3D Printed Portrait

Autodesk Fusion 360, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Capture, Cura, Octoprint, and Printrbot

This is a quick tutorial on creating a nice little 3D printed face portrait. Start by taking a picture with Adobe Capture which creates a vector file. From there we can bring it through Adobe Illustrator and Fusion 360 to create a 3D printable file.

Here is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyq5EWlA-uM

Step 1: Get Fusion 360

Download Fusion 360 here:

http://autode.sk/Fusion360Download

After installation create an account to login. Fusion 360 is free for non-commercial use. It will start in a 30-day trial. At the end of the trial you can either purchase a license for $300/year for commercial use or select that you will be using it as a student, hobbyist or startup, which allows you to use it free.

When you launch Fusion you will be in a new design.

Learning the basics

It is recommended that you do some of the basic tutorials before attempting this one.

This tutorial is fairly simple, but assumes the user has a basic knowledge of working in Fusion 360.

Step 2: Adobe Capture

Adobe capture is available on the iTunes app store or Google

Play store. It is a cool little app that makes converting pictures to vector art a simple process.

Select shapes in the top menu

Aim at your subject

Slide the bar left and right to get a nice preview of the vector definition and hit the capture button

Next you will see a preview of the vector file.

If you want to adjust go back and try a different slider position.

I have found this works best against a semi dark background. Too much light and you don’t get the contrast for the vector.

Now save the image to your library.

Step 3: Adobe Illustrator

Open up a new document in Illustrator.

Select on My Library in shapes.

You should see your shapes from Capture

Drag the shape onto the canvas

Rotate or scale o your liking

Double click the vector group to individually delete unwanted shapes

Select File/Document Setup -> Edit art boards

Drag the art board to encompass your shape.

Save as SVG

Step 4: Fusion 360 – Import SVG

Start a new design

Select Insert/Insert SVG

Select the top plane from the graphics area

Open the the svg file

Set the scale to be 1/72 (this is the conversion from Illustrator points => inches)

Select exit sketch

Step 5: Fusion 360 – Create Model

Create a new sketch on the top plane

Draw a rectangle that encompasses the imported shape.

Select exit sketch

** Note you should now have 2 sketches in your model

Select Create/Extrude

Select the rectangle

Set the distance to be -.25”

Select ok

Select Create/Extrude

Select all the face profiles (see video for quick tip)

Set the distance to -.125” (this should set it to be cut automatically)

Select OK

Select Modify/Fillet and add a 1” fillet to the outer corners

Select Modify/Chamfer and add a .125” chamfer to the upper edge

Step 6: Fusion 360 – 3D Print

Select MAKE/3D Print

Select the model

Set the resolution to “high”

Either select your 3D Print utility or uncheck to save an STL file locally.

Step 7: Cura

If you select Cura the file will come into your bed

Set the desired settings

If you want, you can scale the geometry here as well.

Save the g-code or print from here

Step 8: OctoPrint

Connect to your OctoPrint Server

Connect to the printer

Upload the new g-code file

Open the file

Hit Print

Step 9: Results

Here are some pics of the final results.