I was reading in the forums some discussion about the sizing of models in Nomad. The app doesn’t have any actual ability to export out at a set size (as is the case with many 3D programmes). If 3D printing is desired then it is up to the user to get the sizing as needed in their 3D printer software. BUT, if you want to send to an online printing vendor then what? Well, you’ll need to find a third-party app that can do that for you. I think Meshlab can do that, but it’s been a while since I’ve used the programme.
In any event, I thought I’d do a little experiment and export out a default cube from Nomad and import into Rhino. I have used this programme for many years to design jewellery and such. It allows for super precise scaling. The attached screenshot shows said cube in Rhino and its actual measurement. Turns out it is 1mm on all sides. So, if you are trying to achieve a good start to getting your model to the right size before exporting just keep that in mind. For example, if you were making a character that you wanted to print out at 10cms in height. You could take that default cube, scale it in height x100 and now you have a “ruler” you can use to measure against your character.
Hope that helps.
No it’s not 1mm in “real life”, the default cube is simply 1 unit.
There’s no standard nor convention that translates unit to real life size.
It depends on the softwares.
The Nomad default sphere more or less matches the default cube in Blender.
Okay, perhaps “real life” is a misnomer. However, in practical terms when designing something for 3D printing what I wrote does work.
Any 3d printer softwares should have a “scale” option, it’s very common.
For example in Sculpteo, or Materialise.
In Nomad you can scale if you go in the gizmo tool, just type 100 or whatever value in the scale settings (for now the input value widget doesn’t work if multiple objects are selected though).
That is correct. Shapeways is a service that I use and they offer that as well. Not ideal, though, especially when designing rings and you need the INSIDE measurement to be precise.
And, yes, that is what I was suggesting to do in Nomad. Scale the cube to the size you want which you can then use as reference for your design. Using the method I described I know for a fact that I could design a character 10cms in height and upload to Shapeways to print without having to do any resizing on their platform.
Thanks for the tip @lensman.
I‘ll need to check that back and forth once.
From 3Ds Max I know that Import / Export and system unit settings can create a serious mess. Or the person in front of monitor 
Anyway, with your tip one can create a Millimeter background grid as well.
Create a plane and a Cube / rotate the plane X=90 degree via Gizmo numerical input / put plane division X to I.e. 100. scale till Cube fits exactly into one poly of grid.
Set opacity of grid to zero.
Just one example.
Yeah, when I would export a cube from TinkerCad I had to scale it down to 1mm to match the Nomad default cube when I imported it into Nomad.
Great idea. I’ve never even used grids in Nomad yet.
Well, it is a geometry plane, not a grid. Nomad‘s grid has on/off function, that‘s it.
So far. But a plane with opacity set to zero and activated wireframe is a workaround. Don‘t forget to use lock function to avoid selecting the plane.
Hi Lensman,
Apologies for reviving this old thread.
I’ve just ordered some kit to try torch fired PMC for the first time and I’m interested to know more about your process. I was fairly good at static modelling and mapping in 3D Max many versions ago so I’m keen to experiment with a 3d clay printer in future. I am pretty enamoured with the wonderful Infinite painter app because it offers:
- seamless tile function
- kaleidoscope and radial tools with editable number of planes
- editable brush tools
- a fair number of import/export options
Putty looks like developers shifted attention elsewhere 3-4 years ago
tinkercad has no ‘import displacement map’ that I can see.
Shapr 3D annoyed me by requiring a keyboard attachment before even letting me have a look at the layout and functions 
I’m really chuffed to read you’ve been using nomad to design actual jewellery for a while.
I would love to know:
- does nomad have any displacement map functionality (import a texture)?
If so does it work with alpha channels as negative space? - editable number of planes in a radial tool (as opposed to mirror only)?
- any tips or recommendations you have regarding the whole shebang
(atm I’ll be working on brutalist rings and bracelets moving to more refined pieces as my design skills improve) - does it have view settings? eg ‘restore default view’ and ‘fit object to screen?
Fingers crossed you see my message and/or someone else with jewellery design insight chimes in. TIA for any info offered 
PS just having a look at it now and it’s so much to love. I can see it does have editable number of planes but probably not ability to import a displacement map (pity - just have some textures I’d really like to try this out with). Yet to work out the alignment tool.
PPS just discovered that the little cube is where to reset the view. Wow this is an elegant app! Loving it so far.
I made a 10cm scale and imported it into Nomad. It was imported into Nomad at only 10mm. This would mean either the default box is 0.1mm or Nomad’s import function changes the scale upon import.
Either way, my workaround for Nomad not having real world scale (I wish it did) is to export my 10cm scale along with the model I want to print and make sure the 10 cm is correct in the 3D printer slicing software.
If it’s not correct, I scale everything at the same rate so that it is.
None of that makes sense, Nomad doesn’t scale anything, you control your own unit that’s it.
Nomad default cube is 1 unit, it could be 1km or 1mm, it’s up to you,
Obj, stl and glTF doesn’t say anything about units so it’s up to you to handle it correctly.