1 (edited by pirvan 2016-05-31 19:57:56)

Topic: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

As I previously posted in another thread, I decided to try my hand at printing the model of the War Machine modeled by Joe Grundfast.

http://grundfast.cgsociety.org/art/marv … 3d-1231417

This project was tackled before by before by Mattia Mercante, and the results were absolutely stunning. THis gave me the impetus to print one of my own.
http://formlabs.com/stories/mattia-merc … r-machine/

Mattia printed his model in multiple (50 or so) pieces, and enlarged it to be approximately 18" tall.  My model will be about half that. 

Joe Grundfast made his model available as 2 parts (torso and legs) in the native format he created it in, Z-Brush.  Since I'm not familiar with Z-Brush at all, I had a friend export the 2 parts to .OBJ, so I can import them into something I can manipulate.

The torso itself is about is about 500MB in size, and contains 23 million+ vertices.  This created a serious problem for me, as my system had a very hard time doing anything with the model without running out of memory (16GB).  So I ended up upgrading the memory to 24GB, and even then, it was too painfully slow.  So I reduced the mesh to half ( about 12M).

even at that size, the model was impossible to work with in either MeshLab or NetFabb.  However MeshMixer was another story.

Once I was able to load the model in MeshLab, I started to separate it into smaller groups.  This allowed me to easily work on any subset, then once done, I could recombine the groups into the bigger whole. 

Conservatively speaking, there are probably 200K discrete parts or mode in this model from tubing to bolts and screws to wiring and flying bullet casings.  So the first thing that needed to be done is to remove all the parts that could be modeled in mid air (like flying parts and casings). 

Once that was done, I started to look at what armor parts I wanted to keep that were visible and hidden.  Unfortunately that proved to be a major undertaking, as there are many tiny separate shells inside larger ones, so while I removed some stuff, there's still lots of those tiny shells still there.

Next there were many details I wanted to keep, like wires, conduits and plates, but their size was too small to print, so I had to thicken them up (bulk up the volume.  Additionally there are many parts here that are basically floating in mid air, unattached.  While that's fine for 3D rendering and animation, it doesn't work very well as a physical model.  So I had to somehow interconnect everything so it's a cohesive object.

This was done by a variety of methods.  Parts that were stacked on top of each other or next to each other had to have some connection, so I either extruded an adjacent face or a part of a face, or I used another piece primitive like a block or a cylinder between them. Next came the body itself.  Other than the hands and the face which can be seen through the partially torn face mask, there is no body inside, just the armor.  So I built a body to fit inside the armor.  Basically a crude shape that fit inside, which I then re-shaped to fit the particular areas as needed  Using the outside shape of the armor as the fixed boundary, I pushed and pulled n the body mesh until it met and connected to all the armor parts.

I also try to fix the errors present in these groups, and there are thousands of these errors (usually holes and non-manifold/crossed over triangles).  MeshMixer was able to fix some of these issues but not all, so the resulting model still had few non-manifold errors. Fortunately, PreForm's repair engine (which is built on NetFabb), was able to fix them

BTW, even with 24GB of RAM, MeshMixer would crash every 15-20 steps, so after loosing some hours of work, I got used to clicking Save every time I finished a section and mode to another step.

When I got done (or at least I think I was done, I ended up with 4 parts for the torso: the Main body, Left and right Forearms, and the Mini-gun.  In all, I think I have about 20+ hours of work in this, not counting the print job.

Printing the model:

For my first test I tried printing the main body last night.  I enlarged the model to 1.200.  The model itself would use 135ml of resin, while the supports added another 42ml, for a total of 177ml. 

Unfortunately, the print failed.  I have yet to see where exactly the model failed, or why, I'll do that tonight, but after all the work I put into it already, I'm determined to see it through, even though it might get costly.  The failed print, cost about $25 in wasted resin (@ FormLabs Resin prices).

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

2

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

WOW! what a model, can't wait to see what you end up with. I would love to see what an FDM printer can do too.

Solidoodle 3, Bulldog XL Direct Drive, Well Nut for Z axis, borosilicate glass, E3D V6 Hot end, Custom Encloser, Lawsy Carriages with Linear Bearings and Polished 8mm Chrome rods.

3 (edited by carl_m1968 2016-06-03 12:25:47)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

michaudtime wrote:

WOW! what a model, can't wait to see what you end up with. I would love to see what an FDM printer can do too.

So go for it. You have an FDM based on your signature. be the leader....  smile

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

4

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Quick Update:

As mentioned before the print failed.   One of the big advantages Mattia Mercante had over what I'm doing, is that he decided from the onset to print this model much bigger than than what I'm doing it.  This alone, I'm sure, saved him a lot of the headaches I encountered. 

