Import a 3D Model to Foodini Creator

Import a 3D Model to Foodini Creator

One of the great things about Foodini is that you do not need to know how to create a 3D model in CAD or have any knowledge about STL files. Don't know what any of that is? Don't worry. You can skip this page. 

For those that are familiar with the above, you can import a 3D model to Foodini Creator. 

Things to Keep in Mind

Keep in mind that 3D printing food is very different versus 3D printing with plastic or any other material - hence the reason we built Foodini and Foodini Creator the way we did.

You cannot print breakaway support structures with Foodini, nor can you defy gravity and print on air. Choose your 3D models as appropriate to print with food.

If you are a 3D printer user, STLs are standard and you may automatically think you must use them with Foodini. However, STLs are just one of the ways to work with Foodini. With Foodini, every ingredient has its own settings, which does not happen in slicer software as plastic has only one set of settings. 

Once you play around with Foodini Creator you'll find that many times it's easier to create prints directly in Foodini Creator and you will most likely (pleasantly!) discover that you won't have to use STLs. The vast majority of our customers do not use STLs.

That said, if you do want to print an STL, doing it in Foodini is different versus a regular 3D printer. 

Any STL modifications, rotations, cuts, etc. will need to be done in 3D modeling software, not in Foodini Creator. When you are done with your modifications, import the STL into Foodini Creator. Then use advanced settings to fine tune the print.

Similar to how slicer software includes 3D printer settings like temperature, layer height, print speed, etc., we have those controls in our advanced settings, plus a few more that we find useful when printing food. The settings are specific to Foodini and are applied to individual ingredients and shapes. Foodini takes the STL models and slices them, and applies the settings from the advanced user settings and the edit image functions. 

If you want to print a multi-ingredient STL, you would split it up into separate STLs. You can import multiple STLs onto the same plate and either place them separately on the dish or stack them via positions.

If you have multiple STLs that you want somehow intertwined, you would import them into Foodini Creator (as separate STLs) and then reconnect them in Creator via Scripting (Beta feature.) 

Importing 3D Models

It's best to import 3D models from another device, like your laptop; see instructions on  how to connect to Foodini from another device. 

Find or create a 3D model that you want to print. In this example, we'll print this:


Use your software of preference to edit the 3D model. (We use Sketchup a lot.)  Make sure your coordinates are like the image below: the z axis must be in the vertical position. 

You must save your file as an STL to import it to Foodini Creator.
Start a new dish, tap + Shape, and the new shape option will appear. Tap 3D Model, and select your local file to import.  Resize the model if you like. Assign your ingredients, and print! (Note that you won't be able to see the lines of the 3D model in the print preview.)


Result!


Remember to make sure your STLs have no errors...


... and make sure the Z axis is the height of the shape.


File Size

The smaller the file size, the better. Very large STL files may not successfully import and/or you may get an error message. As a general rule of thumb, we recommend file sizes no larger than 1MB.

Print Preview

If you would like to see how each layer will print, you can go into Settings and turn on layers preview. This will activate layer animation in preview, and works with STLs only. 

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