How to deboss design element all the way around a sphere?

[ozonshak]

Hello.  I'm working on trying to deboss (embed) a graphic all the way around a sphere to a depth of about 0.5mm.  I've got the line I want going all the way around and meeting on the other side.  I've also been able to both raise this line above the surface of the sphere a bit (emboss) and also get it to align with the surface (as in the picture below).  With the latter, the colors of the layers seem to be blending a bit.  You can see that here:

I see this same colorization when bringing this into the slicer (Bambu Studio).  I suspect I'll get a weird color mix when trying to print this.  This is problem #1 (when the line matches the level of the sphere's surface).  If I can get this working, this might be ok as an option - I'll just have to print in 2 colors to differentiate the design elements (at the cost of some filament waste). 

But, what I'm really after is debossing this to about 0.5mm under the surface of the sphere (problem #2).  I'm more interested in that because I want this design element to be the same color as the sphere.  So far, I haven't been able to figure out a way to do this.  For what I have so far, I've been using this video for inspiration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-9GNVpYjk4

However, that is getting design elements embossed (raised) above the surface.  I want this below the surface.  I've attached my Fusion file that I have so far.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks in advance!

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

@ozonshak 

You have two solid bodies occupying the same physical space.

Not sure what you want - but check the Attached file.

[ozonshak]

Thanks for that.  I see that you did a "combine" on the sphere and the line.  This appears to have removed the blending and separated the parts.  I am only using the inner sphere (the offset sphere) to remap the surfaces of the line ("replace face") so that it could wrap properly on the outer sphere.  The outer sphere is a thickness of 2mm and the offset sphere is inside (ultimately hidden from the final rendering) at a distance of 2mm.  This allowed me to remap the inner portion of the line to the surface of the inner sphere and the outer portion of the line to the outer sphere - in essence, cutting through the entire sphere.  Your technique should allow me to truly separate these and colorize them separately.  This was my problem #1, so thanks for that!

As for the deboss approach (problem #2), I noticed that if you uncheck "keep tools" for the combine, it will actually cut through the outer sphere.  That is closer to what I'm looking for.  However, currently that cuts through the entire sphere to the open space in the middle.  I adjusted the size of the inner offset sphere to 0.5mm (down from 2mm), hid that inner sphere body, and that seems to have landed on what I'm looking for.  Not sure if the best approach, but it seems to have worked. 

I did notice a small defect in this however.  On the backside of my line where the ends meet, this seems to have left a separator in the middle (see picture).  This is obviously a defect of how I created the line and tried to bring them as close together as possible without an emboss overlap error.  Any clear way to get rid of this?



Thanks!

[TheCADWhisperer]

@ozonshak 

Click on those faces and select Delete on the keyboard.

If that doesn't solve the issue, then Attach your current file here for investigation.

[ozonshak]

That did the trick!  Thanks!

[JamieGilchrist]

Hi @ozonshak, another approach is you could build a single swept surface to intersect the sphere to make your wavy line, then split the face and use the pipe command.  If you're only using this for rendering that should be enough.

Attached this model for you to look at.