NetFabb offers a software product specifically designed for personal 3D printing: NetFabb Private. It’s a lot more useful than their free NetFabb Studio product, which we and many others use for basic 3D model repairs. NetFabb Private offers these capabilities:
- Fix complicated file errors
- Make late design changes
- Combine parts into one
- Hollow out solid parts into a shell
- Smooth the mesh to improve surfaces
- Reduce file size
- Edit parts on a triangle level to increase quality
- Add text
- Create 3D parts from 2D pictures
- Merge or subtract features with Boolean operations
- Cut surfaces and extract features
These features are particularly useful if you happen to find yourself with a STL 3D model that isn’t cooperating and don’t have access to the original CAD model from whence it came. You will also find it useful to handle post processing on 3D scans that typically are poorly formed and incomplete.
If you don’t have or are not proficient on advanced 3D modeling tools, yet need to do any of the above listed transformations, you might find NetFabb Private meets your needs.
The product seems to be a subset of their professional product, but at a lower price point (the Professional version is USD$1800). They do insist that you use NetFabb Private for “private” usage. They say:
Netfabb Private is only for private clients and private usage – all commercial usage is prohibited.
Built for Windows, Mac and soon Linux, NetFabb Private is available for downloadable purchase at the price of USD$299.
Via NetFabb
