blender_lithoplane

Blender python script to automatically generate lithoplane STL files for 3D Printing. Tested on Creatlity Ender 3 printer in PLA

Requirements

1. Blender (2.79 tested, probably works on 2.8.x)
2. Blender added to PATH environment variable
3. Probably only works on Windows, you're welcome to try other OS' let me know if it fails

Usage

1. Clone the repo git clone https://github.com/HCAWN/blender_lithoplane.git
2. Duplicate configuration/config-template.json and rename it to configuration/config.json
3. Edit the variable of your newely created configuration/config.json file, see Variables section below
4. Open terminal in the root of the directory
5. Run the following command blender -b --python main.py OR open _EXECUTE_FUNCTION.bat
6. If your variables set the resolution of the file high then it may take up to a few second depending on the speed of your machine.

DEMO + EXTRA

• Open interactive.blend (in Blender) to have a more interactive version of the script
• The demo file is very low resolution to reduce the size for git. re-run it while changing pixelsPerGrid from 20 to 2
• Run the script in Blender (button at the bottom, or press ALT + p)

Variables

Variable	Example	Description
imagePath	"C:\Path\to\input\image\fileName.jpg"	full path to input image, \ for delimiting directories, jpg, jpeg, png
stlOutputPath	"C:\Path\to\output\stl\fileName.stl"	full path to output stl, \ for delimiting directories, ensure .stl file ending
printImageWidth	60	mm width of the image path of lithoplane (height determined by the aspect ratio of input image)
printBorderWidth	3	mm width of border added beyond image part of mesh, 0 invalid
fileWidth	1200	width in pixels of source image
fileHeight	1600	height in pixels of source image
pixelsPerGrid	10	each cell will average thisxthis grid. Lower numbers are higher detail.
minLithoplaneThickness	0.5	minimum thickness in mm of lithoplane (0.5 for pla allows almost all light through)
maxLithoplaneThickness	2.5	maximum thickness in mm of lithoplane (2.5 seems to just block out all light)
frameThickness	2.5	frame can be thicker than thickest part of image, in mm

Print settings

1. Set infill to 100 percent
2. Layer height as low as possible
3. Print the file horizontal as you will never really need more than 20 levels of greyscale (range of lithoplane divided by layer height, 2mm/0.1mm layer height)

Known issues

Non yet, please open an issue if you have questions