Can't print from Replicator2

[trancetechkid]

Hey there fellow ZBrusher! I really hope you can help me out. I too have a Replicator 2 and I can’t for the life of me get anything out of ZBrush and into Makerware to print. That maquette you printed is EXACTLY what I want to do and it’s killing me that it’s not working.

No matter what I try, either exporting obj’s or stl’s from ZBrush, when I go to “add” them in Makerware, the computer thinks for a sec and then nothing shows up. The other result I managed to get once is the model did import, then Makerware started to run really sluggishly and the model went from displaying properly to “exploding” into a jumble of polygons, then I got a graphics display driver error and had to force quit makerware. I have exported the base mesh from Maya and it imports just fine. As soon as it goes to ZBrush and comes back out again it doesn’t work, even if I import/export through Maya again as an .obj.

Any kind of rundown of export settings you are using for ZBrush or any little “gotchyas” or other issues I need to be aware of would be really appreciated, right now I have a $2300 paperweight sitting in my living room.

Here are my specs:

Hardware:

Replicator 2 running firmware v. 7.0

PC:

Intel Core i7 3630k

32GB Ram

Nvidia Quadro FX 5600

128GB SSD + 3TB HD

Windows 7 w/ latest updates.

Software:
ZBrush 4R2b

Makerware, v. 1.1

Hey ZBC,

I would like to share my first character bust print from my Replicator 2. I am pretty happy with the results! It stands 3.5" tall and took 6 hours to print on the default high quality settings. I look forward to going into the settings and tweaking it further for an even better result - for now epoxy touch up’s should do just fine!

[Hurricks]

I had quite a heated debate with someone in the Rhino forum about mesh quality and intersecting triangles from the various export options supplied in z-brush. Won’t go into it here. HOWEVER I work with Rhino, Z-Brush & also have a Makerbot Replicator 2, so I understand you frustration!

Firstly check your mesh output.

1. Make sure you have Decimated your model. I have noticed that the Makerware slicer gets “grumpy” if the resultant .stl exceeds around 40 - 50MB (I don’t use .obj for 3D print). Remember that your print is not likely to print super fine detail so you can afford to lose a bit of “quality”.

2. Is your .stl / .obj mesh clean? Couple of good ‘free’ .stl checkers to choose from. Mini Magics & Netfabb studio basic 4.9 are both great. Netfabb may do some auto fixes if needed too.

Let me know how you get on!