How to prepare a Low poly Surface with too many holes for 3d Print

[Anonymous]

Hi guys, 

I'm not an expert on 3ds Max, I usually design with Solid works and print my model easily. recently one of my friends asked me to print his model (A tower) which he designed in 3ds MAX . the main problem is a surface on this building (attached below) that has too many small open area (not water tight)  I searched a lot how to solve this problem , using Meshmixer Inspector (Auto repair) wouldn't help much since it removes the surface entirely 😐

Using Curve/Cap/shell /etc  in max doesn't solve this problem either (or I cant use it correctly) . 

would you please help me find a solution to make this surface printable ?

[blakestone]

What you have here is a CAD model converted to a Mesh which almost never works as it's not an accurate conversion it's more an interpretation of the CAD model hence all the issues. Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this other than to manually correct the affected areas. 'weld vertices' will assist to a point but there is still a lot of work here. Because your model is symmetrical you can slice it down the centre and focus on fixing only one side and then clone it using the 'symmetry' modifier a the end.

If this is purely for printing I would recommend printing the original CAD model instead of investing the time trying to correct the converted mesh.

[Anonymous]

Dear blakestone, 

thanks for your reply ,   

I asked  my friend if he convert this model and he said this is the original design , 

but if there is no way other than modifying it manually , i'm going to use weld tool 

[bob.bernstein]

This model is not "manifold", many (possibly all) of the polygons are infinitely thin.  I applied a "backface cull" to the object, and much of it disappeared, from one angle or another.  I also noted the design includes many holes, but if the model were completed in 3d, those holes may not cause a problem.  

I applied a "shell" modifier, and it looks ok to me.  Of course this is art, and the artist may disagree.  Still you need to present something physically possible to a printer!