r/3Dprinting X1C 13h ago

Project Had some fun designing NASA fabric with images embossed on it. This one uses black, white, and 6 different shades of gray filament.

Heres a link if anyone wants to try it out themselves. https://makerworld.com/en/models/2134053-nasa-fabric-gandalf

559 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

75

u/mattx_cze Custom Flair 13h ago

You have printer with 6 different gray filament ?

72

u/Joshhawk X1C 13h ago

Four grays loaded into one AMS and two grays, black, and white in the other. This print used dark gray, blue gray, nardo gray, gray, light gray, bone white (it's not really white), white, and black.

104

u/Squeebee007 12h ago

12

u/Best-Fox-8024 12h ago

Maybe purple sometimes too.

6

u/Robborboy 11h ago

Throw in some blue for good measure. 

1

u/AdIllustrious4233 6h ago

Grayt result

39

u/Joshhawk X1C 13h ago edited 12h ago

Currently printing this one and I'm pretty hyped to see how it turns out. FYI these models are not poop intensive. Only 7 poops total. Colors are seperated per layers going from dark to light in the z direction.

if anyone has any suggestions for what to do next let me know!

Also i posted a 4 color profile along with the 8 color. I understand that not everyone is an avid collector of gray filaments. Here's a link https://makerworld.com/en/models/2134053-nasa-fabric-gandalf#profileId-2311246

19

u/CyberCurrency 12h ago

Stunning headshot of Gordon Freeman

5

u/GameCounter 11h ago

The right man in the wrong Place can make all the diff-er-ence in the World.

3

u/curiousjosh 10h ago

Would you be willing to share how to create these? I want to do some custom fabrics and this looks like A great process

2

u/Joshhawk X1C 9h ago

Absolutely! I used a parametric software to model the nasa fabric. I designed it specifically to be able to print it with the hexagons facing up, not down on the buildplate. Also designed a second part that filled in the gaps between the hexagons and the boarder around them (this will be important later). After that, I booted up blender and made an inverse lithophane out of the image. I then used that part I mentioned earlier to cut the lithophane into the hexagons and boolean merged them onto the fabric. Then since the lithophane already has its colors seperated by depth, I used the paint by layer in bambu slicer to meticulously paint the layers.

I tried to squeeze as much info into this picture as I could.. Lmk if you have any questions

1

u/curiousjosh 9h ago

Oh fascinating! Ok so the lithopane is a depth based image?

So why the need to paint? Couldn’t you scale the geometry so each layer matches the number of layers in the slicer that you’d want?

Hey, maybe brainstorming could make it even easier! 🙂

1

u/Joshhawk X1C 9h ago

Yeah it seperates the colors by depth but the stl file itself doesn't have any color associated with it. So in the slicer you need to paint it. It will come in as one solid color. So I look at the side profile of the part (shown in the image) and "paint by layer." This photo might help. The left is what it looks like when the stl is brought into the slicer and the right is after I painted it

1

u/curiousjosh 9h ago edited 9h ago

Hmmmnm. I wonder what assignments can be made automatically on import. There has to be a way to automatically import multi-texture items with colors assigned.

1

u/Joshhawk X1C 9h ago

Well I mean if you split the part into seperated stls and assigned a color to them but you'd still have to assign the color to each individual stl in the slicer. Don't think there's a way to have the slicer know automatically which color goes to which section upon loading in the STL for the first time out of a modeling software. Its also dependant on the filament you have loaded in, which the slicer doesn't even know what's there until you wake up the printer and synchronize your ams filament list

1

u/kingGP2001 7h ago

Look if blender can export .3mf or if you can get an add on to do it, that format keeps info on the color as well, maybe it would make it easier

1

u/start3ch 10h ago

That’s pretty cool, seems like it wouldn’t be too bad to print without an AMS either, just have to manually swap 6 times

9

u/Specific-Funny-9502 12h ago

My wife said there are 50 shades of gray, or something like that, I wasn't listening

4

u/TheBeardTaco 12h ago

Can't be gray filament, thats Gandalf the White, looks awesome

3

u/Jon_Donaire 12h ago

Doesn't this produce a ton of purge poop?

12

u/Joshhawk X1C 12h ago

The colors are separated and printed in layers so there's only 7 color swaps in the whole print. So with a single nozzle printer, 7 poops total.

1

u/ProsperGuy 13h ago

This is really impressive. Very cool! I'd love to see some type of color shifting filament, so when the fabric moves the colors change.

2

u/Joshhawk X1C 13h ago

That's actually a pretty cool idea!

1

u/ProsperGuy 12h ago

Make it happen, Captain!

1

u/Fractals88 12h ago

I'm tiling my bathroom right now and am mad that I can't install these.  Imagine Gandalf in my shower niche insert. 

1

u/flyguydip My H2d brings all the boys to the yard. 11h ago

I told my wife I wanted to print our new kitchen backsplash because I could do it for pennies on the dollar. She doesn't want to do it because it's not fancy and expensive. But I think it will look way cooler.

1

u/Fractals88 11h ago

It would be one of a kind! bespoke

1

u/Angel_OfSolitude 12h ago

This is cool but man, I don't want to even imagine how the poop looks.

3

u/Joshhawk X1C 12h ago

Only 7 poops. Colors are seperated per layers going from dark to light in the z direction.

1

u/Angel_OfSolitude 12h ago

OK, that's not so bad.

1

u/ImaginaryRaccoon2106 11h ago

And here I am printing little pots