Resin Printed individualised people

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Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:47 pm

This thread really follows on from from the posts I have been making under the "3 D printing 16mm models" topic. It seems like a "good idea" to make it into a new topic.

In it I want to describe the process I have been using to make figures, in the hope that others may benefit from what I have worked out.

So what am I trying to achieve? If you look at photos from the Victorian period, you will see that everyone wore a hat, and all dresses were long. I want to replicate that in my models. Passengers on station platforms, engine drivers, seated passengers in coaches, etc.

I have done this in the past using modelling clay - the sort you bake in the oven. A couple of examples to highlight the issues:
100_6897.jpg
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Festiniog Railway guard uniform from the Victorian period - well as close as I can make it by hand. Frock coat, beard, and money satchel.
Festiniog quarryman's coach with quarrymen:
IMG_0270.jpg
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Bowler hats in evidence - and not all the same shape, lots of beards, and the way the jacket is buttoned at the top, and the rest hanging open. White linen suits. All to be seen in historic photos.

So how can I make model people with specific clothes?

Well what I have found so far (with the help of others on this forum) involves three computer programmes downloaded for free from the internet.

Let me emphasise I am not the expert - but I can explain what I have done as I learn. So the programmes are "MakeHuman", "Blender", and "Meshmixer" SO FAR!
There is also a slicing programme which goes with the Resin Printer. The next post will describe using "MakeHuman"

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Jan 04, 2021 7:17 pm

So "Makehuman"

Use a google search and you will find a forum and download area. You will have to register and log in. Initially it is a matter of just downloading the programme and following a set of instructions to instal it.

A word of warning for iMac users. The latest version does not support iMac, so you have to download a previous version which does work on a iMac. Download it ,and in a Mac, move it into the applications folder. You are likely to have to override the default setting which only allows installation of approved applications.

So what does it do? It allows you to create "anatomically accurate" people. Any age, any gender, muscular or weedy. everything that varies in real people seems to be adjustable:
Screen Shot 2021-01-04 at 18.50.01.png
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This is what the programme looks like. All the adjustments are on the top two rows. You just need to experiment to see what changes.
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Under geometries there is a set of adjustments on the lower row which allow you to add hair, clothes and the like. There are some basic clothes in the basic programme and others can be downloaded from the makehuman forum. They are called "Assets".

The other important feature is under "animate" and it is "skeleton":
Screen Shot 2021-01-04 at 18.53.16.png
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It does not seem to matter much which you use but the figure needs a skeleton if we are going to be able to move its arms and legs later in another programme.

Downloading clothes. There is a tutorial on the makehuman forum about installing clothes from the "Assets". Basically there are 4 files which need to be placed in a folder of the same name within a Makehuman folder which will have been created in your "Documents" folder. If you use an iMac beware the operating system will change the file extensions on the four files and you will have to change them back. The clothes which can be downloaded don't exactly fulfil the requirements of model railways but there is a Yugoslavian train driver uniform there! It is possible to make clothes - I have not got that far yet but I am going to have to try eventually.

Next post on using "Blender" to change the figures position, move arms legs and make them sit down.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by SimonWood » Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:01 am

Following this thread with interest, Trevor. I have had a play in MakeHuman already. I can see how useful it will be to make clothes, doing so we can make this application more useful for our railway-related purposes. I am also following a series of tutorials on Blender for 3D printing. I have used Blender in the (distant) past and would like to see if I can use it to create models to print as well as using the animation rigs to pose MakeHuman people.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:20 pm

Before I describe how to move the arms and legs of figures in "Blender" it is worth explaining how to get a model from "Makehuman" to "Blender".

Rememer that I said that when you instal Makehuman it creates a "makehuman" folder in your documents folder? Inside that folder is another folder and another until you eventually find a folder called "data" and then one for clothes, exports and so on. When you save a figure in Makehuman it puts the file in one of these folders. The way I have been transferring figures is to export the file. Under the main heading "files", there are three subheadings, save load and export. Export gives options and the best one to use seems to be "collada". This ensures that the skeleton is part of the exported file. This skeleton is important as it is the base for moving the figures arms and legs:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.18.27.png
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This file has the extension ".dae" and will be found in the folder "exports"( we need to find it to import it into Blender).

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:31 pm

Installing Blender. Search for Blender using your favourite search engine as normal. You will find the download for your operating system, and instructions for installing it. So far so good.

