Customizable 3D Printed Charms for Valentine's Day

Here's your chance to turn lovable Doge into a fashion accessory for all the world to see, or gift it to your sweetheart because nothing says "I love you" more than that shibe face. If you're looking for Valentine's Day ideas, look no further.

Charmr is a customizer on the 123D website that allows you to create a 3D printable charm using whatever photo you want (it doesn't have to be doge, though it should be). It's pretty straightforward, but I'm going to go through the process of how to go from a photo to a sweet, love-themed 3D print of that same photo.

Materials you will need:

http://apps.123dapp.com/charmr/
a 3D printer (or a credit card so someone else can print for you)
a picture

Step 1: Upload Your Picture to Charmr

When you go to the Charmr site, you will be prompted to select a photo from your computer.

Select the "Browse" button and pick a photo of your choice. Up close photos with a minimal amount of detail are best.

Once the photo is selected, you can use your mouse to move the photo around until it's in the position you want.

After the charm looks like what you want, select "Done" and the image will flip around to show you what it will look like once printed.

Press the "3D Print" button where you will be given a selection of choices for a company to print your charm form you, or the option to "Download .stl." Select the "Download .stl" option.

Step 2: Prepare the Charm for 3D Printing

So this step will totally depend on what kind of 3D printer you're using. In this example I am using a Makerbot Replicator 2, and so I need to use the Makerware software to guarantee the charm is printable on this particular machine.

After downloading the .stl model in the previous step, you will open Makerware and then drag the .stl file onto the build plate as in the picture above. Remember to select "move to platform" or it won't print properly.

Select to the big "M" button at the top to prepare it for printing - it's up to you what kind of quality you'd like it to print. Medium or high quality are recommended, depending on the intricacy of the photo you chose.