3DS Max Tutorial - Preparing Models for 3D Print and .STL Export

[@yosofya]

I came here to watch a tutorial, but I ended up loving this man. You have a great talent at this and you made it joyful tut.

[@pt3513]

congratulations on being the guy who made the easiest tutorial I have ever followed, thank you so much!

[@JCobesV2]

So kind of you to say! I’m going to begin creating new content and revamp the channel in the coming months. Comments like this inspire. Thanks :)

[@PandaJerk007]

Thank you for teaching us with this video! and nice 'dog in the bathtub' desktop background! It was onscreen at 6:22 for literally 1 frame as you did the STL Check xD

[@JCobesV2]

hahaha! I didn't catch that! Nice eyes man. That's a pic I took of my brother's dog. lol good stuff.

[@DaFunkiB]

What a god send you are sir!!, i've used 3ds Max since 2009 and was terrified to have to learn yet another piece of software as i'm soo comfortable with the 3ds Max. I'm just starting in the 3d printing world myself and have ordered a Bambu Lab P1P printer, so here starts my journey too. Clear and consise instructions and i like that you show the multiple ways to achieve the same results, this is great for the various workflows some people may have. I see you have OCD for keeping your modifier stack clear hahaha, i'm completely the opposite i like to have them there in case some tweaking is required. But to be fair the modifiers you used are a one time use really and not like cloth and others. Thanks again for this. You;re a star!!

[@nano3ddreams444]

I have been modeling on Max since 2010 still afraid to grab printing projects, today wanna have a try again and You have vanished all the fears with these simple tricks

[@JCobesV2]

There you go man! I'm glad it helped. There's always a little trial and error in printing projects, so don't be discouraged when you run into them. The back end printing softwares differ from one another and have their own set of preferences.

[@akaigetsu]

Cool video deserves more views

[@JCobesV2]

Right on, thanks for the love :)

[@MrPostal2000]

Awesome tutorial, Thank You !

[@eyeballdude]

Dude! That was really helpful! Thank you! What surprised me the most is that everything (except xView) worked in my 3DsMAX 2.5!

[@JCobesV2]

Glad that helped my eyeball dude ;) Happy printing!

[@bakyt-3d]

you're a real dinosaur! and i respect you!

[@eyeballdude]

@@bakyt-3d Hahaha! I’m not sure if to be offended or not…But that’s funny right there!! 😂

[@bakyt-3d]

@@eyeballdude don't be offended. i meant in a positive way really. i also have been using 3ds max but now i'm switching to blender step by step.

[@eyeballdude]

@@bakyt-3d No worries! I’ve tried to figure Blender out for years but I just can’t wrap my head around it. Maby I’m just to old 😉

[@davewest136]

Thank you so much for sharing this precious knowledge.

[@mr.endery9871]

This 3DS Max Tutorial was really helpful!! Thank you

[@JCobesV2]

Thanks man! Glad it helped :)

[@christreedee]

@@JCobesV2 How do you import HeroForge.com .stl into 3dsmax2020 without it Hanging/crashing

[@JCobesV2]

@@christreedee Hey Chris, I just checked out HeroForge.com and seems real cool. I'm assuming they models are pretty dense then? Whats the file size of your .STL? If it's a "heavy" model then wait times are expected in any software and depends more on your PC's specs. Let me know.

[@christreedee]

@@JCobesV2 seems to be IMPORT settings, welds and what not not familiar on how a .STL 'SHOULD" be imported for minor editing, and they seem to triangle most things so i want to quad-mesh it back to make it easier..... but the import settings seem to have a huge effect

[@JCobesV2]

@@christreedee Yeah, you always want to utilize the "Quick Weld" option when importing .stl's into Max. However, in this case, I think you should use a middle program. 3DS max is always going to triangulate .stl from my understanding. So I researched and there are other programs that can get your model print ready while maintaining "quads" or converting to quads. If you do this, I would recommend exporting it as a .obj is you wanted to still use 3DS Max. I would avoid 3DS Max altogether in this instance. There are free versions of Net Fab or FreeCad that might help but if "quads" is the need, find a program that will get you those results.

