3D Printing Designs: Octopus Pencil Holder

Key Features

• Learn how to make complex shapes by editing basic ones
• Make printable objects from multiple shapes and parts
• Learn how to design from scratch, without a reference to physical objects

Book Description

This book will cover the very basic but essential techniques you need to model an organic and functional object for 3D printing using Blender.

Starting with pen and paper and then moving on to the computer, you will create your first project in Blender, add basic geometric shapes, and use techniques such as extruding and subdividing to transform these shapes into complex meshes. You will learn how modifiers can automatically refine the shape further and combine multiple shapes into a single 3D printable model.

By the end of the book, you will have gained enough practical hands-on experience to be able to create a 3D printable object of your choice, which in this case is a 3D print-ready octopus pencil holder.

What you will learn

• Get to know the guiding principles required to create 3D printer-friendly models
• Understand material characteristics, printing specifications, tolerances, and design tips
• Master the art of modifying basic shapes with Blender’s powerful editing tools: extrude, loop cuts, and other transformations
• Learn techniques of editing complex meshes, smoothing, combining shapes, and exporting them into STL files for printing

About the Author

Joe Larson is one part artist, one part mathematician, one part teacher, and one part technologist. It all started in his youth when he worked on a Commodore 64, doing BASIC programming and low-resolution digital art. As technology progressed, so did Joe’s dabbling, eventually taking him to 3D modeling while in high school and college, and he temporarily pursued a degree in computer animation. He abandoned this field for the much more sensible goal of becoming a math teacher, which he accomplished when he taught 7th grade math in Colorado. He now works as an application programmer.

When Joe first heard about 3D printing, it took root to his mind, and he went back to dust off his 3D modeling skills. In 2012, he won a Makerbot Replicator 3D printer in the Tinkercad/Makerbot Chess challenge with a chess set that assembles into a robot. Since then, his designs on Thingiverse have been featured on Thingiverse, Gizmodo, Shapeways, Makezine, and other places. He currently maintains the blog http://joesmakerbot.blogspot.in/, documenting his adventures.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Octopus Pencil Holder
Chapter 2: Prologue