[Sphynx]

Tutorial Contents
(links to be added as each part is completed)

What is Rapid-Prototyping

So many people get excited about rapid-prototyping and the potential of seeing their 3D meshes as a real-world object, but very few of them really know what Rapid-Prototyping really is. This is where we'll be doing the rounds of the various processes available, along with their limitations and possibilities.

Planning your mesh

Not everyone involved in 3D, and especially as a leisure activity, actually sits down and plans their mesh. At most, they may make a simple sketch of what they want to build. If you intend to produce your mesh for Rapid Prototyping however, and it is anything other than a small solid object, learn to plan. Plan well, and plan early.

Building your mesh

When your mesh is only intended to be on screen, you are building it for a forgiving audience - the human eye. Unintelligent Rapid-Prototyping machines however, are very unforgiving and a mistake here will either see your mesh not printed at all and rejected by the bureau or worse still, printed incorrectly and costing you money.

Preparing and verifying your mesh

This is where we'll be using one or two utilities that can doubly insure that you've got it right, and discussing some of the tactics involved in reducing the cost of printing and the risk of making some very costly mistakes. This is where we'll see that even the orientation of your mesh in the printer can have an impact on a good mesh being produced.

Bilbiography:
Note that various sources of industry information will be used in this tutorial in order to remain current with materials and methods available. Not least of which, are the public FAQ's available from Xpress3D.com, the Wikipedia and various rapid-prototyping manifacturers.