Of the slicers I mentioned, MakerWare lets you control the Z position, and
Slic3r won't. Slic3r has a few commands missing in MakerWare: split a scene
into disjoint objects, and slice a single object into pieces. MakerWare has
a better GUI.
Mekko said: "I had eight parts, fairly complex, and I
tried a) putting all the code in one .scad file and rendering all of them,
and b) exporting .stl files for each of the parts and then using a separate
.scad file and translate() import() calls to position the collection of
parts. OpenSCAD crashed both ways"
There's no good reason why OpenSCAD needs to crash in this scenario.
Clearly, there are other mesh tools that can perform the same job without
crashing.
On 22 January 2016 at 13:51, Mekko serve@perdix.org wrote:
If I'm understanding factorr's issue correctly then I have a couple of
observations based on my own experiences.
First of all, there are several 3D printer services who will sell you a
volume to print and you can fill the volume however you like. In some cases
the volume dimensions are pre-determined (e.g.,
http://www.digits2widgets.com/3d_printing_prices/nylon_sls_containers/)
and
in some cases the volume dimensions are up to you (e.g.,
https://i.materialise.com/container-upload and
https://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/pricing/). I have used all three of those
services and compared to Shapeways and Sculpteo (whom I have also used)
those three are all much less expensive and all are great on customer
service. For example, one of my parts was $20.86 at Shapeways and $8.08 at
3DPRINTUK.
Second of all, the problem that factorr is hitting with OpenSCAD is a
"right
tool for the job" kind of problem. I had eight parts, fairly complex, and I
tried a) putting all the code in one .scad file and rendering all of them,
and b) exporting .stl files for each of the parts and then using a separate
.scad file and translate() import() calls to position the collection of
parts. OpenSCAD crashed both ways and I don't really fault it - that's not
its job.
So I use MeshLab for positioning. I import all my .stl meshes, position
them, and then use the Filters/Mesh Layer/Flatten Visible Layers command to
create a unified mesh that I then export as a .stl file. It has a boundary
box view that helps with this considerably.
With respect to slicers, I use Cura for driving my 3D printer and it
provides a way for positioning pieces in the XY plane but, as far as I
know,
not along the Z axis. Maybe the other slicers have better functionality in
this area but again, I'm still not sure their main purpose is to support
XYZ
positioning.
Hope this helps!
--
View this message in context:
http://forum.openscad.org/3D-Builder-tp15789p15814.html
Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
OpenSCAD mailing list
Discuss@lists.openscad.org
http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org
Of the slicers I mentioned, MakerWare lets you control the Z position, and
Slic3r won't. Slic3r has a few commands missing in MakerWare: split a scene
into disjoint objects, and slice a single object into pieces. MakerWare has
a better GUI.
Mekko said: "I had eight parts, fairly complex, and I
tried a) putting all the code in one .scad file and rendering all of them,
and b) exporting .stl files for each of the parts and then using a separate
.scad file and translate() import() calls to position the collection of
parts. OpenSCAD crashed both ways"
There's no good reason why OpenSCAD needs to crash in this scenario.
Clearly, there are other mesh tools that can perform the same job without
crashing.
On 22 January 2016 at 13:51, Mekko <serve@perdix.org> wrote:
> If I'm understanding factorr's issue correctly then I have a couple of
> observations based on my own experiences.
>
> First of all, there are several 3D printer services who will sell you a
> volume to print and you can fill the volume however you like. In some cases
> the volume dimensions are pre-determined (e.g.,
> http://www.digits2widgets.com/3d_printing_prices/nylon_sls_containers/)
> and
> in some cases the volume dimensions are up to you (e.g.,
> https://i.materialise.com/container-upload and
> https://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/pricing/). I have used all three of those
> services and compared to Shapeways and Sculpteo (whom I have also used)
> those three are all *much* less expensive and all are great on customer
> service. For example, one of my parts was $20.86 at Shapeways and $8.08 at
> 3DPRINTUK.
>
> Second of all, the problem that factorr is hitting with OpenSCAD is a
> "right
> tool for the job" kind of problem. I had eight parts, fairly complex, and I
> tried a) putting all the code in one .scad file and rendering all of them,
> and b) exporting .stl files for each of the parts and then using a separate
> .scad file and translate() import() calls to position the collection of
> parts. OpenSCAD crashed both ways and I don't really fault it - that's not
> its job.
>
> So I use MeshLab for positioning. I import all my .stl meshes, position
> them, and then use the Filters/Mesh Layer/Flatten Visible Layers command to
> create a unified mesh that I then export as a .stl file. It has a boundary
> box view that helps with this considerably.
>
> With respect to slicers, I use Cura for driving my 3D printer and it
> provides a way for positioning pieces in the XY plane but, as far as I
> know,
> not along the Z axis. Maybe the other slicers have better functionality in
> this area but again, I'm still not sure their main purpose is to support
> XYZ
> positioning.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://forum.openscad.org/3D-Builder-tp15789p15814.html
> Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> _______________________________________________
> OpenSCAD mailing list
> Discuss@lists.openscad.org
> http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org
>
>
>