I mentioned earlier that iMac users have to use an earlier version of Makehuman. When you export and import files as described it doesn't matter that iMac users have the latest version of Blender. However if you ever get to "make clothes" you will need to get the earlier version of Blender to go with the earlier version of Makehuman. The "Make clothes" function for "Makehuman" is an extension added into "blender" - and for that to work the versions need to be compatible.

So Blender.

When you open Blender on an iMac it looks lay this. Note that this is the earlier version of blender because I work on an iMac, and the later version is of course slightly different.
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.31.17.png
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by philipy » Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:32 pm

It's worth mentioning that there is a plugin that supposedly allows direct transfer from MH to Blender but I couldn't get it to work. It is not really a problem to export the Collada ( .dae) file and then import that into Blender, it's only one or two more mouse clicks.
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:15 pm

From the last screen right clicking gets rid of that message. Now you are presented with a box sitting at the origin:
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we need to get rid of the box. So up on the top right hand side is a menu showing a list. In the list is the word "CUBE". Make sure it is highlighted in white - or if it isn't click on it to make it highlighted. When you right click over the word cube you should get a pop up menu and half way down is the delete. So having deleted the cube:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.49.38.png
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Now to import the file from makehuman. On the top left is the word "file". Click on it and "import"and "collada":
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.49.52.png
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Now choose the file. Ensure that one of the boxes at the bottom left is ticked. Under "armature options" - I ensure "auto connect" is ticked. Others may work as well its just what I have done which has worked!
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.50.23.png
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The end result of this should be the figure I created in the centre of the screen:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 15.51.02.png
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:11 pm

Now to manipulate that figure in Blender.

On the left of the screen you will see a number of file inserts - headings if you like running up and down the extremes left side. The top one is clicked in the next view and you can see the word scale which I have highlighted. Click in it ti engage scaling, and move the mouse to the left and the image will increase in size. ignore the arrow going all over the place just keep rolling it left until you can see the figure properly.:
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the result:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 17.43.23.png
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Now look on the top right of the screen There is a list which includes words like camera, and older woman. That is the file name by the way.click on the "+" sign to the left of the file name, and it will reveal the elements within the file. The work "pose" is what we want and you will see the symbol for a bone next to it. clock on pose to highlight it and then click on the bone next to it.
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 17.43.59.png
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As an aside changing the view - rotating the figure - is important next. and it is achieved by using the mouse. Moving mouse scroll wheels seems to rotate the figure - well it does for me. You might have to experiment.

So you should now see a circle and a red green and blue arrow showing three dimension directions centred on the circle. Move the mouse arrow to rest over a joint - say the hip joint. Right click and hold on the red arrowhead and move the mouse - the result should be one leg moving to a sitting position:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 17.44.41.png
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Now right click on the knee joint and use the red arrow again:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 17.44.54.png
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Now its just a matter of moving the figure to see it from different sides and moving the different joints, for arms and legs. You can move the neck as well if you want the figure to be looking out of a coach window. Individual fingers can also be moved. You just need to experiment!

When you are satisfied use the file menu (top left) to get to export and then export the figure as an ".stl" file for the next steps. Better to modify the file name as well.

Note that my slicing software for the filament printer can repair the file from this stage and make passable print from it. However at this stage it has lots of errors and holes in its mesh which will prevent it printing properly on a resin printer.

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Next step will be to use "Meshmixer" to repair the figure.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:42 pm

Just need to emphasise something before we go on. Let me firstly say that there is always more than one way of doing anything in computer software. So my steps are only what I do and they seem to work for me. I hope that they at least set someone off in the right direction!

I forgot to say that I have had difficulty at the saving from blender stage. What I think is the problem is that I have only part of the model selected when I save it. That leads to unsolvable problems further on. I think that it is important when you have the "pose mode" to go to "object mode" before saving. Look at the right of the next screen near the bottom there is a box with "object mode" written in it. Make sure yours says that rather than "pose". Then hold the shift key and click the left mouse button over every part of the figure. Hands, feet, face, hair, skirt, blouse, bootsetc - all must have an orange glow around them. Now you can export it to an stl file.
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:07 pm

Meshmixer is another programme you will find by searching, and downloading it. Again its free.

So having opened it this is the screen"
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import, and open the file you saved from blender:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 18.45.36.png
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Here is the figure I sat down. She is to be a passenger in a coach.