[@angiemaestre638]

Nice video Thanks!

[@electroluxia]

Outstanding. Thanks so much for this invaluable info.

[@eontalva]

Thank you for your support! I was looking for this and it really helps me a lot!!

[@JCobesV2]

Great to be of help elena! Happy modeling.

[@jaida728]

Thank you, this was exactly what I needed!

[@JCobesV2]

Glad it helped :)

[@kellenlionel1371]

I guess it is pretty off topic but do anyone know of a good place to watch new tv shows online ?

[@nashkian6353]

@Kellen Lionel Try FlixZone. You can find it on google =)

[@harrisonwestley7537]

@Nash Kian Definitely, I have been watching on FlixZone for since march myself :)

[@kellenlionel1371]

@Nash Kian Thanks, I went there and it seems like a nice service =) Appreciate it!!

[@mahmoudzaefi2958]

Thank you very much :)

[@thiagodavila9514]

thank you bro!

[@The9PointStar]

This was so helpful! thank you!!

[@MattPhillips-gq4lk]

Super helpful, thank you!

[@BallBreaker1616]

Thanks! This really help.

[@tutinotuto1689]

Gracias

[@bjrnlarsen7351]

Great tutorial, thanks alot :)

[@D3cyTH3r]

Legend -thanks!

[@DCFHazardRebornChannel]

Awesome vid, ty very much it helped a lot. I mean tbh I knew all the tools etc, but seeing the workflow and simplification of it all just gave me a better complete take on it all in case I am missing something or doing something wrong. Just one question, with regards to dimensions, does STL keep the cm setup? Or do we need to do something funky to convert dimensions over? Again, thnx for this vid, really clarified the whole workprocess.

[@JCobesV2]

Thanks for the great comment! Means alot. The STL will export and maintain whatever units you have established in the file. So be sure to check “Customize” -> “Units” and make sure cm is checked in both display and, more importantly, System Units. Hope that helps!

[@DCFHazardRebornChannel]

@@JCobesV2 awesome, thnx for the response. Perfect, so I can go ahead with the exports then. Again, a great and straight forward video. Thnx for the upload.

you won my heart

[@JCobesV2]

Haha right on man! Glad it helped :)

[@loukitus]

Thanks. Helped a lot. :-)

[@JCobesV2]

Nice! I’m glad it did. 3d printing is dope :)

[@JamieBrooks179]

Hey ya, i just want to ask im trying to export with texture but it is always coming out white. Do you know how to export wit textures? thanks a lot

[@JCobesV2]

I’m not sure about how that translates to print but if you want to export the 3d file with textures: export as .fbx and check “embed media” in the dialogue. Your textures should now carry within the model.

[@ingameswetrust9812]

is there a possibility to export STL an object that is composed of several parts as each part an individual file?

[@maryamal-balushi7783]

Thanx

[@uzairali552]

sir is it necessary to split model into little pieces ? what if i make all model from single mesh ? will accept for printing ?

[@JCobesV2]

Hey Uzair, you sure could. This asset was modular, so it could be assembled in pieces. If you have one solid model without errors you should be fine :)

[@ambientsoda106]

So i trued using the ruler in 3d max to make model to realistic inches but it doesn't work...any ideas? As I had to modify with milling machine software.. 3d printer is brilliant tool for 3d model makers but there are small so you have to make model to real life measurements.. inches or cm's

[@JCobesV2]

Hey Soda, what program are you using? In 3DS Max you need to make sure your system units are set to Inches or cm and not just display units. In 3DS Max, go to Customize--->Units--->System Units----> (set to inches, cm, mm, etc).

[@filthyrichandflameingknigh1256]

I think I found a site that has a 3d model files of my car I have. Im trying make 1/10 of my car for a rc car. 1966 dodge charger. Would that be to hard to if I get the 3d model files what problems will I mite run in to?

