IMPLEMENTATION OF 3D PRINTING
for creating physical terrain and surface models

Author: Radek Barvíř
Supervisor: RNDr. Jan Brus, Ph.D.
Field of study: Geoinformatics and geography
Place and year of publication of the thesis: Olomouc, 2015
Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic

The bachelor thesis is focused on testing of the possibility of creating physical terrain and surface models using Prusa i3 3D printer. Its objective is to develop a procedure of transferring digital elevation data into a physical model and finding a suitable print settings for this specific use of 3D printing validated on several models created from available data. These data include the 4th and 5th generation of the digital terrain model and the 1st generation of the digital surface model borrowed from Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre as well as global data like NASA SRTM and ASTER GDEM. Another objective was to test the possibility of creating a larger model consisting of several individual, e.g. the model of the Czech Republic scaled 1 : 700,000. The possibility of adding text and other compositional elements of the map is also tested on the models.

The preprocessing of the data was done in ArcGIS for Desktop 10.2 a ERDAS Imagine 2013 software. The output raster was then converted into 3D object and modified in Rhinoceros 5. For the model slicing and print settings the open-source application slic3r was used. The printer was controlled by Pronterface and OctoPrint.

The complete workflow from preprocessing of the data to the printing process itself including step-by-step instructions, used tools and screenhots is the main result of the thesis as well as the created models and prepared print settings. Physical models and their digital equivalents and print settings placed on CD are included in the form of annexes.

You can download the bachelor thesis in PDF format (in Czech language).