I need to trim this model so it can fit in the 3D printer. The two planes show where I want to trim it. Everything in the model is a separate solid group, including the terrain. Is there an easy way to trim the terrain (modeled from the GeoLocator) with the plane and cap it? Thanks
Terrain to Cut.skp (2.2 MB)
Is this model a solid now?
It would be helpful to add the skp. file to your post.
Yes it’s a solid right now. I uploaded the file with the post, it’s right after the picture
Sorry I didn’t see that.
No problem! But yeah every object in the model is a separate solid
I do not 3D print, but from my understanding of the process, you would need to explode that entire thing, do and “intersect with model” and make it a single solid. I would certainly do a “save as” first.
At that point you can just use “cutting planes” in you desired locations and intersect them also.
At least if you intend to print it in one piece.
Where’s @DaveR when you need him? Probably eating dinner.
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Nope. Had a late lunch at Mabe’s Pizza in Decorah, Iowa. Yum!
The trick to cut the groups is to cut the cutting faces (your rectangles) to the clipboard (Edit>Cut or keyboard shortcut) and then open each group in turn, use Paste in place to paste the rectangles. Then select all the faces and run Intersect Faces>With Selection. Finally, erase what you don’t need. Since you actually want both sides of the cut, make two copies of the groups so you can erase one side or the other as appropriate.
Your profile indicates you are using Pro so you could make solid boxes instead of the rectangles and use Trim.
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Perhaps I misunderstand the 3d printing process, doesn’t this need to be a single solid?
No. The shapes just have to be solids. They could be, though.
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Well I have certainly learned something!
Thank you!
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Why do you need to split it into three parts for printing?
Wouldn’t a split into two, for example down the middle, still fit the printer?
The width is smaller than the distance between your cutting planes, so that shouldn’t be an issue if the printer capacity is the same in X and Y directions.
I’m not printing the whole model in three parts - I’m eliminating the two end pieces completely so I can have a model that’s all in one piece. The end parts aren’t totally necessary to the model, I just misjudged when building the extents of the site.
Thanks so much!
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Ah, I see now. Thanks for the explanation.
There is an excellent plugin, named “Zorro2”. It will cut through geometry and, with the ctrl key pressed, it will cut through groups, even if nested,
But it has another function: right clicking on an active section plane a menu displays the option “Slice Model at Section”, which will erase the hidden part.
Bu sure to cut on parallel projection mode and make a copy of the original part if you want to preserve it after slicing.