Adding a Voronoi-Pattern to any Design
In this Tutorial you will learn how to add an interesting Voroni Pattern to any Design
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Step 1: Overview
First of all you will need your finished model.
The next step is to choose which shells you want voronized.
In the last step you'll have to combine your models.
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The general workflow is as follows:
Let's get started!
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Step 2: Choosing shells to Voronize
In this step I'll show you how you can extract the surfaces you want voronized:
Simple extraction: (Instructions for SolidWorks)
- Select the Faces you want to voronize
- Goto Insert > Surface > Offset...
- By offsetting it further away you will get a more defined look of your voronoi (if you set a offset of 0, you will get voroni texture directly on the surface)
- Hide everything exept the surface you want to voronize
- Goto File > Save As... > Choose the .STL file extension > Save
- Now your files are ready to get voronized!
Advanced extraction
- Seperate the shell you want to voronize from your original body
- In my example I used a Surface Extrusion to Split the body
- To get a nice voroni pattern I advise you to delete to top and bottom faces
- Hide everything exept the surface you want to voronize
- Goto File > Save As... > Choose the .STL file extension > Save
- Now your files are ready to get voronized!
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Step 3: Uploading to Voronator
Now its time to get voronized!
Upload your STL to https://www.voronator.com/
After pressing "Start" the website will process your files and shortly after you will be able to download them!
The website shows a preview of the file so if you are not satisfied with the result you can play around with the advanced settings.
While you're waiting for the results you can continue to Step 4.
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Step 4: (optional) Optimisation of the Design
To get nicer looking results you can refine you remaining body in your CAD-Software.
This can be done by:
- Adding a fillet where the voronized shell and body meet:
- Adding a supporting structure to achive better stability
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Step 5: Combining Voronator result and body
To combine the STLs I'm going to use Meshmixer (you can use any STL editing software of preference).
With File > Import Mesh, import the voronized STL and the model STL.
Now you should see the complete body infront of you.
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Step 6: Troubleshooting and further Infos
The Voronator website outputs an error. (An unexpected error happened)
- Refine the Export STL in Solidworks
- Before saving the STL go under options and set the resolution to custom
- Set the deviation to 0.01mm and the Angle to 5 degrees
- If the problem persists try smaller values.
- For more information about the STL export you can check the following Solidworks blog: (https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/2015/05/preparing-solidworks-models-3d-printing.html)
Voronoi explained:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram
Manual to Meshlab:
https://www.meshlab.net/#support
About the Voronator Website:
