I think this will be a really quick one. Basically I want to draw this (attached) logo so I can 3d print it for a xmas idea.
What my thoughts are is.
a) import and group the picture (done)
b) lock the picture and create a new tag (done)
c) Zoom in with the straight line tool until I have gone around the whole shape. (not done yet)
My questions are …
a) Is this the most elegant solution to this problem?
b) how do I go about keeping the 2 colors separate, so when I bring them into cura I can assign them to different extruders. I was thinking a separate tag for each color?
Thanks you guys. Love the forum so far…sorry if the questions are a little boring but it is so helpful to have somewhere to go.
All good ideas so far…
Model Info > Units > switch OFF Length Snapping
For the curved parts of the outline consider using the Arc tool - with inferencing you can get its joins to be tangential, and therefore smooth…
oh great suggestions thanks for taking the time…did not know you could turn off the length snapping. Yes I was going to try an arc but they never come out too well for me
Would setting the 2 colors out on different layers get around the separating the shapes aspect?
What do you mean by “merge”? Do you want them to be one single blob of geometry? If so, you could explode the groups. If they are touching they will combine. If you are creating solid groups as you’d need to be for 3D printing, you could also use Outer Shell to join them into a single group.
Depending on the slicer and the way you are printing them, you may need to keep them as separate groups.
By the way, as you are modeling, make sure you are keeping the front faces out. The face orientation determines which side of the face is air and which side is the printing media.
I wouldn’t be sure how to do the outer shell. I can possibly merge them in the slicer. I will have a go at it and if things go sideways ill come crying to you.
Assuming that both of your groups are solid (select them and look at Entity Info) and they are touching each other, you get the Outer Shell tool, click on one group and then the other.
Most slicers won’t need the groups combined, though. If they are in contact with each other the slicer should treat them as a single mass.
I made a walker for my granddaughter for Xmas, the main part of which is a prancing horse. I found a suitable image of the horse and imported it to SU just as you may have done. Then I traced around it using almost nothing but arcs. It’s actually quite easy when you get the hang of it. And because there is built in tangential arc creation, the melding of one to the next (as @TIG says) is smooth. Then I just had to print out to the size I needed and use it as a template for cutting the ply sheet.
yeh I will make it work anyway! but when i use single lines i cant put the line anywhere. it snaps around. let me carry on and ill send it over for you guys to inspect. thanking you
