Blind man develops new AI-based design workflow for vision-impaired 3D printing


A blind Reddit consumer with the deal with Mrblindguardian has developed a novel synthetic intelligence (AI)-based workflow that enables him to design and 3D print customized fashions from scratch.   

Posting to Reddit on 27 January, Mrblindguardian defined how he has leveraged ChatGPT and Luma AI to design 3D fashions utilizing textual content inputs and AI-powered picture descriptions. 

Following a trial and error course of, which included tweaking his design in Luma primarily based on ChatGPT descriptions, Mrblindguardian efficiently 3D printed a novel one-winged dragon mannequin on his Bambu Lab X1 3D printer.         

Mrblindguardian’s novel 3D design workflow has generated quite a lot of constructive suggestions from the maker group, already receiving 167 upvotes over two Reddit posts. The story has additionally been coated in a hackster.io article.   

“Can 3D printing and design be performed utterly on one’s personal as a very blind particular person? Sure, it may well,” said Mrblindguardian within the Reddit put up

“That is my first utterly personal, independently designed 3D mannequin of a dragon. Like me, it has a incapacity, it’s lacking a wing. Created with many hours of labor, my very own creativeness, ChatGPT and Luma AI,” added the self-described “blind man in 3D land.”  

The 3D printed dragon model. Photo via Mrblindguardian copyThe 3D printed dragon model. Photo via Mrblindguardian copy
The 3D printed dragon mannequin. Photograph through Mrblindguardian.

AI-based 3D modeling for the blind 

Mrblindguardian’s design course of started with him drafting a textual content description of what he thinks a dragon appears to be like like, and cross referencing this with descriptions from Google. He then used Luma AI, an AI-based generative design instrument, to create a draft 3D mannequin from his textual content inputs.

To make sure that the Luma mannequin was correct, Mrblindguardian took screenshots of the mannequin, and uploaded them to ChatGPT to generate descriptions. Based mostly on this suggestions, he then tweaked the design and repeated the method till the ChatGPT description matched the goal design. 

An stl of the 3D mannequin was then imported into an accessible slicer that’s appropriate with display screen readers, resembling AstroPrint and Kiri:Moto. Through the slicing course of, Mrblindguardian uploaded screenshots to ChatGPT, which described what’s visually on the display screen. Every time the mannequin was rotated or scaled, a brand new screenshot was uploaded, enabling Mrblindguardian to precisely manipulate his mannequin within the slicer.

As soon as pleased with the outcome, a brand new stl file was exported and despatched to a pal who might visually examine it and confirm that the file was prepared for 3D printing. 

The finished file was then imported into the 3D printer’s slicer. After selecting a colour and slicing the mannequin, the dragon mannequin was 3D printed. 

Mrblindguardian acknowledges that it is a prolonged course of, with the dragon mannequin taking a number of hours to slice and 3D print. Nevertheless, the method definitely works and has enabled Mrblindguardian, who misplaced his sight on the age of two, to 3D print a novel mannequin from scratch.    

Based on Mrblindguardian, this course of can be simpler if the Bambu Lab slicer was made extra accessible. 

“If Bambu Lab would make their slicer accessible, or at the very least, considerably extra, that might be an important assist,” Mrblindguardian commented on Reddit. “Proper now, I’m utilizing so many various softwares, as a result of all of them have completely different accessibility points.” 

Top view of the 3D printed dragon model. Photo via MrblindguardianTop view of the 3D printed dragon model. Photo via Mrblindguardian
Prime view of the 3D printed dragon mannequin. Photograph through Mrblindguardian.

AI-powered design for 3D printing

Developments in AI are enabling novel processes for 3D design, making 3D printing extra accessible to extra individuals. 

London-based 3D printing software program developer Ai Construct’s AI-powered Speak to Ai Sync software program permits customers to generate 3D printing geometries from easy textual content inputs, resembling “slice the half with 2mm layer top.”  

Though focused in the direction of extra industrial purposes, AI Construct’s software program has been designed to extend the accessibility of large-format 3D printing by lowering the talent hole. In an interview with 3D Printing Business, AI Construct CEO Daghan Cam mentioned that the corporate’s objective is to make 3D printing “tremendous accessible to inexperienced customers by making the consumer expertise actually easy.”      

“We are attempting to make it tremendous straightforward for anybody. Even a designer that doesn’t have a lot 3D printing background ought to be capable to ship their designs into machines,” added Cam.

Equally Nvidia, a GPU producer, has developed Magic3D. This generative AI instrument can produce 3D fashions from textual content prompts. The 3D mesh fashions can embrace coloured textures and will be simply generated inside 40 minutes. 

The ensuing 3D fashions are designed for use in CGI artwork scenes or video video games, and can’t at present be 3D printed. Nevertheless, potential purposes inside 3D printing, resembling exporting the AI-generated mesh as a 3D printable file, are clear to see. 

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Featured picture exhibits the 3D printed dragon mannequin. Photograph through Mrblindguardian.



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