Discussion Closed This discussion was created more than 6 months ago and has been closed. To start a new discussion with a link back to this one, click here.
Smooth 3D Prints
Posted Oct 1, 2020, 9:11 a.m. EDT RF & Microwave Engineering, General, Geometry Version 5.4 2 Replies
Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam
Hi,
I print some 3D objects modeled in COMSOL by means of a 3D printer. However they are not so smooth. I added a 3D print photo to this post, which is produced from a sphere by using some simple boolean operations. I expected that its surface is smooth but it is kind of polygon which consists 28 plane surfaces. I know it cannot have perfect smooth curves but I think it would be better.
What should I do before exporting my model into STL file to get a smooth curved surfaces?
Thanks.
Attachments:
Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam
Hi,
Comsol does not provide any settings for STL export. However, offers a lot of tools for mesh geometries when imported. Therefore an easiest shortcut would be to export your finalized geometry as .STL (binary preferabbly) and then import using mesh part branch under global definitions (as seen in "meshrefinement.png"). There, you will have refinement operations which may help you increase polygon count. Still this may not reflect on exported parts.
Useful way to follow is to use a CAD software that has mesh manipulation tools. In such softwares you may increase polygon count permenantly.
Attached is an example sphere geometry drawn in COMSOL and exported as STL (sphere_comsol.stl). In comparison with its being imported to CAD software and smoothed with respective tools (sphere_comsol_smoothed.stl). Also a screenshot is included for both operations in a slicer of a 3D printer software (meshcomparison.png)
Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation.
Teşekkürler ;)