3d drawing site

[stitchdup]

Are these the right kind of files for getting something 3d printed?  I found this site purely by accident and they seem to have stuff i'd like in scale

this is a link 

[SfanGoch]

The .stl files are used in 3D printing; so, you're good to go.

[my66s55]

These files are known as blue prints and can be used to create a 3d printable file.

[Fat Brian]

You should check with the site. Just because the file is in the correct format doesn't mean it will print in a way that will produce a buildable part. Normal 3d models can't be printed because the model doesn't assign a thickness or density to the parts. The model is just points in a three dimensional space with faces connecting them. The computer figures out which faces to display based on where the camera is positioned but they don't have any physically reproducible form. Programs like AutoCAD let you assign attributes to parts of the model which allow it to be recreated. If I could I would love to print some of the models I've built in the past. 

[stitchdup]

Thanks guys, your help has saved me cash cos I know nothing about 3d printing

[Spex84]

Another way to explain it: 3D printing processes require that the 3D model be contiguous....for example, if the 3D model were filled with water, nothing would leak out. They'd be "water-tight".

Video game models, especially the low-quality 3D meshes frequently available for free on the internet, don't have to be water-tight or contiguous. In fact, just the opposite is preferable: because a video game uses memory to display 3D objects, 3D modelers try to get away with using as little 3D geometry as possible to depict an object, in order to reduce the amount of memory required to display an object or scene. It's like a false-front building built as a film set, where there's no actual building behind the facade. In 3D model terms, this can mean things like deleting the underside of objects that rest on the ground--because no-one will ever see them. The end result--buildings, rocks, telephone poles, cars, you name it--that all have a "hole" in the bottom, are not water tight, and can't be 3D printed unless all the holes have been laboriously patched.

3D models touted as "Hi Res" are much more likely to be contiguous/water-tight, but not always.

When I checked out that site, I recognized a number of 3D models that have been floating around the internet for at least a decade. Some are pulled from video games. I've downloaded a bunch in the past, and have found the models to be very poor in quality.  I'm not at all convinced that the website is above-board.

 

 

 

[stitchdup]

Thankyou sir, so its sorta like a paper model compared to plastic, it has its place just not in our hobby