Cleaning and preparing your Blender created model for 3d printing

This is the next to last video of a series on creating, clothing, posing and 3d printing a human model in Blender. Here we clean up the model and export to an stl file.
Generate a human figure in Blender • Three free ways to cre...
Add clothes to your model • Four easy ways to add ...
Posing your model • How to pose a Blender ...
Full workflow from cube to printer • Make and 3d print a hu...
Cutting and keying an organic model • How to cut up and key ...
The tool I used to create the model github.com/Upl...
Skyrim Twitch channel where Xynn lives github.com/Upl...

[@EliqzART]

the timing of this video couldn't have been anymore perfect. I'm in the process of trying to 3D print my own model and these steps were exactly what i was looking for!

[@notverygoodguy]

That's great to hear! Very glad it was useful for you and thanks for the feedback.

[@isaacivanovich5658]

What a perfect explanation of how to make a 3D model for printing

[@notverygoodguy]

Thank you.

[@speedyneuron5817]

Great tutorial! To the point and shows the workflow very concretely

[@notverygoodguy]

Thanks!

[@cb9811]

exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

[@notverygoodguy]

Great to hear and thanks for the feedback.

[@MrSuperPatar]

THIS FIXED MY PROBLEM, THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@notverygoodguy]

That's great to hear, thanks.

[@Starflight_Miniatures]

Thanks for this!

[@notverygoodguy]

Very pleased to hear it was useful. Thanks for the feedback.

[@CooperQueen45]

I have some faces on the hair of my model that have inverted normals but are not selectable. It looks like they're the "underside" of the hair strands and flipping the normals makes the inverted ones on the outside. If you were to imagine the hair as a wig, the inside of the wig is red while the outside is blue. Can I ignore this for printing or will this ruin my print? I cannot figure out how to get 100% blue. The top of the upper eyelashes also are inverted and cant be selected without inverting the entire eyelash top and bottom.

[@notverygoodguy]

Sounds unlikely that the hair would work but you could always load it into a slicer to see what it makes of it. If only some of the hair faces are inverted and not selectable AND the hair actually has some thickness you might have to start hiding the faces around them to really see what is going on. Sometimes what is poking through and red is not coming from where it looks like they are. If you have a link to your model I'd be interested to see it. Eyelashes and eyebrows are often a problem for 3d printing. I tend to just remove them and create new ones.

[@CooperQueen45]

@@notverygoodguythanks for the reply. I responded last night with a link to my model but I don’t see my comment this morning. Happy to share the model over for a look but not sure the best way to do so

[@notverygoodguy]

@@CooperQueen45 You could post it to the discord channel. Bear in mind that this channel is really only used when people want to post links to models. but you can post here if you like discord.gg/YBCAUkaq

[@hendrik6156]

Hey im new to 3D printing. Im planing on printing my first model with a resin printer. The video really helped me but I have one question. I want to print the model as a whole, not every part of the model as a seperate object. In your vid you just exported every part as their own mesh. Do I need to somehow merge all meshes into one manifold mesh in order to print it as a whole or can the splicer handle it by itself?

[@notverygoodguy]

No, as you long as you select all the objects you want in the file and select the "selected only" option in the export dialogue box they will become one mesh in your slicer. You will need to make sure that none of the individual objects are just hanging in mid-air of course and adding supports might be more of a bore but there is no actual need to have separate objects

[@savendark6632]

Thank you very much!!

[@notverygoodguy]

And thank you for the feedback. Glad it was useful.

[@savendark6632]

@@notverygoodguy All the explanation really help me! I'm doing a entrepreneurship with my girlfriend with models like this!

[@notverygoodguy]

@@savendark6632 Great! Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to cover. Also be interested to see the result of your work if you have any online.

[@savendark6632]

@@notverygoodguy Thank you very much!! Obviously!! When we start we are going to show you!! :D

[@awayout5210]

thank you alot, i have a a question do i need to use another program like cura after all that?.or that enough working?.

