case, the toy block was reflecting too much of its surroundings. 123D Catch interpolated the reflections as holes. By painting the block grey, the block was properly modeled, shown as follows:

Processing a 3D scan with 123D Catch

With the series of photographs that we took of our objects, we'll use 123D Catch to merge them together to make a three-dimensional scene.

Getting ready

You'll need to visit the Autodesk website at http://www.123dapp.com/catch. Here, you will be able to download the application for use on a PC, or use the web app if you're using a Mac or Linux OS. A free account will need to be set up with Autodesk, or you can use your social networking account, such as Facebook, to log in.

Note

This book uses 123D Catch v2.3.3. It's also available for use on iPads and iPhones. These applications will have a different approach than what is outlined in this recipe, but the concepts are the same.

You'll also need the folder containing the series of photographs of your objects.

How to do it…

Connect to the Internet, open 123D Catch, and sign in to the Autodesk server, if necessary. Proceed as follows:

Select the top-left button, Create a New Capture. The Select Photos window will open, allowing you to find the directory containing the folder with your photos. Select all the .jpg files that create your scan, and click on Open.
At the upper-left side, you should see a large, green, check-mark button. Under this, the total count of photos should be selected for upload. Click on Create Project.
Initially, you'll see a pop-up window asking for a quick registration and your e-mail. Fill this out and click on Send.
Next, you'll be given an option to tag, categorize, and provide a description of your object before uploading it to the Autodesk cloud for processing. These fields must be filled in, or the upload will not complete.
Now, the photos can be uploaded. You'll be given a choice to wait for your scene to be compiled, or you can have the results e-mailed. For this recipe, choose the e-mail option. Processing can take up to 45 minutes or more.
Repeat these steps for each of the four objects that you have photographed.

How it works...

A photograph is basically a flat two-dimensional record of a three-dimensional space. It contains most of the information of this three-dimensional space, except for the data needed to provide information about its depth. By taking more photographs, we supply more information. When we took a series of photographs around our object, we not only recorded the shapes, colors, and textures, but also mapped out a three-dimensional scene.

When the photo files are uploaded to the Autodesk servers, their system begins the tedious process of correlating all the images together. It first determines the camera position and aiming angles of each photograph and then uses a system of triangulation to map out the space. It then creates a 3D mesh of your scene from this information.

Viewing your scene with 123D Catch

In this recipe, we will cover some of the basic operations of 123D Catch. These include operations such as loading a scene and navigation.

Getting ready

You'll need a processed 3D scene of your object. Autodesk will e-mail you with a notification that your capture has been successful. A link will be provided to download the Photo Scene data file (.3dp). The filename will start with the word Capture, the date it was created, and a series of numbers. Create a new folder and download the file into it.

How to do it...

Open 123D Catch and proceed as follows:

Select the middle-left button, Open an Existing Capture. From the Select the project to open window, find the directory containing the folder with your Photo Scene data file. Select the file and click on Open. The workspace appears, and Autodesk loads the project files. This takes several minutes. When the scene appears, it should look similar to following screenshot:
At the center of the workspace, we see the object that we scanned and the area that surrounds it. This is the content of the 3D scene. A series of cameras connected by a line surround the model. This shows the chronology of the photos taken. Below the workspace is a thumbnail strip containing the photos you took. Click on Animation Path at the top of the first thumbnail. From the drop-down menu, choose Create default animation path.
The camera track of the scene is now highlighted, as shown in the preceding screenshot. A new thumbnail series also appears. These are the keyframes of the animation. To play, click on the arrow pointing to the right, and to stop, click on the square icon.
Tip
If the animation is not playing in fullscreen, slightly move the corner of the program's window in or out.
Let's return to the global view. We'll do this by pressing Space bar twice.
We can view the individual thumbnails by scrolling along the bottom. Each thumbnail will be highlighted if we hover over it. Select a thumbnail by left- clicking on it. The photo will now be in view.
To return to the global view, press Space bar once. The view will show the particular camera within the chronology track (which took the selected thumbnail) highlighted in green.

How it works...

When you opened the Photo Scene data file, two things happened. First, there were additions made to the folder where the .3dp file is stored; photos that comprised your scene were added, and another folder was created with the same name as your .3dp file (this folder contains two Autodesk files that we should not touch). Secondly, the scene was loaded on your workspace.

This scene includes a visual track of the movements you made when photographing your object. This enables a convenient review of the photos for the purpose of editing or fixing stitching problems that may occur. Stitching is the term that 123D Catch uses for describing the correlation of photos in a sequence. We'll examine stitching in greater detail in the next recipe.

Tip

The animation that we played in this recipe can be saved to the desktop or uploaded on YouTube. While the animation is loading, right-click on the workspace for a pop-up window and choose Export Video.

Stitching photos with 123D Catch

Stitching is the correlation of the photos you took of your object. It aligns the photos to each other to make a proper sequence. Sometimes, the Autodesk server will have a difficult time choosing the proper photo for stitching; it will either discard the photo from the sequence or choose the wrong placement of a photo. These problems can be fixed by manually stitching the photos. In this recipe, we'll learn how to do this.

Getting ready

Hopefully, you don't have any stitching problems with the four objects you scanned, but we will need a photo sequence with stitching problems for this recipe. There's an easy way to illustrate the repair of unstitched photos, even with a good processed scan. Choose one of your Photo Scene data files for the following recipe, and make a copy of the folder and all of its contents. Use the copy for this recipe.

How to do it...