[@JCobesV2]

Great question! I'm assuming you're using 3DS Max? However, all 3D programs should have a simple solution for this. There are a couple of ways to go about it. First, you need to check the measurements of the 3D file you're importing and find some answers, such as, "is it the actual scale of a real car?" If so, you can simply Scale By World % to 10%. Another solution is to know your exact measurements of the RC car you want to print, make a block with those measurements and scale the model to fit. After you have scale landed, you will need to know how to break it down into the RC or 'toy" pieces. The 3d file you import will be very generic (usually for rendering purposes), meaning that it will not be ready to meet your exact needs. So, you will need to know how to model the individual parts to print (exterior pieces). It's hard to sum it up in a quick comment but, ultimately, you will need to know how to model. Depending on the 3D file, you will import it and will most likely print as a giant block and it sounds like to need a bunch of assembly parts. Hope that helps!

[@workpeaceful9066]

hmm before export .stl put STL Check in Modifier List

[@Mboy501]

quick question, meshes that clip through one another will print as a single piece?

[@JCobesV2]

Hey SkyGuy! Sorry for the late response. As long as the separate pieces are capped correctly and attached together they will. You can kind of think of it as "blobbing" meshes together. So if things are running into one another without errors, the printer will see it as one piece. Or at least in the printer programs I've worked with. If you want to print pieces separately, create them separately from one another (e.g. Legos).

[@danieltatarinov4376]

wouldn´t it make problems for the 3dprinter if it had to print something from the air, with nothing under it?

[@JCobesV2]

Hey Daniel, I guess that depends on the 3d software you use to print. 3D printing software often has options to print with "bridges" which creates a base of spikes that hold up parts of the print like pillars.

[@idgeek]

Thanks for the awesome tut! one question though, when a 3ds max file is exported, the polygons all get "pixelated" like you got here. any way to fix that?

[@JCobesV2]

Glad it helped Phillip! I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “pixelated”. Could you explain in further detail?

[@idgeek]

@@JCobesV2 thanks for the reply! you can see in your video, surfaces looks nice and smooth, but when you exported the model in ,stl you can see in 10:29, how the surfaces aren't smooth anymore, you can clear see each polygon edges. I get this too and I was wondering is there a way fix this?

[@JCobesV2]

@@idgeek Yeah I see what you're saying post-export. Are you seeing this in your prints? Most prints don't come out perfectly smoooth anyway and require a little sanding to make them glossy smooth. I don't have any soutions other than using a 3D mesh repair tool like Netfabb and use some of their clean up tools. I don't think there's much to do with it however.

[@rogergonzalez4899]

i am starting doing 3d printing, im having a problem trying to export from 3d max to printing, when i export the stl file from 3dx max in import the file to Ultimaker Cura, it goes in to another size really small en the area to print, the printing area of my 3d printing is 22x22cm but i think the whole big are of 3ds max is going in the file, i dont know what to do... :/

[@JCobesV2]

Hey Roger, I'm sure I know what's going on. Your measurement units in 3DS Max are different than Ultimaker Cura. This is kind of hidden but try this: In 3DS Max, Go to Customize ----> Units Setup ----> System Units Setup. Now this is different than "Display Units". Make sure your "System Units" are set right. For example, if you're printing in cm make sure your "System Units" are set to cm. You should be good to go. Let me know if that helps!

[@rogergonzalez4899]

@@JCobesV2 sorry, it still doesnt work :/

[@luisortega5583]

hey john if you are interested in working on a model for me let me know. thanks

[@JCobesV2]

Sorry for the late response Luis. Email me at [e-mail] if you still need help :)

[@luisortega5583]

@@JCobesV2 sorry I already have that covered however I'll keep you in mind in the future thank you for responding

[@JCobesV2]

@@luisortega5583 sounds great Luis! Hit me up anytime.

[@zainaldeen932]

iot maker

[@matiasacuna2667]

10 min para aprender a exportar un archivo? pesimo video

[@eligonzales186]

autodesk is horrible at everything they do

[@tactical-bucket]

autocad, maya and 3dsmax are all industry standard software suites but go off king