[@notverygoodguy]

Yes, this video will get you to a model that can be printed though Blender can't do that sadly. You'll have to use a slicer such as Cura. I do have another video that shows the complete workflow though it is rather long. Towards the end there is a little bit about getting your model into a slicer and printing it. If you are interested it is here kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYXFl4d-l6eYj5osi=DI41FokAzmq9hOv0

[@thegreatsage197]

Hey love the video would you let me know how to keep the normals on, like you have done at 4:42 please thanks in advance keep the videos up!!!

[@notverygoodguy]

I have an old and short video that shows you here kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIO9mWZvZd6ila8

[@SpriteAndSmite]

My model looks low-poly despite using the subdivision modifier :( What could be the culprit? I cant get rid of the rough geometry

[@notverygoodguy]

My guess would be that you have a low poly stl so although it looks low poly it is actually made up of a lot of triangles. I was thinking about doing a video on how to resolve this but couldn't find a suitable model for it. If you could point me to the model you have I'll have a look at it for you. Of course it may be that you have some other problem but this is what immediately comes to mind

[@I6IJoShI9I]

@@notverygoodguyI’ve been trying to find a solution to this issue as well. My model was ripped from Skyrim using ninja ripper. Still new myself to blender but have been using subdivision (possibly crashing here and there) and other methods. It’s got a boat load of geometry but just can’t get it flat looking enough to make a good print. Comes out good if it’s scaled down to a few inch figures. Anything I’d say over 6in in height starts showing the blocky geometry. Will try using your tips in the video. Appreciate the content!

[@notverygoodguy]

@@I6IJoShI9I I have never used ninja ripper but can see that it can have multiple issues with the resulting geometry including stretching due to the POV when doing the rip. I don't even know what the final output actually looks like. I would presume it is very low poly with textures baked in. I would be interested to see an example of a ripped model. For me, I took a character out of Skyrim by just re-modelling it myself. It was easier :) The thing you probably need to be looking at is retopologising the model but I need to actually look at a ripped model myself.

[@drsleepy3867]

you dont have to join all the different parts together? before exporting?

[@notverygoodguy]

Not if you don't want to. The slicer will handle it. Try it. Put a cylinder half way in a cube, select both objects and export it with "Selection only" checked on the export dialogue window. The slicer will handle it just fine. Of course you don't need to select both objects and make sure "Selection only" is checked if you only have a a cylinder and a cube but it's a good habit to get into.

[@drsleepy3867]

@@notverygoodguy thank you ive seen people using booleans and making sure everything is connected thats always ao slow

[@joos2033]

Is there a way to make hair with MB labs tool ?

[@notverygoodguy]

You can add hair with both mb-lab and charmorph but you can't 3d print the result as it is particle hair.

[@leptoid]

So how do I color just the inside of meshes?

[@notverygoodguy]

If you mean the red face orientation that only shows the insides then that is something I sometimes explain in my videos but it seems odd to put it in all of them :) Edit->Preferences. Select "Themes". Find "3D Viewport" in the right hand panel and select it. Scroll down to "Face Orientation Front" and click on the blue colour. Slide the "Alpha" slider from 1 all the way down to 0. Then all you need to do is turn on "Face orientation" in the View Port overlays drop down. If you save a file with the face orientation selected, it will stay selected in you next project. Hope this helps!

[@JuanSanchez-ej7pb]

A bit of feedback, please make the videos quicker and more concise

[@notverygoodguy]

Thanks for the feedback. It's appreciated. My goal is always to make videos shorter but it often quite a battle.

[@joevogt6804]

I totally disagree that this video (or videos) should be made quicker! I'm a Blender and 3D printing beginner and were looking for a short rundown, how to prepare complex models for 3D printing. I already used the Blender Addon on the tab 3DPrint and that shows a lot of problems even in way less comlex models. From my few experiences and the problems I've already encountered in Blender, I loved the many shown hints and steps in this video. It could only have been made shorter by omitting some steps. And using Blender is always a little awkward, so there is not the slightes chance to make such short overview as this "more concise". Blender is the way Blender is. And no tutorial/overview of any function can fit in 15 to 30 seconds. Thanks for the way, this video has been made. It is very helpful!