3D Print Effect

3D print builds an object layer by layer the way a desktop FDM printer does, or takes it apart the same way. A hot nozzle traces each layer around the object, the freshest layers glow and cool from white through orange to dark, and fine layer lines show on the walls. Through the open top you can see the inside: a gyroid infill, like a real print. Applied, it un-prints the object from the top down; reversed, it prints it back up.

How it works

Every layer starts at the same angle, so a faint seam runs up the side, as on a real print. With Disappear off, the default when you keep it on an object, the object turns into its slicer preview instead: the nozzle climbs through the layers and, behind it, the surface becomes toolpath, rounded beads ringing the walls and diagonal skin lines on the top and bottom faces. While it holds, a highlighted layer climbs the object with the nozzle tracing it.

Settings

- Layers: from 8 to 240, 56 by default. - Infill: how many infill cells across the object. - Heat: tints the glow of the fresh layers. - Layer lines: how strong the lines on the walls are. - Preview colours: Feature type, Layer height, or the object's colours. - Duration: 5 seconds.

Use it for

Product design and manufacturing stories, maker brands, prototype reveals. See also LiDAR scan and Voxelise.