Hello, newbie here… I’ve searched for this a few times but I don’t know the right lingo for what I’m asking.
I’d like to make my 3d model one big ol’ chunk of “clay” with a single mesh / topology / layer of normals, so it is simple for a 3d printer to understand.
Example: If I have a head and two spheres for eyeballs inside it, I want to get rid of the spheres EXCEPT for the front part showing between the eyelids, so there is only one object left: a head with a face. Nothing inside it. Like, an action figure head is just a single lump of molded plastic.
When doing a simple or voxel merge, it acts more like grouping objects together than combining them into one (I think…). So I could still pull the eyeball spheres out, and that’s not what I want.
If I cannot do this in Nomad Sculpt, is there another program with this feature, and what is the feature called? I’m okay with switching back and forth.
(I know 3d printer software can supposedly handle this, but sometimes I need to combine shapes into one object to make my sculpting process easier, too.)
Thank you SporkFuMaster! I tried it out and it worked! Yes, checking all boxes.
I think I was having trouble using voxel merge to combine five cylinders and a box (roughly, there was more detail of course) to make a hand. I couldn’t smooth-tool the connection between the two, it was still acting like separate objects and just sank into a sharper intersection instead of flattening out. So I assumed I’d done something wrong. Maybe there’s a trick to this? Maybe I actually only hit “simple merge,” though I swear I was trying to figure out both modes…
Sort of related question: Is there a best practice for how many polygons I should end up with, or resolution? IOW, what’s a reasonable file size for an intermediate complexity obj?
Also, is there a way to reduce flat surface polygons and leave the details alone? Like I don’t need a cube with a thousand vertices, it could really be reduced down to a dozen or so - BUT if the cube is attached to a sphere I want the intersection to stay precise. Can you mask that part and then reduce resolution on the rest?
Thanks for being patient enough to read all this noobness, lol!
Not really any specific poly count that should be hit or avoided that I’m aware of other than based on the amount memory that the device you’re using will allow. Though someone else might disagree with some good examples…lol. I usually just add enough to where it looks smooth enough based on the screen that I’m using and how large the overall sculpt will be. Although I still don’t have a 3D printer yet, so once I finally decide to quit procrastinating and just order one, that might change my opinion on what poly counts are really necessary for a mesh that will be used for more than just an image.
Yeah, that should be possible. I’d probably use the smooth tool with the intensity dropped to 0. You can turn on the wire view and dynamic topology and use decimation or uniformisation. Then go over the flat areas while avoiding the edges and details. Or mask them off first and use the “protect masked area” check box.
We all had to start somewhere. Nomad is still pretty new, and Stephomi keeps adding more cool stuff to play around with, so usually someone has played around enough to figure out most things.