Tutorials

How to 3D Print Textured Objects Inside Clear Plastic Blocks

58 9 Expert
This walkthrough explains how to print fully textured CAD files encased inside transparent blocks, to help support complex parts, show vistas you never thought possible, or just increase the usability of your full-color models!

Printing Full-Color FEA Results on 3D Printers

46 7 Beginner
Ever wanted to see, feel, and handle your FEA results in the best way to share them with colleagues and students? This tutorial goes through the steps how to use SOLIDWORKS Simulation and GrabCAD Print to print full-color FEA results on polyjet color printers such as the J750. It's a lot easier than you think!

How to Create Incredibly Complex Textured Shapes for 3D Printing, Using Bump Mapping

37 5 Expert
This tutorial covers how to use 2D images to create actual 3D depth and physical textures on your CAD parts and then 3D print them. Mainly we use Rhino to do the displacement-mapping, but Photoshop could be used as well. Files were then printed in full color on a Stratasys J750.

PolyJet 3D Printing: How to Assign Colors in GrabCAD Print

34 3 Beginner
When you import a part into GrabCAD Print and you have color options, it'll default to white. This tutorial teaches you how to apply colors using the improved PolyJet panel and Pantone™ Color Library selection tool. This tutorial is great for users with the Stratasys J55, J8 Series and other PolyJet printers.

How to Color Proof Your 3D Prints (Using This Super-Secret Stratasys Website)

32 6 Beginner
If a customer has ever come to you and said, "I need the color of this 3D print to match this RGB or Pantone EXACTLY!" and you've wondered how to do that – this is the tutorial for you! We'll talk about soft proofing (how to make sure your printer can even print a given color) and hard proofing (matching what you see on screen with a physical result) using Photoshop and the most advanced color printer on the market, a Stratasys J750! (You can find a video version of this tutorial here: https://youtu.be/XsollrDbUVc)

How to 3D Print in Full Color (Part 1)

32 7 Beginner
This is a series of tutorials to help printer operators who are NOT graphic artists get the absolute most out of their multi-color, multi-material 3D printers, like the Stratasys J750. We will cover what types of files multi-color printers can accept and how to manipulate colors in Photoshop, Rhino, etc, to get the full gradient texture effects that most color printer users want.

How to Use the Stratasys AR App for the J55 3D Printer

28 3 Beginner
Stratasys unveiled the new J55 full-color 3D printer last month. We wanted to give designers and industry professionals a chance to see it for yourself -- wherever you are -- by offering this augmented reality experience.

How to 3D Print in Full Color (Part 2): Repairing and Checking VRMLs

27 4 Intermediate
This is the second in a series of tutorials to help printer operators who are NOT graphic artists get the absolute most out of their multi-color, multi-material 3D printers, like the Stratasys J750. We will cover how to look deeper inside our VRML files to predict if they will import correctly and how to choose the resolution of VRML files from Rhino and other artistic CAD programs to make sure they are capturing the information you want.

How to go from GPS Data to Full Colour 3D Model

26 5 Expert
Got a large dataset you want to visualize in 3D? Let's take a look at the steps involved from going from just a spreadsheet to full colour 3D.

How to 3D Print in Full Color (Part 3): Clear + Texture Together

24 5 Expert
This is the third in a series of tutorials to help printer operators who are NOT graphic artists get the absolute most out of their multi-color, multi-material 3D printers, like the Stratasys J750. We will cover how to create models with semi-transparent textures wrapped around curved, transparent bodies (taking advantage of a new slicer from Stratasys), and how to fix UV-mapping problems when wrapping 2D textures around 3D bodies goes wrong.

Finishing Options for FDM and PolyJet 3D Printed Parts

22 1 Beginner
Finishing or secondary operations encompasses a broad range of processes that change a manufactured part’s properties. Engineers can employ finishing simply to improve part’s appearance and reshape it to meet certain dimensions, or use it to enhance functionality, such as increasing strength, chemical resistance, electrical conductivity and more. Secondary operations basically turn raw parts into finished goods and this isn’t limited to traditional manufactured parts. 3D printed parts can also be enhanced with secondary operations, but much like designing for additive manufacturing, different processes and best practices apply. Throughout the product design and manufacturing process, engineers should also be thinking about how 3D printed parts can be finished. Determining the appropriate finishing operations depends on the additive process, material and geometry as well as the desired aesthetics and functionality. This guide explains the primary finishing operations additive manufacturing service providers implement for FDM and PolyJet 3D printing technologies, grouped by possible finishing objectives, and compatible materials and applicable design considerations.

How to 3D Print More Realistic Consumer Product Prototypes

22 3 Intermediate
We discuss the 4 levels of 3D printed prototype realism all Industrial Designers should know about, and show you step-by-step how to reach each one!

STLs and 3D Printing for PolyJet

20 0 Beginner
This tutorial is the first part of our series about how to prepare and optimize settings for mesh file types supported by GrabCAD Print (GCP). The tutorial explains the building blocks of 3D printing with PolyJet. We will explain the conversion process from a CAD file to an STL file and how to optimize it to achieve the best print results possible. Future tutorials in this series will then explain more advanced types of files and operations.

What 3D printing a coronavirus taught me about DFAM and rapid prototyping

20 6 Beginner
A project to visualize the novel coronavirus for a local medical conference. But over the course of our work, we re-learned some important 3D printing principles that EVERYONE can use!

How to 3D Print Consumer Product Prototypes, at different levels of realism

16 8 Expert
Realism helps the prototyping process of Consumer Product Goods, but not always in the ways you'd expect. We climb through the 4 levels of 3D printing realism, using both single color FDM and full-color Polyjet printing, and discuss the cost and benefits of each.