GETTING
STARTED
WITH
MESHMIXER
11
CHAPTER
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FIGURE 111: The two gray figures (top left) are created in Meshmixer; the other three views have had color and shading effects added
in an external program to make the 3D model look nicer in image form (Artwork entitled “Madlon” by Gunter Weber/“MagWeb” on the
Meshmixer forums)
Meshmixer is another free program, and it is amazingly powerful. It’s so useful that, if you 3D print a lot, you
may find yourself using Meshmixer before every print. Don’t be fooled by the free price and by our “medi-
um-level” skill rating; it can be just the right toolbox beginners need to print and create models, as well as
something advanced users can use to create digital masterpieces. Check out the model in Figure 11-1 for
an example of the kind of sculpted 3D model you can create with Meshmixer.
Here are a few reasons why Meshmixer is one of our most popular online 3D printing and 3D modeling
courses on LinkedIn Learning /Lynda.com:
Meshmixer can be used not only to create all kinds of 3D models, but also to help you translate
those models into physical products. This ability is unmatched by any other software program.
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FIGURE 112: Meshmixer Start menu
Even if you never end up 3D printing what you create, Meshmixer is a powerful standalone digital
creation tool.
Meshmixer helps you get the most out of your own 3D printer at home.
Students, professionals, artists, hobbyists and designers, and beginners and advanced model-
ers can all benefit from learning Meshmixer.
Meshmixer can be taught to ages 9 and up.
There are over 80 tools in the program, many of which are easily applied to your model.
GETTING STARTED
Meshmixer is not browser-based like Tinkercad, so you will need to download the program by visiting the
official website. Go to http://www.meshmixer.com and follow the instructions to download and install
Meshmixer on your computer.
When you first start Meshmixer you will be presented with a menu of starting choices, as shown in Figure 11-2.
BEFORE WE GET ANY FURTHER, LET’S GO OVER SOME BASIC ASPECTS OF MESHMIXER:
Left-clicking your mouse will select things on the screen, or act as the brush when sculpting
Holding down the right mouse button and dragging your mouse will rotate the object
Holding down the middle mouse button will pan the object
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FIGURE 113: Meshmixer Tool menu and descriptions
Figure 11-3 shows the left hand side of the Meshmixer screen with labels of the tool functions. You are able
to access all the tools of Meshmixer from these main icons.
STARTING THE TUTORIAL
From the Start menu, click the rabbit in the lower-left corner. This will load up the iconic “Stanford Bunny,”
which was 3D scanned from a small statue in 1993 at Stanford University. Once you click the icon, a bunny
will appear on the screen. You now have a 3D model to work with.
Now that you have the bunny on the screen, though, you will need to “fix” it. Because this is a 3D model that
was created by 3D scanning a real-world object, the scanner was only able to capture the exposed surface
areas of the bunny, and not the parts where it was sitting on the table. To 3D print this bunny, this “missing
and open” part of the scan will need to be closed. 3D printing requires a closed, airtight model. Fortu-
nately, Meshmixer has some powerful tools that will evaluate and “fix” 3D models to make them more 3D
printable.
BEGIN BY CLICKING ANALYSIS → INSPECTOR.
You will see a blue “pin” popping out of the bottom of the bunny as shown in Figure 11-4. This indicates that
there is an issue with the mesh in that location. You can easily see the big hole in this 3D model, but some
holes are harder to see, making this tool very valuable. Meshmixer will find errors such as holes and small
disconnected parts with the Inspector tool. Make sure to rotate your model all the way around with your
right mouse button to see all pins that might be hidden from view.
Next, click the blue pin (or the “Auto Repair All” button in the Inspector tool), and you will see the bottom of
the bunny fill in.
Click Done, and your bunny will be corrected for 3D printing as shown in Figure 11-5.
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FIGURE 113: Meshmixer Tool menu and descriptions
FIGURE 114: Analysis and Inspector tools on the bunny model
FIGURE 115: Bunny model is fixed using the Inspector tool
Figure 11-3 shows the left hand side of the Meshmixer screen with labels of the tool functions. You are able
to access all the tools of Meshmixer from these main icons.
STARTING THE TUTORIAL
From the Start menu, click the rabbit in the lower-left corner. This will load up the iconic “Stanford Bunny,”
which was 3D scanned from a small statue in 1993 at Stanford University. Once you click the icon, a bunny
will appear on the screen. You now have a 3D model to work with.
Now that you have the bunny on the screen, though, you will need to “fix” it. Because this is a 3D model that
was created by 3D scanning a real-world object, the scanner was only able to capture the exposed surface
areas of the bunny, and not the parts where it was sitting on the table. To 3D print this bunny, this “missing
and open” part of the scan will need to be closed. 3D printing requires a closed, airtight model. Fortu-
nately, Meshmixer has some powerful tools that will evaluate and “fix” 3D models to make them more 3D
printable.
BEGIN BY CLICKING ANALYSIS → INSPECTOR.
You will see a blue “pin” popping out of the bottom of the bunny as shown in Figure 11-4. This indicates that
there is an issue with the mesh in that location. You can easily see the big hole in this 3D model, but some
holes are harder to see, making this tool very valuable. Meshmixer will find errors such as holes and small
disconnected parts with the Inspector tool. Make sure to rotate your model all the way around with your
right mouse button to see all pins that might be hidden from view.
Next, click the blue pin (or the “Auto Repair All” button in the Inspector tool), and you will see the bottom of
the bunny fill in.
Click Done, and your bunny will be corrected for 3D printing as shown in Figure 11-5.
SCULPT WITH DIGITAL CLAY
As we mentioned, Meshmixer has more than 80
amazing tools. One of the most fun to play with is
the Sculpt tool. Let’s make the bunny more interest-
ing by creating some wings to allow it to fly:
CLICK THE SCULPT TOOL ON THE LEFT MENU.
Click Brushes and select the Draw tool. The Draw
tool allows you to add to and create volume in the
model, as if you were applying more “clay” to it.
Before you start modifying the bunny, notice that
there are settings that affect your brushes on the
left-hand side. These options have a dramatic
effect on how the tools work. For now, open up
the settings windows to access the properties and
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