From an idea to a real 3D printable design takes quite some effort. Much comes down to the kind of material you want it to be printed and what kind of machine is to be used. And during the design process especially small details can be overlooked sometimes. Luckily a 3D printing service like Shapeways can check your design first, just like I.Materialise. But only Shapeways offers a build in problem fixer. And in most cases it solves the challenges, allthough the result might not be expected that the way it was supposed too.
To be honest, I really got a bit frustrated, current 3D printing turned out to be less evolved than I expected/ hoped. And I mean the ones offered by 3D printing services. Or I could think that most of my 3D designs are not yet ready to be 3D printed at once, buy still need some tinkering done. And sometimes it is really just a small thing that needs to be changed. Going for ceramics for instance means absolutely no small details. Wall thickness is at a minimum of 3 millimeters. 3D printing in precious metals does have less limits, except the price maybe.
Some will 3D print fine, many need fixing, a few will not work, yet
The Steem Pendant design really gave no problem for most precious metals and a lot of plastics. And some other pendants did test printable too. And Shapeways really fixed some 3D designs in a minor way that was acceptable to me, but a lot of them need to be redesigned. Where of some I have to except that they cannot be 3D printed with current state of technology available to me. Now that was somewhat disappointing, but I do see how the Steem logo is tricky when used in ceramics, or any material that has a detail limit. And ceramics does. So the Steem logo should be made more blunt. Those sharp points need to go.
Now the mugs and so on will be 3D printable, like most, but the result for a lot will not be like they were supposed to be. And allthough Shapeways offers a quick fix, it did not make me happy when I saw the end result. Okay, they made it 3D printable, but it actually meant for me, back to the drawingboard. Allthough at least I could have a go at the Steem Pendant to be 3D printed. It work in plastic too, at a few dollar / euro price allready. And things like the Golden Ratio Triad pendant will 3D print in Frosted material, that could look quite awesome.
So if you want to improve the designs to work, be my guest. All my 3D printable, supposed too, designs are released under creative commons by sa license. That means you can use it commercially too. But be aware, no warranty what so ever from me. You always need to have the designs checked first, I.Materialise and Shapeways offer that service, with a clear view where you might expect printing problems. And in some cases Shapeways actually fixes things nicely. Or you need to scale up a bit in size, to fix walls that are just a bit too thin.
3D printing services and tools
Allthough I.Materialise is a 3D printing service with a lot of different material types, it looks like Shapeways offers just some more services. They have a lot of different tools to make 3D designs in a browser or by uploading 2d bitmaps. Both support designs in TinkerCad, straight from the Browser App. Have not tried Sketch Up yet, like @cryptos adviced in his great, SteemIt original, 3D printing course, but maybe I will do so in the future. (When I'm less frustrated...)
When you are new to this 3D printing expect some real challenges ahead. What material do you want to have your designs printed in, for example. Ceramics are relatively cheap at I.Materialise for instance, but it does offer very limited details. So this could mean that it is a lot of trial and error. Some things just don't work the way you might want to them happen. Always have them checked first, it is a free service Shapeways and I.Materialise offer.
So if you think you can make all of my designs 3D printable, then be my guest. Always like to be amazed by other people their talent. Thats why I made mine available as free culture.
CC-BY-SA
All my 3D printables, that were supposed to be so, designs can be downloaded from my BOX folder. (.STL filetype)
3D printing design tools
As promoted by I.Materialise: CLICK HERE for the page.
The ones Shapeways promoties: CLICK HERE for that page.
Enjoy!