I was really excited to learn about all the textures in the texture library, but it appears that these are just for the visual renderer, NOT for printing a textured object.
Are there pre-prepared textures that DO export as part of an STL file and affect the way the object prints? I haven’t been able to find them if they exist.
EDIT: To clarify, I want to slap some pre-prepared textures onto my design and when I print it on my 3D printer, I want those textures printed too.
The STL file format does not support materials, or even units for that matter.
OBJ and VRML do.
I’ve edited my question to clarify my intent.
To print colors on a mesh file, you can not use STL.
You can assign materials to meshes in Rhino and save as OBJ or VRML.
These two mesh formats do support materials and colors.
Forget STL.
Select your object and go to the Displacement properties in the right sidebar. You will be able to assign a texture to your object there and it will included in your STL export.
See for more: Displacement properties | Rhino 3-D modeling
Or check a tutorial on Youtube like: this Displacement Using Texture Extract Mesh Preview Rhino 3D Tutorial 3D Printing and Design - YouTube
John, we aren’t communicating at all. I could care less about colors or materials. I’m talking about texture.
I want to be able to say, “Hey! Presto! Put a cross-hatch texture on this face of the object.” and that cross-hatch texture will actually print on a 3d printer as a texture on my object.
Thanks Sanid! I’ll look into the Displacement properties.
It looks like I’ll have to convert the object to a mesh representation first?
Sorry. The term “textures” seems to almost always mean color or rendering material in Rhino discussions.
It did not occur to me you meant a physical texture like grooves, or a leather pattern as found on a basketball.
John, I fully understand! The only tutorials and help files I had found were all about visual texture in the renderer instead of actual texture in the design.
I would never have thought “Displacement properties”, that’s what I need to check out!
Displacement is your friend.