Search icon CANCEL
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Arrow up icon
GO TO TOP
Blender 3D Printing Essentials

You're reading from   Blender 3D Printing Essentials Learn 3D printing using the free open-source Blender software. This book gives you both an overview and practical instructions, enabling you to learn how to scale, build, color, and detail a model for a 3D printer.

Arrow left icon
Product type Paperback
Published in Nov 2013
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781783284597
Length 114 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
Tools
Concepts
Arrow right icon
Toc

Exporting your 3D object


There are two kinds of files for exporting Blender objects to be printed in 3D; STL files and X3D files. A few 3D printer companies offer plugins that export Blender files to their website as well. STL files do not carry any color information. Your color comes from the color material that is chosen as I mentioned in Chapter 1, Designing Objects for 3D Printing. The pencil cup is an example of this. No material was ever specified. It takes its red color from the plastic chosen for printing. X3D files are really interactive 3D file formats; they carry color information and 3D printing bureaus accept them for printing.

When I am getting ready to export an STL or X3D file for 3D printing, I like to put the object(s) to be printed into their own layer of the Blender file, usually Layer 1.

Getting the orientation right

You've used Blender enough to be familiar with Blender's Z-Up axes as shown on the left-hand side of the following diagram:

Many 3D printers use a Y-Up orientation...

lock icon The rest of the chapter is locked
Register for a free Packt account to unlock a world of extra content!
A free Packt account unlocks extra newsletters, articles, discounted offers, and much more. Start advancing your knowledge today.
Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days
Get unlimited access to 7000+ expert-authored eBooks and videos courses covering every tech area you can think of
Renews at €18.99/month. Cancel anytime