• Welcome to the all-new Windows Central Forums! - We're still moving some things around, so you may see a few quirks here and there, but we're working on getting things fully completed as soon as possible. For now, take a look around, and if you run into any major issues, please let us know in this thread!

How to simplify your model for 3D printing

WindowsCentral.com

Staff member
Dec 17, 2013
68,454
0
0
Simplify, reduce meshes or decimate. Choose your terms.
reduce-face-hero.jpg

The best way to simplify a complex model for 3D printing is to reduce its triangle mesh. Sometimes called decimating, this process takes away a lot of the complex geometry that is great to have for model online but not so good for models on the print bed.
All STL files are made of lots of triangles some big, some very small, that reproduce the curves and bumps you see on the model, so when you look at a curve what you are seeing is hundreds of tiny triangles making that look curved.
With 3D Builder, we can decimate those triangles to reduce the complexity and decrease the time the model takes to print, thereby saving us filament as well.

Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...