A school in desperate need of help!

[imaprinter]

Hello community! My name is Howard and I am a Graphic Arts & Imaging teacher in Ohio. I am in my 26th year of teaching and I was a Graphic Arts/Printing student myself. Back in the day of school, I handset type and used a Linotype machine to cast metal type. Graduating in the early 80's I did see the end of letterpress and the introduction of phototypesetting which was a boon for Offset. Digital was only being dreamed of in those days. Working in the industry (at a newspaper) I was able to see the introduction of computer typesetting and the rise of the macintosh in the graphics industry. By the time I became a teacher in 1988 Macintosh was becoming the imaging device of choice and laserprinters were on the rise. As time has went by it has been very DIFFICULT to try and keep up with technology. The program I run has finally in the last few years, truly developed a current equipment. At my school we have 24 iMacs (36" monitors) 8 full color and 1 B & W output devices. We have a 44" wide format print device. A 6 color 4 station screen printing press. 8 digital cameras, a full bindery for our print output.

This year we were also able to purchase an Orion 3D printer. I am excited to offer to my students the ability to stay AHEAD instead of behind in technology for a change. We have been able to set-up and stumble through a few projects, but I REALLY REALLY need some help moving forward! I want to describe what we have done so far and ask one of you experts to help me develop worksheets and information sheet to allow my student to print their own designs!

1.) We have ALL macintosh computers. The Orion we are using is connected by USB. The software we are using to print is Matter Control. We have been able to print preexisting file. After many difficulties we have discovered the following: The print bed glass must be cleaned completely and adhesive (gluestick) applied evenly without heat. When heating the print bed must be set according the material being used. We are using ABS - not PLA. We needed to set the heat correctly. We discovered when we follow these procedures things workout correctly.

2.) My goal is for my students to be able to create (or use) an ORIGINAL design. For example: The chess piece KING with the character of SONIC on the top. We would make this image in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. But with this image, what do we do or use next to make it a 3D printable file? and how do we import that into matter control.

3.) I want to create a detail set of rubrics for my students to be able to create simple 3D projects, not from pre-existing files, but ORIGINAL files!

If any of you can help me please email directly to [email protected] I will be watching this post and crossing my fingers. I only have 8 years before retirement, but I do not want "coast" I want to remain current and take my program into the future. Please consider help me!!!

[Eaglezsoar]

Howard, welcome to the Forum!
The program that you use to create the original file must be able to export the file as an STL file.
The STL file is then processed by a slicer program such as Matter Control.
Photoshop and Illustrator do not have an option to export to an STL file.
There is Photoshop CC that will allow you to export what you create to an STL file.
I am not sure if Photoshop CC will run on a macintosh computer or the cost of the software to schools.
See this link: http://www.3dgeni.us/photoshop-cc-adds- ... 3d-layers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There are other programs that will create a 3D image and export to an STL, Google search for cad software that has export to stl.
The key to what you want to do is to find the appropriate 3D design drawing or Cad software that the school can afford but remember
that the software has to have the ability to export to an STL.
Please use this thread for additional questions or comments.

[geneb]

Howard, have you seen SeeMeEducate yet? Here's a link: http://seemecnc.com/pages/seemeeducate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

g.

[teoman]

I highly recommend fusion 360. It is a good engineering tool and it also has a sculpt mode which may be more useful for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igLXNO7rwpk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[imaprinter]

I very much appreciate the replies I have gotten about the first post I made here. Because of the guidance I have been hard at work learning about STL files, resizing existing 3D designs and the many options that are available to print. I have started using Matter Control exclusively with our Orion printer. I also found out the hard way why it is important to set the controls for ABS instead of PLA! I have been establishing worksheets and information sheets for my class to follow when they wish to operate the printer and/or swap out color filament.

I was also directed to look around SeeMe Educate for direction, which I have not been able to do yet. I thought perhaps if I was a little more specific in what I am hoping to accomplish someone out there in Forum-land could pass along some tips and advice.

I teach a traditional Graphic Arts class, that has made the conversion from Offset printing to full color digital printing over the last 8 years. We also have screen printing and wide format printing. I typically recruit 2 types of students 1- Artsy Fartsy original artist and 2 production oriented kids. The idea of adding 3 D printing is my own, because I had vowed to attempt to remain as current and relevant as possible.

I am hopeful to assign my students projects like development of a board game, which would involve the design and print of a game board, which could be laminated on chip board. Printed materials like game money, cards etc. and 3D printed tokens and game pieces. Perhaps even the dice if the game called for it. I am looking for the appropriate software to be able to design and then 3D print ORIGINAL images. To test out the printers capabilities I thought I would try to print an original image for my young son. I attempted to print a Sonic the Hedgehog. The full body was too small and the legs caused the print to fail. I spent a million hours trying to find out how to simply enlarge an image - when stupid me, I realized I could do that in the Matter Control Print que, I just forgot to SAVE then continue last time (boy do I feel stupid).

But I was also looking for some software to put the sonic into and crop to just Sonic's head. Holy Cow, I can't find any software that is just simple. I consider myself a semi-expert in Photoshop and a novice in Illustrator . . . but most importantly I am a 50 year old. I hate the idea of learning a software from scratch. I will have the summer months to take some classes and/or experiment more.

So in a nutshell I am looking for information, software and ideas and directions for myself and my students to be able to create ORIGINAL designs (should these designs be vector or Raster?) to print on our Orion Delta 3D printer!!! I am hopeful we will be purchasing 2 additional 3D printers for my program (larger and more capabilities) I honestly don't understand (yet) mesh and how that is created. I don't understand much of it yet, but I am willing to learn.

I feel like I have come such a very long way from filament that wouldn't stick to the print bed, and incorrect temps . . . To Aqua Net and getting the settings right and now being able to resize. How about this, my son like Sonic or Mario and his name is Jake. I want to have 1 of those characters holding the letters JAKE. How do I do it, the best, easiest and most cost effective way.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[kevinepope]

MatterControl developer here. It's worth mentioning that there is a plugin within MatterControl called the Image Converter that takes flat image files (.jpg or .png) and turns them into printable models. Sounds like that is what you were hoping for with the Sonic image. You can get to it by clicking on the 'Create' button at the bottom of the 'Queue'. Normally the plugin is $15 but we often donate to schools and libraries - if you think it will work for you PM me for an unlock code.

[Eaglezsoar]

The Seemecnc Educate is located at this link: http://seemecnc.com/pages/seemeeducate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Delve into it further because it was designed for educators like yourself.

So you now know the need for an STL file and are probably concerned which software to use for your 3d printer.
One that is used extensively by members of our forum is called DesignSpark Mechanical which is free software to
design and create 3D printer compatible files. Use this link to check it out: http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/el ... mechanical" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It comes in 32 or 64 bit downloads not sure if it run on MacOS.
Please use some of the links you have been given especially the SeeMecnc Educate.
Please use this thread to communicate with us, creating new threads just confuse us.




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[stonewater]

I use 123D Design, they have a huge suite of free programs including a cature program (123Dcatch) that will convert pictures into an STL file for printing. there is also a huge library of tutorials online on youtube.

Tom C

[Kevinvandeusen]

Adobe products are free to educators.

[barnett]

FYI I just exported an STL from Adobe Photoshop CC 2014.2.2 Release. There's a 3D menu with tools, etc. I loosely followed the first tutorial google found searching for photoshop STL.

I don't usually design parts with photoshop though. My 6th grader uses Sketchup (which his school introduced to kids in 3rd grade!). I like to use OpenSCAD or Rhino. There are many, many choices out there and it seems to be changing all the time.