Steve J
Getting Fingers Dirty
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2019
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 29
- Points
- 48
- Printer Model
- Canon Pro1000, Prusa I3MK3
Sorry, but I'm not taking anything out of context. Depends what you define as "fun". Perhaps this is the wrong forum for me to be in.
RE: Color Management
The very thought of these words means that you are not satisfied with the colors you are getting on your printer. You take a picture with your smartphone and send it to your Epson printer (and you are using Epson paper), and things look ok. You then find some inexpensive photo paper on sale, and put this in your printer. The next time you print a family photo, you find your sister's face turns out a bit green, and you can't figure out why and you aren't happy about this. Or you decide to do some editing on that photo, and find the colors you see on your monitor are different than the colors you print. If you are satisfied with this, fine, you don't need color management. Have fun. If this color issue bothers you, then you probably should learn about color management. If you take photos on your phone and bring them to a chain store to have them printed, the chain store knows about color management for you so you don't have to.
Most professionals know about color management. Some know what they are doing , and some don't. The worst thing is not knowing what you don't know. Someone can set you up a color-managed workflow, and it will probably stay that way for a while.
Color management is the knowledge of how to get the colors you took with your camera to match the colors you see on your monitor to match the colors you are printing FOR THE SAME PICTURE. Plain and simple. Actually color management can be fairly complex, and you can have fun with this knowledge as well, getting great color accurate printed pictures.
RE: 3D Digital Design
3D Digital design implies some sort of computer-aided design (CAD) for designing (and eventually building) 3D models. Since the world is basically 3D (some physicists would disagree with me on this) this means you probably want to build this model on a 3D printer. But perhaps not. You can use the same 3D model to build a wooden structure (if you have a good wood shop), or build it out of metal (if you have a decent metal shop) or know someone that has a good wood or metal shop. 3D design is simply putting a design in your head down in the computer instead of using drafting instruments and large paper to do the same thing. I originally learned how to do mechanical design on a drafting table, and I can assure you that 3D CAD is MUCH better.
I enjoy the thought of a good design, but even better building something that works from that design.
There are lots of 3D design software out there, some free and some not. Typically, the free stuff isn't as good as the stuff that cost money. I started looking at 3D modellers several years ago when I decided to build a product, and I could better design it on the computer rather then pencil and paper. Also, I could get someone to print the 3D models for me.
What type of final product you want depends on what type of software you select. If you want to have fun printing simple stuff, most any of them will do. If you want to get into more complex design, you need a more advanced modeller that has the capabilities to let you build what you want in software, so you can make it in real life. Also, architectural modelling software (say for designing a building) is VERY different than the software for designing a widget. Again, it depends on what you want to do with the final product. Some people consider fun just designing stuff, and some people have fun actually building what they design.
Some of the more simple, free 3D modellers are:
openscad, tinkercad
More advanced 3D modellers
FreeCad
Inexpensive modellers
Alibre Atom
Higher priced modellers
Alibre Design, Solidworks, Cadia, Solidedge
Vectorworks, Autocad (architectural modellers)
There are probably many more out there that I don't know about. I do know that probably the most widely-used modeller is Solidworks, but it's expensive. It all depends on what you want.
In my experience, free, cloud-based modellers may be ok for some things, but you really don't own your models, and you are highly dependent on the licensing and who runs their data center. If you want really good design software, you need a feature-driven parametric modeller. FreeCad comes close, and Alibre is probably one of the least expensive modellers, and is fairly good. As I said, it depends on what you want to do. Fun is relative.
I just enjoy making things and having them work.
RE: Color Management
The very thought of these words means that you are not satisfied with the colors you are getting on your printer. You take a picture with your smartphone and send it to your Epson printer (and you are using Epson paper), and things look ok. You then find some inexpensive photo paper on sale, and put this in your printer. The next time you print a family photo, you find your sister's face turns out a bit green, and you can't figure out why and you aren't happy about this. Or you decide to do some editing on that photo, and find the colors you see on your monitor are different than the colors you print. If you are satisfied with this, fine, you don't need color management. Have fun. If this color issue bothers you, then you probably should learn about color management. If you take photos on your phone and bring them to a chain store to have them printed, the chain store knows about color management for you so you don't have to.
Most professionals know about color management. Some know what they are doing , and some don't. The worst thing is not knowing what you don't know. Someone can set you up a color-managed workflow, and it will probably stay that way for a while.
Color management is the knowledge of how to get the colors you took with your camera to match the colors you see on your monitor to match the colors you are printing FOR THE SAME PICTURE. Plain and simple. Actually color management can be fairly complex, and you can have fun with this knowledge as well, getting great color accurate printed pictures.
RE: 3D Digital Design
3D Digital design implies some sort of computer-aided design (CAD) for designing (and eventually building) 3D models. Since the world is basically 3D (some physicists would disagree with me on this) this means you probably want to build this model on a 3D printer. But perhaps not. You can use the same 3D model to build a wooden structure (if you have a good wood shop), or build it out of metal (if you have a decent metal shop) or know someone that has a good wood or metal shop. 3D design is simply putting a design in your head down in the computer instead of using drafting instruments and large paper to do the same thing. I originally learned how to do mechanical design on a drafting table, and I can assure you that 3D CAD is MUCH better.
I enjoy the thought of a good design, but even better building something that works from that design.
There are lots of 3D design software out there, some free and some not. Typically, the free stuff isn't as good as the stuff that cost money. I started looking at 3D modellers several years ago when I decided to build a product, and I could better design it on the computer rather then pencil and paper. Also, I could get someone to print the 3D models for me.
What type of final product you want depends on what type of software you select. If you want to have fun printing simple stuff, most any of them will do. If you want to get into more complex design, you need a more advanced modeller that has the capabilities to let you build what you want in software, so you can make it in real life. Also, architectural modelling software (say for designing a building) is VERY different than the software for designing a widget. Again, it depends on what you want to do with the final product. Some people consider fun just designing stuff, and some people have fun actually building what they design.
Some of the more simple, free 3D modellers are:
openscad, tinkercad
More advanced 3D modellers
FreeCad
Inexpensive modellers
Alibre Atom
Higher priced modellers
Alibre Design, Solidworks, Cadia, Solidedge
Vectorworks, Autocad (architectural modellers)
There are probably many more out there that I don't know about. I do know that probably the most widely-used modeller is Solidworks, but it's expensive. It all depends on what you want.
In my experience, free, cloud-based modellers may be ok for some things, but you really don't own your models, and you are highly dependent on the licensing and who runs their data center. If you want really good design software, you need a feature-driven parametric modeller. FreeCad comes close, and Alibre is probably one of the least expensive modellers, and is fairly good. As I said, it depends on what you want to do. Fun is relative.
I just enjoy making things and having them work.
....