There are as far as I can work out two key tools for fixing figures here. Firstly under the heading on the left hand side "analysis" an option at the top of the menu which opens when you click "analysis" is "inspector". This generates a list of all the errors in the mesh. Magenta ones it can fix automatically. You can vary the size of the mesh with the slider. experiment. Fix automatically or click each individual magenta ball.

That is some errors fixed.
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 18.45.56.png
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Now under edit there is an option "make solid"
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 18.46.38.png
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This is the default repair which is carried out when you click on make solid. It can be rather crude as default, but it is adjustable. Move the different sliders. The top two moved to make the repairs smaller have a better effect - but the smaller you go the more processing time until eventually it sits there with a message "checking for errors" Effectively a crash! So experiment.

So here is a reasonable result:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 18.48.08.png
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When we started these repairs the file had a thin skirt, and if you looked up it the legs were represented only by the bones - and the boots were just hanging there. If I tried to print it the legs fell off. What I can't show you here is that the bottom of the skirt is now solid with boots sticking out. The model really is a solid object with a complete mesh surrounding it. It will print.

I can't give you definitive directions for getting the best out of these repairs - you will just have to try it. You may be able to tell me how to do it properly!

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:12 pm

Of course at the end of the last post I should have said go to file (top left) and export the figure as an .stl file.

So having done that we need to slice the figure, and print it.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:57 pm

So to the slicing software:
Screen Shot 2021-01-07 at 19.20.42.png
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Now I can show you underneath the figure and you can see that the underneath is indeed solid. Auto supports plus a load more added manually. Having sliced it I have also previewed the sliced file which shows each layer as I scroll up and down the print. It looks as though this will print OK.

Will share the printed result in due course.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:43 pm

So the printed figure, as it came out of the printer:
IMG_1242.jpg
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and after removing the supports:
IMG_1247.jpg
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You can see the ends of the supports sticking out of her back. They have yet to be removed gently, probably with a sharp knife. Also I was a bit rough in removing my first attempt at this figure from the bed, and removing the supports for the feet took the feet with them. She isn't wasted really - sitting in a coach no-one will notice that she has no feet! I was more careful the second time.

So I am now making figures to fit into Spooners boat. More on that later.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:10 pm

Spooners boat.

There is an illustration used in books to show what this was like which show a couple on the main thwart and a driver in the front holding the brake lever. I have tried to represent this with the figures I have made:
IMG_1266.jpg
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They actually fit into the boat correctly. They do need the final clean up of the supports, and painting.

So success.

The woman figure really needs a hat. So I suppose I am going to have to have a go at making clothes.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:13 pm

Here is the end result:
IMG_1340.jpg
IMG_1340.jpg (354.59 KiB) Viewed 11201 times
I thing that will pass muster!

One final detail will be to make a second set of seats. The people are glued onto the seats in the photo. However the seats are just a firm press fit, so a second set can be substituted.

Why?

Well I am sure that on its way up the line any passengers would have been in a first class carriage. Only on the way back down under gravity would they have been sitting in the boat! Well with a second set of seats I can simulate that on the line now.

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:47 pm

If you're going to that level of detail, what was the original purpose of the 'boat' and can you justify the carriage of a lady passenger?
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:54 pm

Peter

I suppose the answer is - of course! (I wouldn't create it otherwise)

The boat was Spooners inspection vehicle - but that might really have just been an excuse. It was certainly used as a pleasure vehicle and that is documented in a number of contemporary sources.

In fact the original met its end when colliding with an up train, while on such a pleasure jaunt. Unfortunately the young lady who was a passenger was injured - so badly that she died a couple of days later. I cant remember the other details as to who was driving or who else was on board.

I think that the bottom line is that we share an interest in the quirky things in railways - its just that I like to find that quirkiness in historical information. The Festiniog Railway was full of it in Spooners era!

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:39 pm

Thanks Trevor, I wasn't aware of that. I did wonder how the gravity boat was fitted in with normal traffic.... not too well by the sound of it.
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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by ge_rik » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:00 am

Am I right in thinking it could be fitted with a sail to propel itself across the Cob?

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Re: Resin Printed individualised people

Post by Trevor Thompson » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:45 pm

Yep

And they do that with the replica as well at the Victorian weekend which the Festiniog run in October (Pandemic permitting of course).

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