Convert an existing model to something parameterised?

gday! I wanted to remix a model to allow the battery holder section to be customisable via parameterisation, it’s not something I have done before so was looking for some advice

I’ve converted the stl into a scad file and imported that into openscad, now I can see a tonne of points that make up the model, but that’s not super friendly

I was wondering if there’s a way to insert the variables into the points, or does it mean a full redesign to implement this? again, haven’t done this before so I am discovering as I go, and any advice is appreciated!

Never seen such a conversion… You mean you got a scad file with hundrets of point coordinates listed? What program does that?

At first i was going to say no, parametric design usually starts to be parametric right from the beginning. Then again, you could move all points in a region, say, with an x coordinate greater than 15 for example, to a higher x value, thereby moving a section and for example make the battery holder compartment wider…

I’d consider that more of a hack than a clean solution.

I have the stl which I converted to the scad with the points, yes

I gave up trying to modify all but the simplest stl files, the mesh is just too hard to work with. I find it easier to start from scratch and create my own parameters in Fusion. Sometimes I’ll print out the original and then get out the calipers so that sizes and proportions are correct.

Postage stamp dispenser re-modeled for a roll of dot stickers:
image

Seriously? We’re accusing other members of literal crime now? Awesome.

The object is clearly licensed CC-BY-NC. That means anyone else can do anything they want with the model so long as — if they even re-share their work — they also credit the original author and don’t make money out of it. If the modifications are for personal use only and not uploaded for others to use, then there are no legal restrictions what-so-ever.

Screenshot 2024-08-02 at 07.36.31

Nothing the OP wants to do is IP theft. The terms of use are given in the link:

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You are free to:

  1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  2. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  3. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

  1. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  2. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes .
  3. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

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As long as the OP abides by those terms, they can copy, make any changes they like, and share those changes as well.

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STL files contain mesh models, which are basically a bunch of points in 3D space connected with line called edges. The mesh is an export format from the CAD software and lack any of the data used to create the shape in CAD — like base sketches, extrusions, chamfers and so on. It’s just the final shape, expressed in a way slicers can interpret. Whilst it is possibly to use mesh editing software to adjust the coordinates of points (vertices they are called) within a mesh, this is not some OpenSCAD is going to do for you. Even the likes of Fusion 360 might allow editing of the mesh but not in a parametric manner.

The only practical way you can achieve your goal without access to the original CAD file would be to re-create a similar shape from scratch.

You could ask the original creator if they are willing to share the original CAD files, though even then you’ll need to use the same software they did to create the object. Otherwise you’re back to re-creating a similar object from scratch.

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Apologies, my one working eye (which only works at 75%) missed the blue-on-black inline link.


I posed a question having not noticed the link.

@lkraus pointed out there was a licence that allows this, which was a licence I hadn’t seen.

@gruvin took an adversarial approach. There is nothing obvious about a licence I never saw.

Oh, it occurs to me later that you may have made some logical leaps to arrive at a desire to “parameterize” and “customize” a model. These terms traditionally imply more complexity than you may have intended. You may simply want to adjust the size of the model a little for your own needs, which is technically entirely different.

As I mentioned in my previous reply, STL files contain “mesh” models. These can certainly be added to, removed from, stretched, and shrunk without any reference to the term “parameterize” or “variables.”

Assuming I’m on the right track, there are numerous options available for this, such as Meshmixer (no longer supported), Wings3D, Blender, and others. These all have steep learning curves, though.

If your goal is to make a relatively simple size change for personal use, as opposed to making the model configurable by other users in the classical “parameterized” fashion, then you may be able to do so using only BambuSlicer itself.

Within the slicer, you can scale parts or slice them up and make adjustments before “merging” them back together.

For example, if you want to stretch just one part of a model in one direction, you could perform two slices to isolate that piece. Then, you can scale the now-separated object, move the original parts further apart to make room for the longer piece, and once the pieces are aligned where you want them, you can select them all and use “Merge” (previously “Assemble”) to make them into a single object again.

You can save your new model by right-clicking and selecting “Save as single STL” or simply save the project as a normal 3MF.

Similarly, if you want to move two parts of a model closer together without changing the overall scale, you can make a slice, move the pieces closer so that they overlap, and then merge them. Merging will remove the overlap, leaving a single part composed of the overlapping pieces.

When you slice using the slicer software, there is an option to “slice to parts.” Parts are pieces of the same object, even if they’re not actually connected. As such, you cannot scale an individual part without affecting all the other parts of the object. To make the parts into objects that can be individually scaled, use the right-click “Split => To objects” feature.

Hope that helps.

P.S: We speakers of the Queen’s English (as if!) spell parameterize as parametrise. I’ve tried for years to get the folks in the US to spellinate stuffs correctlier but they don’t seem to care for it. :stuck_out_tongue:

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thanks mate! yeah I took a few leaps that seemed obvious but I didn’t have the underlying experience or knowledge to clarify, hence this topic to better understand.

I will take a look at some of these other options

are you always this belligerent or do you actively work on it in an attempt to dissuade people from learning?