(mesh to Svg Workflow)HOW to Laser Cut Low-Poly Pikachu Using Meshmixer and Inkscape

when we see low poly models on 3d printing websites. wish to 3d printed but here we see how to get these stl files and make them for laser cut format . for this purpose we requires two software Meshmixer and Inkscape great news are they are open source . Download the Meshmixer from here meshmixer and inkscape

Step 1: Download Model From Thingiverse

Download model from thingiverse thingiverse link

Step 2: Meshmixer Workflow

1. import the model .

2. give the dimension to model by go to the analysis/units and dimensions

only for check do not change dimensions to inch export svg on inch not work in meshmixer

3. go to edit/transform , tick uniform scaling ,change any one dimension as we wish .

Step 3:

some times the model looks like inverted with red stripes

Step 4: Click on Select and Press Ctrl+A to Select All and Again Goto Select Press Ctrl+A Edit /flip Normals

our model is looks good.

another way to this using paint selection

1.select icon / tick the Allow back faces and paint on object then press 'e' on keyboard

2.and go on popup window edit/ flip normals

Step 5: Generate Face Groups

Face Groups are a core concept in Meshmixer. The Generate Face Groups tool allows you to try to automatically assign useful face groups to an unstructured mesh. these step are important .we can generate facegroup two ways

by manual selection by paint selection command and through Edit/Generate Face Groups change the edge angle value. and Accept

if facegroup is not coloured then press and hold spacebar and click on colour icons

Step 6: Export to SVG File

1. select the facegroup which is exported for svg files using paint selection.

2.separate the selected facegroup using select/edit/separate or press 'y' on keyboard.

3.object browser will pop up if not GO to view/show object browser

4.in object browser hide other object by click on eye icon

5.go to edit/unwarp ,select unwarp element as "by group" , unwarp type as "Rigid",packing type as optimum .

6.each face group is unwarp and shown separate in object browser

we can convert each object into svg but make group of these objects may help in laser cutting as single file

this is done by combine operation . select all unwarp object in object browser by pressing shift+left mouse button

and combine on pop up window done

9. go to the File /export svg select "inkscape svg"/and untick internal edges/ exoprt give file name / save

and we are done

10. do the all step for each facegroup to another hide object

this is how we done

Step 7: Inkscape Work Flow

1.open inkscape

2.Goto the File/Document properties and assign youer laser machine bed size.

3.Goto the File/import and open the previous meshmixer exported svg file

as we know meshmixer by default metric mm dimensions

Step 8: Convert to Vector

click the lower left corner showing cross mark . this will erase the infill color and turn into black vector

Step 9: Convert to Clour Vector

RED lines to indicate cutting

BLUE lines to indicate vector engraving

BLACK to indicate raster engraving

go to Object/ Fill and stroke and stroke paint icon

if we wanted red line then put value R =255 ,G=0, B=0B

close the window

Step 10: Stroke Style and Save As Pdf

stroke style gives stroke width for specific machine. set to 0.001 in after this we cant see vector lines because they are very thin . do not worry..we see the vector lines when save as pdf file format

if your machine does not support pdf then we can different file format in save as option.

Hope this helps you!☺️