3D models of sphere, torus and cone

Jobs & Portfolios
1

I’m new to the forum so I don’t know if my question is suitable.

I tried to buy a hand held ball and torus. My plan was to then have an illustrator insert lines and geodesics that would illustrate the concepts of curved space. I only found on line Styrofoam spheres on line. I’m not sure an artist can add precise lines and curves to such as surface.

My question is: can someone provide me with the code to generate these 3D shapes so I can then take the program to a printer who can print them on a 3D printer?

I use windows 11. If necessary I can first go to a print shop and find out what language/OS the code has to be written in. I can also find out what the nature of such a printed surface is - will it allow fine drawings? I know that few materials will really be curved in the same sense as an abstract shape because its smoothness is limited by the molecular structure of which it is composed, whereas abstract shapes are by nature infinitesimally smooth. I doubt any printer can print a glass ball.

gary

2

With the right printer you can print items close enough to smooth that some hand finishing will get them looking…well pretty remarkably smooth. There are many of us here who would be able to create these shapes and engrave them with the desired patterns.

3

Thanks, Jim. I don’t the business side of mcneel.com. Is there a fee - for code as well as printing? is this done through an affiliate web site?

Let’s start with:
the printing alone (a price range) for a 7" diameter ball with 4 different sizes of triangles in the surface? Ideally one size would be very small. The last thing would be a calculation of triangle area compared to flat triangles - can this be printed in a legend on the sphere?

4

I meant there are several people who visit this site who would be qualified to assist you.

I’m not sure I have bandwidth, I will message you privately if I do…

5

Hi Gary
I have sent you a message :slight_smile:

6

I was in touch with sukey and ED.

I realized I have more research to do. I wanted a tangent vector projected into the sphere. But I need a better equation for the vector. I will revisit stack exchange. I let them know.

I hope to contact McNeel again in the future

My plan was to have hand held objects to show family. It wasn’t working out when I just quoted equations about curved space to them. I’m a novice anyway.

Thanks,.
Gary

7

You could also download the 90 day trial of Rhino and make those shapes yourself. Unless I’m missing something here those shapes are all basic primitives that Rhino can create by selecting them from a menu.

As for code. Print shops don’t use code. You export the 3d model as an STL file and give that to the 3d printing company.

8

That’s a thought. But adding tangent vectors and mapping them to the surface probably requires more than point and click in Rhino.