3D printing

[Arcadia]

Are any plug-ins or extra software or whatever needed to print Archicad models in a 3D printer? What is the process and has anyone got some experience in this?

[Erika Epstein]

check what formats the printer you are planning to use can import. 3ds, IFC are two that I've worked with.

Also, do a search here for 3D printing, there is a firm in NY state that did a nice presentation for the process. Also Zcorp,the manufacturer, has been very helpful and has some demos on their website, or did, have not checked recently.

[Arcadia]

It seems I may need to export to a stereolithography file (.stl extension) for most 3D printers. I can't see any way to do this natively in Archicad so I guess its going to be a 2 step process somehow. Not a big deal just curious at this stage in case I have an opportunity to so.

[Erika Epstein]

Which printer are you using?

[Arcadia]

I'm not using or planning to use any particular printer yet and don't own one. I'm just finding out a bit about the process as I have a couple of idea's about 3D printing. There is a 3D printing service I have found in a nearby city who states that they only take stl files so I would need a conversion process.

[Anonymous]

I was able to take an archicad building model, export to Cinema4D as a .3ds -- then export the model as a .stl - then upload the model to www.Shapeways.com

It will give you a price quote. Great company!

[Anonymous]

Now that .stl export is supported in 17, has anyone revisited 3D printing?

How are you punching out windows in the STL file? Right now the only workaround is opening the file in another program to fix and delete glazing (usually by 3DS or OBJ export as the stl files come in like garbage). Am I doing something wrong?

It appears the exporter treats all surfaces equally, It would be nice to add a hook into the AC17 exporter that allowed us to turn glazing on or off.

Thoughts?

[Barry Kelly]

Why not just add an option in the window objects to not show the glazing?
Maybe some windows have this option already?
I don't know as I don't use the default Archicad windows.
It could even be set as a Model View Option so you can globally turn all glazing on/off.

Mind you the centre frames of the window would be very fragile in the model and you would need to add a lot of interior detail rather than just the external detail of the building.

Barry.

[Francois_MCD]

flamingjawa & Barry

To remove all glazing panes from the model is easy. You just Convert the Windows to Morphs. For this specific workflow I would first save the ArchiCad model to a new file name because you want to keep the original model with windows as objects.

Then in the new file (for STL Export) you Convert the Windows to Morphs and delete all glass panes. You do the same to elements that might be to thin or will end up being very fragile in the final printed model. Convert to Morph and expand them a little just enough to give them a bit more stability. Depending on the scale of the 3D Printed model you intend to produce you might even want to think about just making all windows & doors as simple empty openings. Save the ArchiCad file and export to STL.
This workflow is when you REALLY Have to edit the model for some special reason.

The best and fastest way is to use this simple standard feature in ArchiCad by just filtering all element types out from the 3D Window settings (see screenshot below). Super Easy! 🙂

You can read more here http://www.archicadwiki.com/StlFor3dPrinting
This page has a nice list of useful Tips and Tricks to save you time and get what you want.

I hope this makes sense.
Regards