Today was a great start to the course. We were given a detailed tour of the 3d printing facilities at The Cass by course tutor, Anatol Just. We looked at the various machines – SLS (Selective Laser Sintering), Z Corp 3D printing, Envisiontec 3D printing and Makerbot 3D printers – and were shown samples of the materials they print with the types products they are capable of producing. The possibilities seem enormous. Anatol emphasised the link between material reality: it’s easy to get carried away with 3d modelling software and make something that looks very impressive on screen – but the laws of physics still need to apply if you want to print it!
Anatol had prepared a comprehensive introduction the history of digital manufacturing, explaining how it goes back to 1801 with the Jacquard Loom being the first machine to use punch cards to control the movements of a machine. This introduction also covered the .stl (Standard Tessellation Language) file – the most common format to work with in 3d printing (although some .obj and .3ds will also work). These files work with meshes made of triangles. The more triangles a mesh has, the higher its resolution.
Things are starting to make sense – it’s such a relief from spending hours looking at these files unguided. I’m excited to start thinking how I can apply this new knowledge and understanding to Asteroids and other minor planets.
