ChatGPT: Your Perfect 3D Printing Companion
A popular 3D printing assistant is making waves for its ability to assist with 3D printing itself – utilizing the assistive power of online chatbots. That’s right; the ever-adorned and smiley ChatGPT has journeyed to the world of 3D, where it is capable of generating and fixing files to be used on your 3D printer.
ChatGPT has grown in popularity in recent years as a sort of second-hand 3D printing expert; molding ready-to-print files from several popular platforms such as Thingiverse, and saving users from having to troubleshoot for themselves. Now, however, the bot can do more than simply download STL files for you – it can generate them itself.
Be sure to familiarise yourself with the best 3D printers currently on the market if you’re looking to embrace this new functionality, as you’ll need a model with an accompanying control program like Cura to be able to process the code.
To generate Gcode in ChatGPT, you’ll firstly want to input your prompts on the OpenAI platform. This is a website that acts as a backbone for artificial intelligence bots, such as ChatGPT.
Once there, you can ask the bot to generate ASCII STL files, which are 3D models that store surface details as triangular facets. Other bots, such as Thingiverse Gcode-to-STL can then convert the ASCII STL file into a more widely utilized file type, like STL.
ChatGPT will open with, “Solid
You’ll be prompted to copy and save the outputted code, which can then be copied into a text editor, such as Notepad. Save the file with a .stl extension, and import into your preferred 3D slicing software, like Cura, to generate Gcode and preview your 3D printed model.
With 3D printing, any computational errors will often result in poorly formed objects, instead of getting a ‘File Not Found’ warning online. Therefore, ChatGPT can also fix Gcode files, by asking about the mistakes in the code and correcting the errors. Simply copy the Gcode file into the chat, ask the bot to identify mistakes, and receive a response with highlighted errors. The bot can even fix them, by replacing incorrect values with random numbers.
While ASCII STL files can be a little restrictive regarding complexity due to their triangular facets, the bot can also generate scripts of your own 3D models for use in software like OpensCAD. Prompt the chatbot to create a script of a 3D model, copy the lines into OpensCAD, and render to save your design as an STL file.
By simply prodding the powerful online assistant’s brain with a few key lines, you can create pretty impressive 3D designs with it. Gone are the days when you had to follow rigid prompts and commands to achieve certain 3D modeling outcomes – with ChatGPT, it’s completely personal.
Check out our list of the best 3D printers for another innovative way of 3D printing objects, by using your smartphone as a platform for it. And if you’re looking for a more traditional means of buying your first 3D printer, then make sure to check out our breakdown of the best 3D printers on sale right now.
