Chris has been busy putting together a collection of 3D items that he is using in workshops with schools. The collection demonstrates a range of uses for additive manufacturing. He has curated a collection of items that are all CC-BY, which refers to the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to share, adapt, and reuse their work, even commercially, as long as they attribute the original creator. You can find out more about Creative Commons licenses here.
Not all the items on the Heart platform are CC-BY but many are, we welcome people to share their 3D scans, images and audio by attributing it to CC-BY, so everyone can add them to their collections.
Enlightening others audiences with your new collection
It is be possible for one Museum to share its collection with any other Heart User, be they a school down the road or a Museum across the world.
Having the ability to share your own items worldwide, not only empowers the sharing organisations by extending the reach of their collection, it is also a great advocacy tool by allowing people to “visit” the item before they have even stepped through the contributing organisations door.
Already now, this takes place in a small way with the British Library or Royal Mint Museum’s collections, which they use on more than one box. In the formers case the boxes are distributed around the UK to Libraries, but each with the same standard collection on it. Find out more about The British Library’s Unearthed project.
Chris’s Utilization of STL files
3D Printed Construction Image is CC-BY. If you would like to download the STL file for this 3D print then you can go here for the details on Heart plus you can utilize the audio which is also CC-BY licensed.
All of Chris’s objects in the collection are available here. https://heart.museuminabox.org/view_collection/3501
If you have purchased a box you should have access to Heart and have the ability to upload 3D prints as an STL file.
The statue of Christ the Redeemer
Image license: CC-BY-NC-SA
This is an example of a 3D print created by user @ecoleStAndre a small rural primary school in the French Alps.
Visit this item on Heart or download the STL file for this print
STL files explained: An STL file is the most widely available format used for 3D printing. STL officially stands for stereolithography. It’s essentially just a file format that describes 3d objects.
How do you create 3D objects?
If you are looking to create a replica of an existing object you will need to make a 3d scan. Professional services are available to create high resolution models of objects through Photogrammetry or digital scanning. If you want to do it yourself good results can be achieved with available Photogrammetry software. We’ll go into more details about this in a future blog.
Alternatively if you are looking to create an new object to illustrate your collection, like Chris’s imagined moon 3d printer, you can with freely available software. Naturally we favour Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) so our recommendations are Blender and FreeCAD.
Both of these allow you to export your finalized 3D image as an STL file.
Depending on your make of 3D printer you may need to use their recommended slicer software to obtain a good final print.
3D printing is building up layers of plastic to form a 3 dimensional model.
3D scanning refers to the process of collecting data about a real world object, this is often a process undertaken by experts. This data is then pieced together often using specialist software to recreate a 3D representation of the object on screen. 3D scanning uses elements of Photogrammetry
The process of scanning and printing replica objects is becoming increasingly more accessible due to ease of access to the software and hardware tools needed.
We hope to feature more pubic collections that are based on Creative Commons licenses very soon.