3D Printing from a sharpie drawing

1. Taking a photo with Photobooth

Open photo booth on your mac. In this case, we'll use spotlight (the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner) and type in photo booth and enter to open Photo Booth

1.1. Snap a photo of your sharpie drawing

Hold your drawing up to the camera, then click the red photo button.

1.2. Drag the photo to your desktop

Drag and drop the photo from photo booth to your desktop.

1.3. Open your photo in preview

Double click the photo on your desktop to open it in the Preview app

1.4. Crop your photo

Click and drag a selection box around your drawing, being careful to keep only the paper and drawing in the selection.

Then, go to Tools, Crop to crop your image.

1.5. Your photo after cropping

Your photo will now be cropped. Save your image to a location of your choosing.

2. Using Inkscape

Open Inkscape, and click File, Import.

2.1. Select file to import

Find your cropped photo, then click Open

2.2. Resize your photo

Hold the shift key while you drag the corner arrow down to resize the image.

2.3. Image after resizing

Here is the image after resizing.

2.4. Trace Bitmap

We need to turn your bitmap image into a vector image. A bitmap image is actually a mosaic of tiny squares called pixels. While most photographs are made up of these tiny "picture elements" (pixels), for this process we need the image to be a mathematically defined shape of lines, called a vector image.

We'll be using the trace bitmap feature to trace around our image and turn it into a collection of paths.

Select your image, then click Path, Trace Bitmap...

2.5. Trace Bitmap

Depending on your image, you may need to adjust the threshold values. These values will be different depending on your image, but the goal is to use the Update button to see your sharpie drawing only in black in the preview window, with everything else being white.

2.6. Trace Bitmap (Shift+Alt+B)

After adjusting the values, click OK.

2.7. Move the vector image away from the photo

Click and drag your vector shape away from the image

2.8. Delete the image

Select image and press the delete key on your keyboard to delete the image.

2.9. Save your file as an svg

Go to file, save as to save your file

2.10. Name and select a location for your file.

Give your file a descriptive name and save it to a location of your choosing.

3. Using TinkerCAD.com

3.1. A new empty canvas appears

Under import, click choose file.

3.2. Google Chrome

Select your svg file

3.3. Import

Adjust the scale if needed, then click import

3.4. The shape imports

The shape will import at a large size.

3.5. Resize the shape

Hold shift while dragging the corner to adjust the shape size to approximately 100mm by 50mm.

Notice the dimensions appear as you resize the shape

3.6. Add a cube

Drag a cube onto the stage

3.7. Adjust the cube size

Use the white boxes to adjust the cube size to 3.00mm tall

3.8. Adjust the cube size

Adjust the length and with to approximately 50mm by 100mm

3.9. Raise the shape

Use the white cone to move the shape up above the stage in the Z axis.

3.10. Move the shape onto the platform

Move the shape onto the platform you've created.

Ensure the shape overlaps with platform - you'll see the bottom edge disappear into the platform as you lower it.

3.11. The shape after being moved.

3.12. Look at the shape from all sides to ensure there are no gaps.

3.13. Group the shape

Select both parts by dragging a box around the objects.

3.14. Click Group

Click Group to group the shapes

3.15. The shape is now grouped

3.16. Change the design name

Go to Design, then Properties

4. Enter a design name

4.1. Downloading for 3D printing

To 3D print your design, go to Design, then Download for 3D Printing

4.2. Download the .STL file

Download the .STL file.

Either submit the stl file for printing, or prepare the file and print it yourself.