This week’s task was to scan and prep an object to be 3D printed. To begin the session, Des spoke about the different methods of fabrication that work to print physical objects. We spoke about ABS, PLA and flexible printing in terms of materials. During this session, we also talked about the different software that could be used to edit and fix 3D scans (eg. Meshmixer or Meshlab). For the ease of use, I chose to use Meshmixer as it was free to download and seemed to be the easiest to pick up.

We then went over to the 3D printing suite to further understand the process of 3D printing. At the 3D printing suite, Des gave us a demo of the 3D scanning process using the university scanners. we were told to be slow and to maintain a consistent distance from the object that we would be scanning. This would allow the software to fully scan to the best of its ability.

We then finished the session by taking it in turns to 3D scan an object of our choice. For this, I chose to scan my camera (shown below).

The end result of my scan looked like this when loaded into meshmixer;

As a result of the scanning process, the scanner also picked up data from the table that the camera was sat on. In order to remove this, I used the select tool to select just the surface (seen in orange in the image below) and then used the ‘x’ shortcut on my keyboard to remove the surface.

Following this, I then used the ‘make solid’ tool to ensure that any gaps in the object were filled (seen below).

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the class where we 3D printed the scans due to external complications. However, I would love to further understand the process in the future and finish a project involving 3D printing.

I am pleased with the scan I was able to make, however I feel that I could possibly do a better job if I had more time and multiple attempts to scan the object with more detail.