Let Netfabb generate a foundation on the platform surface from a part's shadow area
Baseplates provide a solid interface between the part's own support structures and the build platform. This can help with keeping a part firmly and reliably attached to the build platform during the print. Later, when the print is finished, it can also help with detaching a part from the platform since you can afford to apply greater leverage while still keeping the risk of damage to the part to a minimum.
This function determines the shadow area of an existing part and then generates a new part, or a parametric attachment, from that.
- Select the part
- From the main menu, choose
Modify >
Generate baseplate from shadow.
- Adjust settings as needed, and click OK.
Errors in the original part's mesh can cause problems with plate generation, so before proceeding to do so, Netfabb checks the part for faults, including (if activated) self-intersections.
Baseplate dialog reference
| Option | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Baseplate type |
The plate type can be Solid, meaning a continuous, featureless plate, or be a grid of either Hexagonal or Rectangular pattern. If the build room contains another part, you can also select Custom mesh: This applies the shadow area as a stencil to that mesh and applies the result to the source part. (This necessarily ignores the value of Baseplate height as the custom mesh naturally has its own height.) |
|
| Baseplate height |
The value in Z where to terminate the plate. Effectively, the plate's thickness. |
|
| Use only outer contours |
If the part's net shadow area fully encloses areas without shadow, these areas may optionally be considered as shadowed as well. Note: Enclosed areas are determined
before any offset is applied. If any generated offsets result in fully enclosed areas, these remain uncovered even with this switch active.
|
|
| Offset from shadow |
Makes the baseplate wider than the actual shadow area by this value. |
|
| Cell size |
Determines the length of the individual cells' inner sides. |
 Set wall thickness and cell size to adjust the grid pattern to your needs. |
| Wall thickness |
Adds a spacing between the cells. |
|
| Parametric part |
When ticked, the baseplate is generated as a parametric attachment of the parent part instead of a separate part. This means that you only need to set it up once, and it gets updated automatically (with a short delay) whenever you move, rotate, or scale the part. Note: A parametric baseplate is only maintained for slicing, and also saved in a FABBPROJECT file. To keep the baseplate during conversions, such as moves between build rooms, or exports to other file types, you may need to (re-) generate the plate as a non-parametric part.
|
|
| Baseplate mesh |
When the build room contains more than one part, and you select Custom Mesh for the Baseplate Type, you select the baseplate mesh here. |
 A spur gear with a baseplate stenciled from a custom mesh |
| Create single baseplate for all meshes |
Generating baseplates for multiple parts at once produces individual parts. With this option, the baseplate is added as a singular part, with multiple shells if necessary. Note: When
Parametric Part is active, adjusting even just one part still causes regeneration of the entire plate.
|
|
| Invert baseplate |
This produces a negative of the baseplate, a cuboid foundation based on the part's outbox, but with a cut-out of what would normally be created as the baseplate. |
|
|
Outer offset of inverted baseplate |
When active, the cuboid negative baseplate is generated wider than the outbox of the parent part by this distance. |
|
| Lower limit |
Any part contours below this Z height are ignored for the shadow calculation. |
|
| Upper limit |
Any part contours above this Z height are ignored for the shadow calculation. |
|
| Check for self-intersections |
When a part has self-intersections, plate generation may fail due to having "inverted contours" where the surface appears inside-out. However, checking for self-intersections can also be computationally expensive and is therefore not included in the regular part integrity check. With this switch you have the choice of checking for self-intersections: If you know that your part geometry is sound enough, you can leave this option unchecked. |
|