Handy nametag designed tutorial. Bits to Atoms: Designing and 3D-Printing Tested Nametags @ Tested:
The first step was to simply sketch out how the logo would break down into parts for printing. Since the Tested logo is made up of simple shapes the break down and modeling were relatively simple.
In the TARDIS article I mentioned using a backdrop picture to build on top of and Norm supplied me with some Tested logos files, not knowing what purposes they would be used for! A dimmed down version of the logo was used in the top view and the geometry was built right on top of it. Since mechanical precision wasn’t needed, a simple cube was stretched out and modified by eye to match up with each piece.
The ‘Tested’ text could easily be built from scratch since it’s so blocky, but there’s an even easier option if you can find the actual font, which is free at one of my favorite sources, dafont. Most modeling programs will have a text tool that will allow the letters to be extruded into 3D models which saves a ton of time.
This can get a little messy since geometry is automatically generated, so keep an eye out for problems. In this case, the ‘D’ in ‘TESTED’ was an issue since it generated a non-manifold edge which, as we discussed last time, is when more than two faces are sharing the same edge, therefore creating impossible geometry. I fixed this by deleting the offending part, rebuilding it and printing it as a separate part from the rest of the ‘D’….