Anyway, upon inspection of the printed model, I found lots of issues:

  • Very thin parts which will actually print, but are so thin, that they warp or break during curing

  • Parts that appeared solid, but in fact are hollow, with super thin walls that either didn't print, or printed warped or with holes.

  • Parts that appeared to be connected, but in fact were not, leading to support failure, and a blob of cured resin at the bottom of the vat

  • Way too many internal parts, that would never be seen, yet they take up time to print and material

  • Many small errors in the mesh, usually internal, that can't be seen, which led to print errors, like holes, or thin layers/walls that shouldn't be there.  These were due to incorrect mesh repairs done by PreForm.

So, the failure was primarily due to the errors in the mesh, not issues with the printer.  The biggest part that failed, the left arm, was due to the arm itself not being connected to the shoulder socket, rather it was floating inside with a gap between it, and socket walls.  That contributed to the arm, as well as many surrounding small parts and supports not printing and ending up a blob at the bottom of the vat.  The rest of the failures were the small details due to the parts being to small or too thin.

I'm currently in the process of separating the model into smaller parts that I can work on without crashing every 15 minutes.  I figured out a few re-meshing techniques in MeshMixer that seem to yield very good results, although the resulting meshes are about 10 times denser than the original.

I'll post more updates soon.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

5

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Here are some pictures of the failed print.  The images is pretty big (1MB), but if you want to download it, you can see the details much better

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9951

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WM print failure.jpg
WM print failure.jpg 1.06 mb, file has never been downloaded. 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

6

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

pirvan wrote:

  I figured out a few re-meshing techniques in MeshMixer that seem to yield very good results, although the resulting meshes are about 10 times denser than the original.

Is there an online tutorial you recommend (e.g. YouTube, Instructibles) to learn how to do this kind of work in MeshMixer?  I'm struggling with learning the program.

-Kevin

7 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-06 19:36:15)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Until recently, MeshMixer didn't have a manual, but a couple of months ago, one was finally released. 

http://www.mmmanual.com/

The manual has excellent explanations for most of the functions, with examples.  So I would start there.

This model was made up of many many parts, so the ability to select what I wanted, then separate them from the main model was key.  Additionally, the ability to recombine the parts back into groups, then work on these groups helped tremendously. 

I previously mentioned re-meshing; one of the functions MeshMixer has, is Make Solid.  This function basically "wraps" the model in a new mesh.  It offers a bunch of controls that allow such accurate re-mapping of the original mesh, that it virtually indistinguishable from the original.  Except you now have a single watertight mesh.

A lot of the parts in this model could not be Boolean'ed together, but the combine option provided a very nice base for Make Solid.  So for all intents and purpose, Make Solid proved to be an excellent substitute for the Boolean union function.  The only "drawback" is that in order to achieve the accuracy I wanted, the resulting mesh would be at least 10 times denser (more faces) than the original.  Which was not a big deal, as I could always reduce the mesh afterward.

Anyway, I'm really beginning to appreciate the power of this program.  So, check out the manual, and try a few things.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

8 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-15 19:51:27)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Update:

This print has been a real struggle.  Primarily because the model is most definitely NOT meant for printing.  Depending on how much detail you want to keep, it requires a hours and hours of work to remesh entire sub-assemblies.

Anyway, the upper section is finally done and printed.  I'm currently working on the lower section, the legs.

In the meantime, here are some shots of the completed portion.  Unfortunately they are not the sharpest of photos, as they were done with my phone camera while I was holding the model in the other hand. 

http://soliforum.com/i/?iRODywM.jpg

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

9 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-22 06:47:45)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Almost there...

The War Machine is finally completed.  The only thing remaining to be printed is the rock.  Looks like I'll need to use the SD3 to print that.  And of course, the model needs to be painted

http://soliforum.com/i/?YkJ7SYA.jpg

For reference I put an iPhone 4 at the bottom, to get an idea of the scale.  The model is about 11" from the bottom of the right foot to the tip of the minigun.  Even though most of the large parts are hollow, it weighs 13.4Oz

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

10

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

I painted the model flat black, it will serve as the base color/primer, but it also makes all the detail stand out.


http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9975

Post's attachments

War Machine 002sm.jpg
War Machine 002sm.jpg 937.37 kb, 3 downloads since 2016-06-24 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

11

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

That's a lot of detail for a model that size.  How much time would you estimate you've invested in this project?  How much cost in materials?

-Kevin

12

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

looking really good, pirvan!

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

13 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-24 16:00:17)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

knowack wrote:

That's a lot of detail for a model that size.  How much time would you estimate you've invested in this project?  How much cost in materials?

-Kevin

I have a lot more time in this than I ever would have anticipated.  Most of the time was in making the model printable.  I have well in excess of 100 hours in remodeling work.

