Modelling in ArchiCAD for 3D printing

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I am currently using ArchiCAD 21 to modell things for 3D printing of architecture models and everything was going fine till the actual printing procedure came. The printer used was PreForm Form 2. The problem is depicted in an attached photo. In some places flat surfaces came out with those strange diagonal lines... At first I thought the problem was with the printer itself, but after getting in contact with the technical support no issues with the device were found as well as some models exported from SketchUP came out perfect. This drove me to thinking I must be doing something wrong in ArchiCAD?
I also attach a link to the .pln file of a model.

[Karl Ottenstein]

You don't give much information about HOW you are getting your model from ARCHICAD to your 3D printer. STL format? Other?

Take a look at these threads discussing 3D printing from ARCHICAD. Note that it is a Google search, as the search function of this forum will not locate keywords as short as 2 characters ("3D") - but Google will:

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=65QVW5eiNenU0gKOtZGwAw&q=%223D+Printing%22+sit...

Wow. Crazy long link. Basically, enter this in the Google search box:
"3D Printing" site:archicad-talk.graphisoft.com

[Anonymous]

I save it directly from ArchiCAD by Save As... command and use the .stl format. Then I often use PreForm App to check it for mistakes/solidity. There always seems to be a problem with something in the model and I have to click 'Repair' (also with SketchUp models), but the difference is that SketchUp models come out fine, and ArchiCAD not so well...

[Anonymous]

I'm not familiar with the Formlabs SLA printers but I've done a fair bit of 3D printing from ArchiCAD and never seen anything like that.
I generally use Netfabb (free version) to repair STLs exported from ArchiCAD, you could try that first.
Are the lines parallel to the printing base? Like, was the model printed at an angle to make it fit? Is the model drawn in multi-layer materiels or solid? Your pln link seems to be dead.

I think the first step should be to inspect the output from the slicer software to see if the lines exist on the data being sent to the printer (IE the slicer is misinterpreting something in the STL) or if the slicer output looks normal (no lines) and the printer is printing something other than the data sent to it (IE a problem with the printer)

I also think you'll get more useful help on the Formlabs forums, or maybe reddit