Notes 3D Modelling for 3D Printers

3D printers is now commercially viable. There is so much one can do with 3D printers and so many ways to approach it. This is a collection of notes on the subject of 3D printing. This article is meant to be dynamic and incremented.

An excellent broad coverage of 3D printing is in:
"How to Own (and Love) a 3D printer"
http://www.techhive.com/article/2043202/how-to-own-and-love-a-3d-printer.html
"Why Microsoft’s 3D Printing Rocks"
http://makezine.com/2013/07/04/why-microsofts-3d-printing-rocks/


Main things for 3D printing:
Thingiverse - the first place to check out for 3D printing. Has many designs.

Makerbot - the company that produces the MakerBot 3D printer. The link here has more links to useful sites with regards to 3D printing.


File Format:
It seems the most widely or common format for 3D printer design is the STL format. Keep in mind when searching for 3D editors, check if they support the STL format.



3D Modelling editors:
https://tinkercad.com/ - online 3D editor

NetFab http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php

Meshlab - http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/  - open source editor

Google Sketchup Google's 3D designer that can be used for 3D objects and buildings. It supports the STL format via a plugin. For more details on acquiring this plugin, see:
http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/stls-for-3d-printing-in-and-out-of.html


5 May 2015
Below shows the picture of some current models of 3D printers.