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10 Dec 2024 16:49:30 EST (-0500)
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From: Kenneth
Subject: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 17 Oct 2023 19:10:00
Message: <web.652f11c459a094fa9b4924336e066e29@news.povray.org>
Hi all.

I've been away from the newsgroups for at least 6 months(!). Mostly work-related
and seasonal--I play the guitar in a local band, and the Summer months have been
hectic in this resort area. I also came down with Covid-- first time, and
fortunately a relatively mild case; then my car had a major and mysterious
engine problem that took several months to track down and repair (with no real
mass-transit system available here); then I had an emergency medical situation:
a kidney stone -- my first one!-- which had to be removed via laser-zapping;
THEN I broke part of a tooth! But on a brighter note, several weeks ago I bought
my first 3D printer, which I've been playing with constantly to discover the
finer points of printing with it.

It has been an interesting 6 months! But I haven't forgotten POV-ray; I've been
working on several projects that I hope to post about soon.

Meanwhile, I need to catch up on all of those neglected newsgroup posts.

Cheers!


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 18 Oct 2023 03:41:16
Message: <652f8c1c$1@news.povray.org>
Op 18-10-2023 om 01:06 schreef Kenneth:
> Hi all.
> 
> I've been away from the newsgroups for at least 6 months(!). Mostly work-related
> and seasonal--I play the guitar in a local band, and the Summer months have been
> hectic in this resort area. I also came down with Covid-- first time, and
> fortunately a relatively mild case; then my car had a major and mysterious
> engine problem that took several months to track down and repair (with no real
> mass-transit system available here); then I had an emergency medical situation:
> a kidney stone -- my first one!-- which had to be removed via laser-zapping;
> THEN I broke part of a tooth! But on a brighter note, several weeks ago I bought
> my first 3D printer, which I've been playing with constantly to discover the
> finer points of printing with it.
> 
> It has been an interesting 6 months! But I haven't forgotten POV-ray; I've been
> working on several projects that I hope to post about soon.
> 
> Meanwhile, I need to catch up on all of those neglected newsgroup posts.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
Good to hear you are still around! I have missed your projects and 
comments here indeed.

I hope your "first ones" do not repeat themselves too often; one can 
miss them like... toothache (as the saying is here in NL). My best 
wishes go with you!

I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow 
be 3D printed...

-- 
Thomas


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From: Bald Eagle
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 18 Oct 2023 07:20:00
Message: <web.652fbe54d420b68b1f9dae3025979125@news.povray.org>
Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:

> I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
> be 3D printed...

Chris Young did this with his Angel Christmas ornament.


- BW


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 18 Oct 2023 07:21:44
Message: <652fbfc8$1@news.povray.org>
Op 18-10-2023 om 13:15 schreef Bald Eagle:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> 
>> I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
>> be 3D printed...
> 
> Chris Young did this with his Angel Christmas ornament.
> 
Ah. I dimly remember something indeed...

-- 
Thomas


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From: 19100
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 18 Oct 2023 11:40:00
Message: <web.652ffb71d420b68bc02916a2edfc8715@news.povray.org>
"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> I've been away from the newsgroups for at least 6 months(!). Mostly work-related
> and seasonal--I play the guitar in a local band, and the Summer months have been
> hectic in this resort area. I also came down with Covid-- first time, and
> fortunately a relatively mild case; then my car had a major and mysterious
> engine problem that took several months to track down and repair (with no real
> mass-transit system available here); then I had an emergency medical situation:
> a kidney stone -- my first one!-- which had to be removed via laser-zapping;
> THEN I broke part of a tooth! But on a brighter note, several weeks ago I bought
> my first 3D printer, which I've been playing with constantly to discover the
> finer points of printing with it.
>
> It has been an interesting 6 months! But I haven't forgotten POV-ray; I've been
> working on several projects that I hope to post about soon.
>
> Meanwhile, I need to catch up on all of those neglected newsgroup posts.
>
> Cheers!

Hey Kenneth, sounds like you've had a lot going on, welcome back to the group!


