mzagorski Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Hey, Im wondering if anyone here has experience of making architectural models in Max then having them made using stereolithography? I would like to do this with a student project... but not sure if Im going to encounter any nightmares! Im also looking for any photos of STL machines for a dissertation that Im writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Not exactly, but we did make models with UCLA's CNC table. Nothing spectacular, but it only had two axiis. Look at a recent article in Arch Rec with examples. Thom Mayne's (my teacher and advisor that over saw our milling, or rather, had us do it) just bought one for his firm (http://www.morphosis.net) and the results look spectacular!! Greg Lynn is another to look at. It's been going on for a while, I'd say at least 5-7 years. Lynn had some full 3D made when I was there (ugly as hell and not cheap). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Nichols Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Ironically, Morphosis and Greg Lynn are actually using the same machine... It is a great machines done my a company called Zcrop. Check them out at http://www.zcorp.com. Actually, when I say they are using the same machine, I mean the exact same machine. Greg Lynn has been using the machine at Tom Mayne's office which is located in their model shop. I've actually seen it, and it does some great stuff. Some sort of exchange program between the two... Pretty cool stuff all around. The advantage of Max/Viz (and I believe FormZ) is that they output stl files which is what the machine reads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzagorski Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 Thanks for the replies so far. I also contacted 3dsystems.com who make a beast of a machine - the SL-7000 ... see if I can get some hi-res photos out of them. I would like to have my model of a student project created from an STL file.. but Im just wondering if there are anything that I should / shouldnt to. I know that the model has to be a 'watertight' object... but maybe there are other things that I need to watch out for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 We had problems with the normals, but that's 'cause we took it from Form-Z. It all eventually worked, though. Christopher - I'll bet that UCLA paid for the machine! The politics are crazy there. It's pretty ironic, because the first thing Mayne tells you is that no one is to use Maya in his class, it must be Form-Z, then Greg tells everyone they must use Maya. Do you have any idea how much it cost them? The milling machine we had was supposed to cost around $70k, but no one knew for sure. All we knew was that we paid for (us, the students). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizzy Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 be sure to run the STL-check.. its under utilities.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzagorski Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 I was just reading up on MIT's 3DP info... - http://www.mit.edu/~tdp/whatis3dp.html "3D Printing can form any material that can be obtained as a powder - which is just about any material." Hmm... does that mean we could make models out of cocaine? :???: LOL **Architects caught in smuggling incident** "Honest guv... its just a model" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kid Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I modelled a mobile phone design which I was going to get 3d printed. I used Rhino to model it and Rhino has many analysis tools to check for errors like holes, bad seams, kinks and ripples, etc. These are links to Rhino support forum: Web-based forum - http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnewsweb.exe?cmd=xover&group=rhino Newsreader based forum - http://news://news.rhino3d.com/rhino There are many industrial and automotive modellers/designers there who can give you indepth information and point you to more. I asked a lot of questions there when I was working on my phone and got a lot of help. [ January 21, 2003, 05:26 AM: Message edited by: kid ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O+ Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 mzagorski, you're right to keep the model 'watertight', but you also want to make sure your thicknesses throughout(walls/columns/slabs...) are thick enough for the scale you're going to be printing at. A big problem we had at first with our z-corp machine was learning minimum thicknesses as they related to printed scaler sizes. All fine detail has to be rethought out when printing at 1:500-1000-etc... for example, a printed model holds together best when thinnest pieces aren't under 1/16" thick (real scale) you need to watch where loads are in models too, as the zcorp material is non-structural,if they're top heavy they will crush themselves/topple over, etc.. now most of our models are hybrid z-corp (for complex geometry,etc) + traditional modeling (metals, finer details, etc) + etc,etc(resins/lighting/etc)...it's faster to let the machine do what it does best, and add the details with the right materials. hope this helps you somewhat, ed hatcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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