Architecture / resolution test: Taj Majal

Projects & Prints
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Here’s a quick test I did as I wanted to try some architectural model, and after seeing it, I decided to reprint in finer resolution just to see what I could see.

The model was a stock Taj Mahal model created by PRANAV PANCHAL via Grabcad.

It is an impressive model - over 600K triangles, loads of detail, but also relatively “light tight”.

Preform had to fix some issues on load, but generally things were pretty solid and the fix up looked good.

I printed small enough that I felt I could get away WITHOUT hollowing. I started an initial effort at hollowing, which I’ll summarize below, but I ran into issues and time constraints, so I dropped the scale down just a bit and rolled the dice.

I used auto-support generation in Preform. Turned out reliable enough, but the clean up was definitely dicey.

I was pretty pleased with the results at 0.5 though.

Here’s the preform setup:

(solid Taj Mahal model at 600K tris)

and here’s the mounted print (about 6 hours of printing)

(5cm x 5cm x 3cm LWH)

You can see here above that I already broke one of the cupolas (on the left) during the IPA rinse… Hugely fragile and almost too small for my eyes!

Here’s the cleaned one:

Broken cupola at the right now too! Fat fingers.

And then I printed again at 0.025 - about 14 hours. Same model:

0.025 print at right… no visible difference to me upon close inspection.

Seems pretty much the same.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the finer details, and for some reason, unlike Cesar’s larger prints, the large flat areas seemed to hold up. I had no blow-outs, but I suspect that if I scaled up, I would see the same problems (bubbling, etc. that seems associated with thick walls).

If I have time, I will try a larger print with hollowing. THe process I will follow is essentially:

  1. clean model and fix holes as much as possible.
  2. run a decimation (polygon reduction) process on a copy of the entire ‘outer’ mesh of the building - get something relatively small - in the thousands of triangles
  3. extrude negatively along normals, then FLIP NORMA:LS so the inner shell is facing “inward”
  4. combine both meshes in the same view
  5. use mesh painting on the inner mesh to push/pull individual verts as needed for basic fix up (this is the nasty part)

and print.

We shall see if that really works on this model :smile:

Jeff

2 Likes
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very nice Jeff. How big is your model? I am getting blowouts in small models also…
I am starting to wonder if there is something wrong with me printer.

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Thanks Cesar.

It is pretty small 5x5x3cm roughly.

I was honestly surprised i did not get a blow out. I’ve done a few different things now that are pretty thick. And I’m not sure which situations lead to blow outs consistently. The “troll” project was pretty thick in spots - but no blowouts at all. The chess piece I did had lots of issues like bubbling hear the base when printed vertically on supports or even on the platform directly. But the teeth, which I spent some time to hollow (but forgot the air hole) DID blow out.

I honestly expected this one to have more problems, but it is pretty small in the end.

I will probably scaleup 20% and see what happens as is. Will let you know.

1 Like
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Jeff, this looks great, thanks so much for sharing! Looking forward to seeing what it looks like scaled up.