#123D DESIGN 3D PRINT HOW TO#
#123D DESIGN 3D PRINT SOFTWARE#

Repeat the process for the arm, and tada, you'll have holes that go straight through the body and arm. It'll look like nothing happened, but that's because we made a duplicate of the tall cylinder. Go to Combine > Subtract again, and select the body, then select the tall cylinder as Source. This makes a duplicate of the shape in the same place. There are two parts that we want to make holes in, so select the tall cylinder, copy and paste, then just hit return or click off of the shape.

Next you'll want to make the holes for the hinge axle, which is what the thin, tall cylinder is for. If the hole reaches the top or bottom of the body shape, undo and make sure the large cylinder is centered vertically. The arm and small cylinder should still be there. It should give you a nice chunk out of the side of the body, centered so that there is still body above and below it. First select the body (target), then the large cylinder (source), and hit return (or enter, or whatever your keyboard likes). The tall cylinder still needs to go through everything.įirst is to cut the large cylinder shape out of the body. The large cylinder goes midway up the side of the body, the limb goes midway up the side of the large cylinder. Once it's in place, ungroup them.įinally, you'll need to align the parts vertically. The small cylinder should be far enough from the edge so that it can form a proper hole.

Group the arm, large cylinder, and small cylinder together, then shift the group to intersect with the body. Adjust the location or size of the limb as needed. It can be tricky to check, unless you look at it from beneath the plate (or select all of those parts and hit spacebar to flip them beneath the plate. Mouse over the arm/leg/chainsaw and make sure that the cylinder is centralized on the end of the arm, with enough space on the arm to make it a hole in the arm, and not just take a bite out of the side. Create the cylinder and then you can then drop it to the platform using the 'd' key. Mousing around from above, you'll find that it wants to snap to the middle. It doesn't matter how much taller, just so that it goes all the way through.Ĭentering the cylinder is easiest if you create it on top of the larger cylinder. The cylinder should be taller than the total size of your monster.

#123D DESIGN 3D PRINT HOW TO#

I like using wire or 1.75mm filament (I'll show you how to make easy pins from 3D printing filament in another step), and 1.3mm radius is a good size for that. The radius of this will vary based on what material you use for the axle. You'll also want to make a thin cylinder to serve as the axle hole for your arm/leg/severed-head. Move the arm so that the spot where you want the hole is aligned pretty close to the center of the new cylinder. The diameter of the cylinder should be about three times larger than the widest part of the end of your arm/leg/whatnot so that it has room to turn and can still be far enough from the edge. This will be the shape you use to cut out the opening where the moving parts will attach. Perhaps larger or smaller would serve your monster better.Ĭreate a cylinder a couple millimeters taller than your arm/legs. There should be at least 3 or 4mm above and below the arm/leg, so 6-8mm shorter. You can move them next to the body shape to check the size. The articulated body parts will be separate shapes and need to be just a bit shorter than the body. I've detailed some body joints in a previous Instructable, the hinge joint we're using here for the limbs allows them to move along just one plane, and is super simple. Once you've got your vector drawing how you want it, export it as an SVG file (the arms/legs/tentacles can be saved in the same file) and pop over to 123D Design.

#123D DESIGN 3D PRINT SOFTWARE#

The more complicated the shape, the more the software is likely to get bogged down. You can also use Edit > Path > Simplify to give your sketch even fewer points. It will make your life easier if you simplify your vector sketch to single lines and get rid of any extras. If you want to make your creature articulated (arms and legs that move), you'll need to separate them from the body. You can use a pen tool to trace the lines, or rebuild it with shapes, OR, if you're using Illustrator like I did, you can use Live Trace, which can be quicker and easier. Once you have it on the computer, import it into your vector software. If you've done your drawing on a computer (especially if you've done it in a vector graphics editor), you're a step ahead of the game. You can use a regular scanner, a clear digital photograph, or a scanning app for your mobile device such as TinyScan. Assuming you've drawn your creature by hand, you'll want to scan it.

123d design 3d print