Next steps

There’s a lot we haven’t covered here; here are some suggestions for what to learn next.

• Boolean modifier, especially useful for “drilling” holes in meshes
• Mirror modifier, useful for modeling symmetrical objects – you only have to work on one side and the other side is updated automatically.
• Solidify modifier, useful for saving material (and money) by hollowing out large models
• Advanced selection, for all sorts of useful ways to select exactly the vertices you want.
• Vertex painting, for prints from services that support multiple colors.

Learning resources

If there’s a single resource I could recommend specifically for 3D printing it’s the tips for modeling in Blender for 3D printing, from Sculpteo.

For further learning, there are many resources including:

• Blender Manual
• blender.stackexchange.com
• blenderartists.org forum
• List of support options at blender.org

Cheatsheets

Google for “Blender Cheatsheet”; here are some direct links to get you started:

• one
• two
• three

Demo file

instrument-mount.blend, modified from simple beaker clamp (public domain license) on the NIH Print Exchange