PolyPaint from Thickness
Evaluate distance between the outer and inner walls of a surface intended for 3D Printing and manufacturing
The From Thickness feature gives you the ability to evaluate the distance between the outer and inner walls of a surface intended for 3D Printing and manufacturing. This information is essential for identifying where corrections might be necessary in the surface areas on the model before final output for manufacturing.
Example of a model with PolyPaint from Thickness applied
How PolyPaint From Thickness Works
When evaluating safe distances for meshes with wall thickness, ZBrush uses sliders and parameters to process the inner and outer shell surface distances. It then applies PolyPaint across a spectrum of 7 colors, displaying a distance range from the desired minimum to maximum distance values.
From Thickness Functions
Quality Slider
Controls the number of rays cast from each polygon when evaluating the faces around it.
Setting this to higher values directly controls how accurately the PolyPaint analysis colors will be displayed on the surface.
The higher the number of rays cast, the more accurately the PolyPaint colors will represent the wall thicknesses based on the Minimum Range and Maximum Range factor settings. Of course, this increased accuracy will come at the cost of longer computation times.
Max Range Slider
Sets the desired maximum distance factor for wall thickness between the inner and outer shells.
This slider directly controls the gradients of color analysis PolyPaint (7 total) displayed on the model. Having a higher range between Max Range and Min Range will display more analysis colors for more accurate representation of surface distances between the minimum and maximum range factors.
Min Range Slider
Sets the desired minimum distance factor for wall thickness between the inner and outer shells.
Preferences >> Analysis (PolyPaint Color Spectrum)
These color patches allow you to set the 7 colors that will be used when displaying the spectrum on the mesh, based on the Minimum and Maximum Range settings.
How Color Analysis S – C5 Slots are Calculated
1. Minimum Range x Maximum Range = Range Threshold.
2. Range Threshold / 6 = Incremental Slot Amounts (Slots S – C5).
*Slot E is reserved for any surfaces that exceed the maximum range factor.
The colors listed below for each slot are the defaults.
-
- S (Red) – Below the Minimum Range distance factor and therefore considered to be an unsafe thickness.
- C1 (Pink) – The Minimum Range value.
- C2 (Yellow) – 1 increment of distance beyond Minimum Range.
- C3 (Green) – 2 increments of distance beyond Minimum Range.
- C4 (Light Blue) – 3 increments of distance beyond Minimum Range.
- C5 (Purple) – 4 increments of distance beyond Minimum Range.
- E (Blue) – Exceeds the Maximum Range factor and therefore considered to be a safe wall distance (but only when Minimum Range is the primary factor).
Polypaint From Thickness in Action
Begin by creating a mesh that has wall thickness and pre scale a scene with Scale Master Plugin to complete the full procedure for using PolyPaint from Thickness.
1. Open Lightbox\Projects\DemoAnimeHead.ZPR.
2. Select IMM Primitives Brush to begin creating a shell for the DemoAnimeHead.
3. Select Insert Sphere from the IMM brush menu, and disable symmetry.
4. Alt+Drag onto the mesh head to apply a subtractive action.
5. Turn on Gizmo 3D, then completely move the inserted sphere outside of the head mesh.
6. Ctrl + drag outside the mesh once to clear the mask.
7. Set the Geometry >> DynaMesh >> Thickness value, then click Create Shell.
8. Set Scene Scale with Scale Master Plugin by clicking ZPlugin >> Scale Master >> Set Scene Scale.
9. Choose 1.42 x 2.00 x 1.46 in.
10. Scale Master >> Set Y axis value to 5. Click enter.
11. Click the Resize Subtool button. This will now update the scale of the model.
12. Click Set Scene Scale again.
13. Choose 90.43 x 127 x 92.46 mm
14. In the Tool >> PolyPaint sub-palette, set Min Range to 1 and Max Range to 5.
15. Click From Thickness.
16. When examining the mesh at this point, all red surfaces will need to be modified as they are below the minimum wall distance and therefore too thin for safe printing.
PolyPaint Analysis Colors at current scale factors:
-
- S (Red) – below 1 mm wall distance
- C1 (Pink) – 1 mm wall distance
- C2 (Yellow) – 2 mm wall distance
- C3 (Green) – 3 mm wall distance
- C4 (Light Blue) – 4 mm wall distance
- C5 (Purple) – 5 mm wall distance
- E (Blue) – Exceeds 5 mm wall distance
17. Click ‘From Thickness’ again to re-calculate the changes made to outer wall thickness.