Generating 3d print supports

[lukepighetti]

Hello all,

The meshmixer 3d print supports are great for organic models, not so much mechanical models!

Simplify3d seems to be best slicer for desktop 3d printer support generation.. very easy to remove and you can add/delete manually. However, the program costs about $130 and other than fast slicing the only real added value is support generation.

Would there be some way to generate zigzag supports based on a projection in Fusion? We'd have to define support thickness and also spacing, for example, 0.2mm thick and 4mm spacing. Could then use combine to cut away the extra support material.

[TimeraAutodesk]

Hi Luke,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm curious to understand a few things:

- Why do you think the support tools in MeshMixer are not good for mechanical model printing?

- What printer are you currently printing on?

- What material are you printing with?

- What purpose are you printing for (prototypes or final production parts?)

You can certainly model your own supports in Fusion, and bring them into MeshMixer (or any other third-party print utility) as a unique part for final prep along with your model as a workaround today.

Also note that we have two pretty exciting things coming up for Fusion in regards to 3D printing. 

      1. We have been partnering with the Autodesk Spark team on their work on a new printing utility, and we will be offering Spark's Print Studio as a Tech Preview for Fusion users in the next update. Print Studio has the slicing capabilities you're looking for, as well as the ability to generate unique supports based on a specific printer for optimization.

      2. We are continuing to work on a 3D Print workspace within Fusion, so that the entire fabrication process is available within the Fusion environment. We don't have a release date yet for that, but you can expect to see it sometime this year. 

Let us know if you have any other questions, and any additional input as to what your thoughts on "good" support structures for mechanical vs organic modeling would be welcome.

Best,

Timera

[lukepighetti]

Hi Timera,

- Why do you think the support tools in MeshMixer are not good for mechanical model printing?

MeshMixer generates 'tree' style supports that don't provide any kind of meaningful grid to support a hanging surface that needs to be flat. On the Mac version of Meshmixer I am unable to do any custom generation. When I make changes to the settings and click "generate support" it just goes "bonk bonk bonk" and a dialog pops up for a split second and disappears. Meshmixer also uses the ridiculous trade mark Autodesk Z out coorindate system which is enough to make me want to throw my laptop out the window! 🙂

- What printer are you currently printing on?

Flashforge Dreamer

- What material are you printing with?

ABS normally, PLA rarely

- What purpose are you printing for (prototypes or final production parts?)

Prototypes

How meshmixer generates supports:

How Simplify3d's fantastic supports are generated

[lukepighetti]

We just need some way to generate that squiggly line under a projection and be able to control thickness and spacing! 🙂

[lukepighetti]

Hi Timera, I may have to eat my words about the supports. Trying out meshmixer supports now and its looking promising. Any chance you guys have 3d print specific tools on the road map for the future?

Can someone point me in the right direction for API for creating geometry that is bounded by a closed sketch?

I tried using "web" to thicken and extrude a squiggle i had drawn but it wanted to generate 3d geometry parallel to the sketch plane?? 

Thanks

Luke

[marshaltu]

Hello Luke,

We have supported to create geometry by Extrude/Revolve/Sweep with a closed sketch in API. You could refer to those sample scripts(e.g. SpurGear, Bolt, Bottle and Pipe etc) in Script Manager or the link http://fusion360.autodesk.com/resources and read API help in Programming Interface.

Unfortunately "Thicken" feature wasn't supported yet. It will be availabe in future releases. Please let us know if you have any issues how to use API. We could provide you specific sample codes if you give more details about your workflow. 

Thanks,

Marshal

[lukepighetti]

Hi marshaltu,

I'm most concerned about generating the 2d geometry. I'd like to write a script that throws a window up allowing you to select a profile (projected 2d sketch of 3d print overhang) and then punch in width and thickness and offset and have it generate 2d geometry that meet these constraints. . It would be best if it were a series of lines connected by tangent arc, as this prints the fastest. The user could then do an extrude to, or extrude and combine. I don't know if this sort of thing can be done easily with python and API

that would be ideal, but perhaps too complicated for script work

Thanks

Luke

[marshaltu]

Hello,

Thank you for detailed information. It would be great if you can give a specific example(plus snapshots) to demostrade what you want to do? For example: what the input looks like? what is the result you expect by script running?

Thanks,

Marshal