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Blender object size vs Repetier object size

Discussion in 'Software' started by Ben Lindstrom, Sep 6, 2013.

  1. Ben Lindstrom

    Ben Lindstrom Active Member

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    As I wait for my printer I'm toying with blender created STL files, and I'm struggling with basic sizing.

    If I go in and set the scene to "metric" so each blender unit is 1m. And I scale the model down to 200mm long it comes into Repetier as some obscenely small size (unprintable) that needs to have a 20 - 25 scale increase in Repetier in order to make it roughly the size I wanted it.

    It is a bit frustrating as it would be nice set a model up for a local printer, and when it is right send it off for copies, to say Shapeways, without having to worry about scaling issues.
     
  2. scotta

    scotta Active Member

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    I don't bother with turning metric on in blender. It sets the default unit to 1m and whilst this is ok for modeling buildings it does not work well for 3d printing. you can change the scale but Blender still assumes 1 m if you type in object dimensions.
    I have mine set up as following:
    No units
    Properties window - display.
    Enable grid floor
    Lines 30
    Scale 10.000
    Subdivisions 10
    that way each grid is 10mm (1cm) and as you zoom in you can see mm displayed.
    Seems to work of with Repetier-Host and with the Makerware software.
     
  3. Ben Lindstrom

    Ben Lindstrom Active Member

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    I'm sure your way works, but since I dislike the Grid floor, and I routinely disable it. It doesn't do much good to fix it that way.

    However, figured out my scale issue. Along with setting the global space to "Metric" you need to set the Scale to 0.001 to get it right for mm. Once I did that it scaled as expected.
     
  4. scotta

    scotta Active Member

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    Ben I tried that as well, seemed to work fine. I found one annoying 'feature' in Blender doing it that way. Every time i tried to set the dimensions of an object directly in the properties box it still seemed to default to meters. ... annoying
     
  5. Ben Lindstrom

    Ben Lindstrom Active Member

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    Ya, the default without a qualifier (cm, mm, km, etc) is meters. Since I'm not modeling actually parts, but organic structures, I'm more concerned about over all size. I'm sure I'll care more when I start trying to do jointed organics the with ability to be posed after printing.
     

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