Open 123D Catch and sign in. Open an existing capture and proceed as follows:

Choose a photo from the thumbnail strip at the bottom. Right-click on it, and choose Unstitch Photo from the pop up. As shown in the following screenshot, the thumbnail darkens with an embedded yellow warning symbol:
The photo sequence now has an unstitched photo. To repair it, double-click on the darkened photo. A new window opens, as shown in the following screenshot:
At the bottom-left side, the Manual Stitch window outlines the basic procedure in three steps. Review these steps before continuing.
The first step is to choose the best photos to align. 123D Catch chose two photos, and they are displayed on the right-hand side of the window. We can keep these or change them by scrolling through the thumbnails by clicking on the arrows.
For the second step, we need to choose a point on the unstitched photo that correlates with the same exact point on the other two photos. Left- click and hold on the point. A magnifier opens, giving us a better definition of the immediate area. This is illustrated in the following screenshot:
Release the mouse when you determine your point. A yellow marker appears. If you're not happy with your choice, right-click on the yellow marker and choose Delete Point in Image from the pop up.
On the photo in the top-right corner of the window, repeat the selection for the proper correlation point. When the point is accepted, a suggested point will be automatically made on the third photo in the bottom-right corner. Instead of a circle registration point, it will be a square. Left-click on it and hold to determine if it's correct. If it is, release the mouse. When all the points are accepted, they will turn green.
For the third step, repeat the first and second steps until all the four matched points are made. Your project should look similar to the following screenshot:
When all the four points are matched, a pop up will appear and prompt you to update your scene. Choose Submit. Another pop up will appear and prompt you with a Continue option. The processing must take place at the Autodesk server. This requires the upload of the changes and a wait time. When the processing of the scene is finished, a new file will be returned.

How it works...

For our recipe, we intentionally unstitched a photo from our sequence. This gave us a situation to repair it using manual stitching. Sometimes, we may find that it's important to unstitch a photo that has been incorrectly processed by the Autodesk server. This can occur when similar sides, such as the sides of a cube, are confused in the interpolation of the scene and an erratic camera track is produced. Sometimes, unstitching a photo out of sequence and restitching it where it belongs will solve the problem.

There are situations when the incorrect exposure or focus of an image is undesirable. This can be the case when the output is for export as an animation. By unstitching the problematic photo, the result will be better.

Description

A systematic guide consisting of over 100 recipes which focus on helping you understand the process of 3D printing using RepRap machines. The book aims at providing professionals with a series of working recipes to help make their fuzzy notions into real, saleable projects/objects using 3D printing technology. This book is for novice designers and artists who own a RepRap-based 3D printer, have fundamental knowledge of its working, and who desire to gain better mastery of the printing process. For the more experienced user, it will provide a handy visual resource, with side-by-side comparisons of the two most popular slicers, Skeinforge and Slic3r. A basic understanding of designing and modeling principles and elementary knowledge of digital modeling would be a plus.

Who is this book for?

This book is for novice designers and artists who own a RepRap-based 3D printer, have fundamental knowledge of its working, and who desire to gain better mastery of the printing process. For the more experienced user, it will provide a handy visual resource, with side-by-side comparisons of the two most popular slicers, Skeinforge and Slic3r. A basic understanding of designing and modeling principles and elementary knowledge of digital modeling would be a plus.

What you will learn

Use the 123D Catch program to 3D scan common objects of almost any size for 3D printing

Manipulate the surface mesh of a 3D model using Meshmixer v9001, the 3D modeling program

Clean up your scans and stitch them together to make a solid model using MeshLab v1.3.2

Calibrate 3D models using SketchUp v13, a 3D CAD program for precision fabrication

Master the controls of the two most popular slicers, Skeinforge and Slic3r

Learn how to add textures to your models and avoid undesirable texture through calibration

What do you get with Print?

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JDC Dec 25, 2016

Pretty good.

Amazon Verified review

Chief Blogger Sep 10, 2014

I agree that this book is a super collection of practical experience. Richard has compiled an easy to use and "get to the point" series of recipes on many aspects of RepRap and 3D printing. He has made valuable use of detailed photographs depicting before and after effects of tweaking parameters to get your printing process really cooking (no pun intended). See more detail at http://tpmtech.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/3d-printing-with-reprap-cookbook-a-new-way-for-serving-gourmet-3d-parts/

Crawford Smith Sep 11, 2014

For those who got a 3D printer and then thought "now what?" - this book is for you.This is a great introduction to creating really great content for 3D printing. The book offers numerous detailed exercise to familiarize the reader with some of the tools that can be used for creating 3D models for printing. Best of all - most of these tools are absolutely free. The exercises are detailed and easy to understand, even for a techie novice. Great way to get up and running with your 3D printer.

3D Printing Professor Oct 10, 2014

RepRap Cookbook is not, as the title might suggest, about building a RepRap styled printer. It is abouty using a repRap styped 3D printer. It starts with creating a 3D model using 123D Catch and then cleaning up, fixing, optimizing for 3D printing, and then printing a model using a variety of software. The range of software covered is impressive. It's a comprehensive snapshot of the tools and techniques that 3D printing hobbyists are using these days and an excellent place to start if you're a beginner. It's especially relevant if you're using an Ardunio based RepRap styled printer like a Lulzbot or any of the kickstarters out there, but it's also relevant for other machines as well.

3D printing with RepRap Cookbook: Over 80 fast-paced recipes to help you create and print 3D models

What do you get with Print?

3D printing with RepRap Cookbook

Chapter 1. Getting Started with 3D Printing

Introduction

3D scanning with a digital camera

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more...

Processing a 3D scan with 123D Catch

Getting ready

Note

How to do it…

How it works...

Viewing your scene with 123D Catch

Getting ready

How to do it...

Tip

How it works...

Tip

Stitching photos with 123D Catch

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

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3D printing with RepRap Cookbook: Over 80 fast-paced recipes to help you create and print 3D models

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