The model you see was printed in 9 separate parts, totaling about 25 hours of print time and about about 3-4 hours worth of clean up. 

There were a few additional parts that were printed and failed (see earlier post), due to either disconnected parts or surfaces that were too thin, so they needed to be fixed and reprinted, so I probably have an additional 8-9 hours of those.

I still have to print the rock it stands on and the broken parts debris.  The piece is so big, it has to be separated into 4 parts to be printed.  I originally intended to use the Form 1+ to print that, but it would have used 1/2 liter of resin, which I'm not quite ready to waste on a rock.  Then I tried slicing it with Cura, but while the rock looks OK, the debris is either unrecognizable or some of the smaller parts like bullets & shell casings, are not even there.  So now I separated the debris parts from the rock, and will print the rock on the Solidoodle, and the little parts on the Form 1+, then glue them on top of the rock.

BTW, the print time to print the 4 rock quadrants on my SD3 @ .2mm is about 23 hours.  For .1mm double that. 

AS for the cost of all this, I know that so far I used a bottle resin, including the failures.  Excluding failures, I would say about 2/3 to 3/4 of a bottle, plus about 80m of filament that will go into the rock.  In all,  I have about $180+ invested in this

So, was it worth it?  For me, YES.  The final result is worth all the time and money I put in it. 

Would I make one to sell?   I doubt anyone would pay what I would charge for it.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

14 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-26 16:10:16)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Update.

More wasted time and material! 

After printing the first 2 quadrants of the rock, I realized I printed them at the wrong scale 1x instead of 1.3x).  So I'm having to restart the prints.  This is what I call an I/O Error (Idiot Operator Error) !

The original estimate for the rock was 23 hours and about 80m of filament.  The new estimate is about 41 hours and 175m of filament.

O' What Fun !!

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

15 (edited by pirvan 2016-06-27 17:01:51)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

For those that want to try printing this model, I posted links to the 2 files in standard, OBJ format in the STL sharing forum.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/15060/jo … -3d-model/

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

16

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Finally getting somewhere with this rock.  I got 3 of the parts printed and just took a few snap shots.  Here is what it looks like.

http://soliforum.com/i/?Zdn9oWS.jpg

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

17

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Here is the completed rock.

It was painted using Krylon Natural Stone Textured Charcoal finish.  The grain is fine, and it looks very realistic.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9991

Next up the broken parts debris.  I grouped the major parts together for printing, but the empty shells were giving me problems, so I modeled an empty brass shell in Solidworks, multiplied it 50 times, and imported it into Preform, where, after generating the supports, I made 2 additional copies, for a total of 150 shells.  Once cured, they will be painted in brass color, and sprinkled across the rock.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9992
http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9993

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Empty cartridges Print.jpg
Empty cartridges Print.jpg 193.59 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Empty cartridges.jpg
Empty cartridges.jpg 152.29 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

The Rock Finished small.jpg
The Rock Finished small.jpg 623.35 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

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To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

18

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

This is some awesome work! Where did you learn all of the post processing? Is it part of your daily job?

Ulitmaker 2, a few repraps, Custom Big FFF 3D printer with heated chamber.

My Blog http://ggalisky.weebly.com/
My Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXShYo … aDUpebDAOw

19

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

No, strictly hobby at the moment.  As far as where I learned it, it's basically a lot of trail and error, and the manuals.  For this particular project, I used Meshmixer almost exclusively, and the recently posted on-line manual was an invaluable tool.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

20

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Finally all the parts are printed and the only thing that remains is painting.

Today I finished painting the rock and all the debris around it.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9994
http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=9995


Next up painting the War Machine.

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Rock+debris Final detail.jpg
Rock+debris Final detail.jpg 637.83 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Rock+debris Final.jpg 699.17 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

21 (edited by pirvan 2016-07-07 04:54:47)

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Here is a teaser while I get all the fine details painted.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=10002

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War Machine 003.jpg 1.6 mb, 2 downloads since 2016-07-07 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

22

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Wow! Looking really good! smile

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

23

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Looks amazing!

FuseBox 1.5 CoreXY - e3dv6 - Graphic Smart Display
Solidoodle 2 - e3dv6 - Hobb Goblin - e3d Titan - lawsy carriages - Direct Drive Y Axis - T8 Z axis - OctoPi

24

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Well...  It's finally done.

I took a break from it last week, but today, I finally got to put the make up on.

The only thing remaining is to find, or make a display case.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=10017

Post's attachments

War Machine Final - small.jpg
War Machine Final - small.jpg 1.13 mb, 4 downloads since 2016-07-18 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

25

Re: War Machine Print - Do or Die Trying

Fantastic work!!

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!