Submitted 8 months ago by lal309@lemmy.world to 3dprinting@lemmy.world
What software do I need to use to create a 3D wireframe of an object such an imported stl?
Essentially, I’d like to create something like this out of an existing stl (preferably) or created by hand if needed?
I’m not quite sure what you’re asking. Are you wanting to take an existing .stl file and create from it an .stl file with, say, cylinders where all the edges in the original .stl file are?
Say I have an stl of car. I would like to take that stl and import it into , push some buttons and sprinkle fairy dust to create a wireframe of said car (like in the link provided in the post) the export that wireframe to an stl, svg, or whatever I can to be used on my laser or printer.
Alternatively, if such “import” feature does not exist, then use to manually create the wireframe of a car then export it the same way as above.
And when you say "laser or printer" here, are you referring to a 2d printer, or a 3d printer?
The questions are because, fundamentally, a wireframe image like the one you linked is just a different way of rendering the same file. So if what you want is literally an image like this, then there are tools to do that, which will depend a bit on what operating system you're using. Blender, as mentioned in another comment, is one such option.
If, on the other hand, what you want is a 3d printable structure that resembles a wireframe rendering of the object, that's a more complicated task. The STL file just lists the triangles that make up the surface of the object; in order to make a solid structure that resembles this, you'd need to create a solid (e.g. a cylinder, maybe with balls at the ends) for every edge in the file (3n / 2 edges for n triangles, since every edge in a properly printable ["manifold"] STL is shared by two triangles) and then takes a boolean union of all of them. I don't think a tool to do this exists currently, as it's a rather specialized need, but it wouldn't be too hard to throw together a python script that could take an STL file and generate an OpenSCAD script that you could then render with OpenSCAD to get the STL.
An STL by definition is a triangle mesh already. Blender has plugins to import and export STL files and all kinds of other file types.
dack@lemmy.world 8 months ago
docs.blender.org/manual/en/…/wireframe.html
Alternatively, if you just want a render of it and not a 3D print, then there are also various ways to do it with shaders and renderer settings.
lal309@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Okay I’ll check this out. I’ve not touched Blender out of intimidation. Every time I install it, I’m just overwhelmed with the insane amount of buttons and levers you can pull or push.
I guess it’s time to sit down, bite down on a stick and do it.
dack@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Asking a wireframe modifier is pretty simple - I’m sure you’ll do fine with that.
If you want to get into modeling in blender, I highly recommend the donut tutorial series by blenderguru. It’s on YouTube.