Yoyo CAD & Prototyping Adventures

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

There’s a macro for doing that, it’s not built-in unfortunately.
https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Macro_FCInfo

The wiki page links to the actual macro: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/mario52a/8d40ab6c018c2bde678f/raw/4ff055ff5eb117f75beea5843efca4791990cf62/FCInfo_en_Ver_1-22-rmu_Docked.FCMacro you can download this and place it into the Macros directory for FreeCad, which for me is under C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Macro, then execute the macro from the Macro menu to open the dock with all the info in it.

For this macro you have to type in the density yourself, but then it calculates everything else.

[Kray]

Hey Mark,
I programmed tones of POV-RAY and other ray casters in the past so if I can help with anything let me know. In the Moment I am looking into writing a pipeline from FreeCAD into MatterControl.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

I’d love any tips for anodized/blasted aluminum finishes.

#declare StdFinish = finish {
 ambient 0.01
 diffuse 0.6
 reflection .05
 specular .3
 roughness .1
 metallic
 brilliance 1.0
};

object {Pov_Body
 texture {
      pigment {color rgb <0.3,0.3,0.3>}
      finish {StdFinish } //definition on top of the project
  }
}

[Kray]

Hey Mark,
I would not recommend using POV-RAY for product visualization. Very old school and only make sense if you like coding a lot! But if you wish to do so I would say easiest to get some more blasted looking material would be some noise generator to ur albedo or specular channel or create some normal/bump maps.

[Kray]

Hey Mark,
I did not test the code since I have no pov install right now.
But that is an simple example to get some “micro structure/blast” going. You need to play around with the numbers to get the look u want.

object { Pov_Body
texture {
	pigment { color rgb<0.3,0.3,0.3>  }
	finish { diffuse 0.9 phong 1 }
	normal {
		bump_map{
			image_map{ png "noise.png" }
			map_type 0
			interpolate 2
			bump_size 10
		}
		translate<0,0,0>
		rotate<0,0,0>
		scale 1
	}
}
}

Here a random noise map for the code example above to use:

Here an example which is way over the top but just to get an idea of the effect, please fin tune the bump and normal values to your liking:

[Kray]

Here Mark,
You can also use presets which makes it easier:
http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/3.6.1/485/
Creating custom materials can take a while to get perfect.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

Here’s one that feels a lot closer to me! Thanks for the assist!

Is there a different package I should be looking into for product visualization? One of the other formats I can export is LuxCoreRender, which looks more recent.

[Kray]

Hey Mark,
Yes all of them are better/newer/easier
LuxCore is physic based very good. Blender cycles is also a good choice since the community is huge and you find everything you need to download or people who can help you easily. Furthermore it has a node editor which makes your life way easier! Right and Appleseed also very high quality ray tracer.
It boils down to taste.
Quality wise I would say:

• apple seed
• LuxCore
• cycles

But this is only important if you are really able to visualize so good that you are able to see smallest details (which I am definitely not). I tend to go to the product with the biggest community since you will find what you need and you can always improve if necessary. And cycles has extrem good results anyways.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

This one is in Cycles

[Kray]

Yes way better, or?

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

It was a lot quicker to get much better results that are easier to tune and adjust. Thank you for the recommendations!

[Kray]

Happy I could help. Like the exchange of knowledge. Looking forward to further results.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

57x46mm, 64g, 7068 monometal design.

Fixed the focal distance and added another copy of the yoyo object.
I still need to make the FreeCAD → Blender workflow smoother, but this is still very good. Thank you for all the help!

[Kray]

Hey Mark,
If I can help you let me know. Maybe I can write a plug-in to make it seamsless.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

I think there may already be one for FreeCAD. I will let you know what else I discover!

[Kray]

Sure no hurry, I enjoy working on these kind of side projects if needed.

[Kray]

@MarkD here what I am working on right now for my 3D printer. Working title “cocoon”.
It is a counterweight which you can lock by rotating the inner part.

[MarkD (Mk1 Yoyos)]

That looks interesting! Is the inner part removable at all? Does it slide out?

[Kray]

You can rotate the inner piece along the Y axis to lock it. In 3D printing you can print pieces in pieces which is unique to 3D printing. For example if you design joints of any kind you do not need to print them piece by piece. You simply print them already mounted. Hard to describe very interesting feature of printers. Will post a video of the locking Mechanismus when I am publish it in my 3D print thread.

[leis]

wow, I like this one