First 3D prints

So, things with the Makerbot thing-o-matic are moving along nicely. I've had a few accidents but nothing too serious or costly. Machines can be so idiosyncratic! In the flickr window below are some examples of print jobs:



On the evolving front, I've rather taken to a program called OpenSCAD. Instead of drawing 3D objects with a pointer device (like a mouse, or scribe) you code objects. This means that dimensions and positions are explicitly stated. I find this much more relaxing as I do not have to fiddle with dimensions and view perspectives. I think this will also suit the evolutionary approach, as the text description of 3D models would be easy to generate as output from something like the C programming language.

This might sound like a backwards and horrible way to do it. However, OpenSCAD retains the 3D render of your object, which is easily used to quickly check and adjust your model. Here is a screen shot:

Describing 3D models is not as hard as I thought it might be. Here is a cyclinder:

cyclinder( h = 5, r = 4.5 );

And to subtract a cylinder from a cube (as if carving one from another):

difference() {
     cube( [ 10, 10, 10 ] );
     cylinder( h = 5, r = 4.5 ); 
}

Where 'h' is height, 'r' is radius, and the triplet in brackets represents a cube dimensions x,y,z.

The other good thing is being able to plan out a drawing, and then group that drawing into a module. You can then start another drawing, and call your previously defined modules as a component, and treat it like any other shape primitive. This could be key to creating printable, modular forms to evolve.

Great!