Shell
A web of struts following the surface, with nothing behind it. The lamp, the vase, the openwork bust. The skin is how thick the web itself is.
Tool · Tools tab
Voronoi webs
and lattices
The Voronoi tool cuts a solid into a web of struts. Use a shell that follows the surface, for a lamp, a vase or an openwork bust. Or use a lattice through the whole volume, to take weight out of a part that still has to be stiff. The result is closed, so it prints.
How to use it§ 01
- Select one object.
- Click Voronoi on the Tools tab.
- Choose Shell or Lattice.
- Set the number of cells and the width of a strut. More cells make smaller cells.
- Set the skin and the solid base, and how fine the detail is.
- Click Cut cells. The panel reads back how much material was kept, and warns if parts came loose.
Shell and Lattice§ 02
Lattice
Struts running every way through the whole solid, under a skin: a foam. It takes weight out of a part that still has to be stiff. The skin is the solid face over the foam. Set it to 0 to leave the foam bare.
The numbers§ 03
Cells
How many seeds. More seeds make smaller cells.
Strut
How wide a strut comes out. Two nozzle widths is the least. The grid has to be able to hold it, so a fine strut needs high detail.
Skin
For a shell, how thick the web is. For a lattice, the solid face over the foam. 0 leaves it bare.
Solid base
How much of the bottom to leave whole, so the part stands up and has a solid first layer to print on. 0 lets the web run all the way down.
Detail
How many voxels run along the model’s longest side. Everything is cut on this grid, so a strut finer than about three voxels comes out lumpy.
Smooth the voxel steps off
Takes the grid’s own ripple off the result. Two gentle passes, with no change to the shape. Off is faster and keeps the last hair of detail.
Why it comes out closed§ 04
The usual way to make a Voronoi web is to build the cells, make a solid of struts, and subtract it. With hundreds of cells that is slow, and it often leaves holes in the mesh.
This tool does it another way. Every point in space belongs to its nearest seed. A point is on a wall between two cells when its nearest two seeds are almost equally near, and on an edge when the nearest three are. That is all it has to ask, so no cells are ever built and nothing is subtracted. The material it keeps is turned into a surface in one step, so the surface cannot have gaps.
A shell wants the walls. A lattice wants the edges: walls through a volume are plates that fill it, so a lattice made of walls comes out a solid block with bubbles in it.
Good to know§ 05
- The panel tells you how much material is kept. It is the quickest way to see whether the settings made a web or only a block with holes in it.
- If struts do not reach each other, parts come away from the main piece. The panel counts them, because nothing on screen would say so.
- A thicker skin makes a stronger web. For a stiff part, use a lattice with a skin.
- Leave a solid base on anything that has to stand, so the first layers are solid.
- Start at a coarse detail to find settings you like, then raise it for the final cut.
- Voronoi works on any closed model, a scan too. Undo takes it back.
More tool guides: Cladding · 3D textures · Windows · Doors · Mold · Connectors · Align to face · Fill up · Pivot · Download 3DFastCraft, free