So we're going to modify our workflow to allow a computer to make all those small, complex, quasi-random texture dips and divots for us: That works great for engineering shapes, but there are a lot more textures found in nature:Ĭan you imagine trying to model any of those in CAD? Like, actually making a sketch and trying to extrude those shapes in your 3D models? That would take forever, right?īut sometimes in 3D printing you want models that have those types of textures on outside surfaces, for realism. YOU had to manually move faces, planes, features around, adding holes or fillets one by one. Readers of my previous tutorial will know, for a simple full-color workflow, you can just add one more step, inserting a program like Photoshop or Rhino which can successfully map textures onto VRML files:īut in both those workflows, any changes to your 3D shape were done in your CAD program, and by a human. For single-color, FDM prints you can just import the native files into GrabCAD Print and print them: Printing CAD shapes on 3D printers is pretty simple. Files were then printed in full color on a Stratasys J750. Mainly we use Rhino to do the displacement-mapping, but Photoshop could be used as well. This tutorial covers how to use 2D images to create actual 3D depth and physical textures on your CAD parts and then 3D print them.
