Orienting, prepping and exporting models for 3D printing

Sid Naique's article on orienting, prepping and exporting models for 3D printing HERE

Quick reminders for me pulled from Sid's article (you'll probably do better reading the whole thing on Sid's blog)

your model should be standing up in ‘positive’ Z-Axis and facing towards ‘negative’ Y-Axis. 

most of the 3D Applications have Y-Axis pointing upwards (and so does ZBrush). But 3D Printing requires Z-Axis to be up and not Y-Axis

change the grid to have Z-Axis pointing upwards. To do this, go to a button called ‘Floor’ on the right and simply change its Axis from ‘y’ to ‘z’.

make the grid horizontal by rotating the camera, as it should be, your model should look like its resting on the grid, horizontally, with the blue line(Z-Axis) pointing upwards.

tools-deformation rotate x axis minus 90 degrees

If your model is still not facing in negative Y direction, then rotate it in Z-Axis till you get the right orientation


This will allow the websites to render an appropriate preview image/thumbnail of your model as soon as you upload it. 

Decimation Master

reduce the polys on the inside of your hollow model.