Files for two colour printing - want simple examples

Discussion started by beginner2020

I would like to know how the two STL or OBJ files should be. I want to open them with a text editor like Notepad and see inside. Where can I find them?

Suppose I have a brick on which I want to have a "+" sign in red. Should the brick STL file have a hole in the place of the "+" sign, or do I have to make a pit inside with some thickness? And should the other file have just the triangles for the plus sign in air, or with some thickness?

Thanks for any help. I am not finding this kind of material by searching on Internet.

Answers

Posted over 4 years ago
0

I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Color 3d printing requires that your model have either vertex color information or textures with color information. If you plan to use OBJ for color printing, then you will need a zip file which includes the OBJ of the model, the .mtl file which contains the model's texture information, and finally the image texture files in JPG or PNG format. You can also use .WRL or .VRML file types for your model, since those are capable of holding 3d model vertex color information instead of image textures.

STL file format does not contain color information for your printed files. There are ways around this, but it's easier to just work with OBJ or VRML instead.

Posted over 4 years ago
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Can I not have just two models which are to be printed with two extruders? I created two OBJ files, and could load both of them in Ultimaker Cura, and even get gcode from it, but I doubt that will work. I have given no information on material or texture or colour.

luxxeon wrote
luxxeon
The two OBJ files will need to be set up properly in a CAD package so that they can be printed seperately using different colors, then fit together afterward the way you intended. This requires a modeling operation called Boolean. For instance, using your brick and plus sign example, you would boolean subtract the plus sign from the brick. This would create a negative space in the brick that matches the plus sign size, shape, and depth while still maintaining manifold topology. Then you can print out the brick and the plus sign in two different colors and they can snap together afterward perfectly.
Posted over 4 years ago
0

I understand this, but is this what I need with a dual extruder printer also, so that the two parts in two colours are printed together at the same time?

Posted over 4 years ago
0

I think the same process would also apply to a dual extruder. The only difference is that the boolean objects can be printed together instead of separately. In other words, after you boolean the plus sign from the brick, you can place the two models together in the slicer as you intend them to be printed. It depends on how the slicer works and if you want the two parts to be removable or not.

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