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From: Bald Eagle
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 18 Oct 2023 14:05:00
Message: <web.65301d58d420b68b1f9dae3025979125@news.povray.org>
Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> >> I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
> >> be 3D printed...
> >
> > Chris Young did this with his Angel Christmas ornament.
> >
> Ah. I dimly remember something indeed...

https://graphics.cyborg5.com/2016/12/25/christmas-2016/


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 19 Oct 2023 02:18:20
Message: <6530ca2c$1@news.povray.org>
Op 18/10/2023 om 20:00 schreef Bald Eagle:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>>>> I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
>>>> be 3D printed...
>>>
>>> Chris Young did this with his Angel Christmas ornament.
>>>
>> Ah. I dimly remember something indeed...
> 
> https://graphics.cyborg5.com/2016/12/25/christmas-2016/
> 

Brilliant! Thank you!

-- 
Thomas


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From: Bill Pragnell
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 24 Oct 2023 15:35:00
Message: <web.65381c39d420b68bf642b0d6f35e431@news.povray.org>
Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
> be 3D printed...

I played with this some years ago:

http://news.povray.org/povray.general/message/%3Cweb.5682a213e23216e08da727310%40news.povray.org%3E

This post was even replied to by Kenneth himself. Lurkers of the world unite!

Bill


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From: Kenneth
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 6 Nov 2023 08:00:00
Message: <web.6548e26bd420b68b9b4924336e066e29@news.povray.org>
"Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> > I have been wondering if some dedicated POV-Ray projects could somehow
> > be 3D printed...
>
> I played with this some years ago:
>
>
http://news.povray.org/povray.general/message/%3Cweb.5682a213e23216e08da727310%40news.povray.org%3E
>
> This post was even replied to by Kenneth himself. Lurkers of the world unite!
>

Hi all; sorry for my silence (yet again!) I have been working on a scheme to
turn a POV-ray object into a 3D-printable .stl file-- ANY kind of object or CSG,
not just a mesh or mesh2.

From what  I've read in the  previously cited newsgroup posts here, they all use
POV-ray's trace(...) function to create a dense 'point cloud' of an object,
which is then ported over to Meshlab or Meshmixer to re-build the object as a
triangle mesh and to create an .stl file for 3D printing. That apparently works
well for some objects, but I can see that just about any tracing scheme will
have some limitations and difficulties-- with overhangs and undercuts, for
example, and hollow spaces/holes.

So I decided to go about it in a different way: 'pre-slicing'  the object within
POV-ray as a series of thin slices (.png rendered images, white against a black
background), then importing them into an app called '3D slicer.' It's a huge
(230 MB zipped!) professional-level viewer/manipulator for hospital CT/MRI
scans. Take a look here...

https://www.slicer.org/

It is free to download, which is quite amazing, and can import a stack of .png
or .jpeg images (the slices) to recreate the object. It can also output an .stl
file, for later importing into your favorite 3D-printer 'slicer' software such
as Cura, Prusa-slicer, Creality Print etc. (They turn the .stl file into the
final .gcode instructions for the printer.)

This app is very intimidating and mysterious at first glance, and the GUI and
its menus are somewhat non-standard.  I spent a week researching various
medical-tech videos on Youtube to figure out HOW to use and navigate even the
basic necessary menus, as the layout is not newbie-friendly (and is designed for
a totally different audience). The processing steps we are interested in are
complicated to explain in words, but luckily use only a very small subset of the
app's vast list of features. Once the few required steps are learned, it's easy!

So the whole process is like this:  pre-slice the POV-ray 3D object -->  rebuild
the object as 3D from the slices -->  output the .stl file -->  re-'slice' the
model as .gcode for 3D printing.  It's a roundabout way of accomplishing the
goal, I admit, but it works! I have already printed several test models in PLA
plastic.

I will try to put together a how-to explanation of the process as it relates to
POV-ray.


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From: William F Pokorny
Subject: Re: still alive and kickin' in Virginia
Date: 6 Nov 2023 10:15:19
Message: <65490307$1@news.povray.org>
On 11/6/23 07:56, Kenneth wrote:
> I will try to put together a how-to explanation of the process as it relates to
> POV-ray.

It would be cool to see pictures of your printed stuff too when you have 
it going.

I'm reminded the other Bill P. never mailed me any of his printed 3D 
objects printed in gold. I wanted to carefully review gold printed 
objects - over some significant number of years. How well do they hold 
up? Do they melt down into nice small bars?

Bill P.


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