How the New KeyShot & GrabCAD Print Integration Makes Applying Labels to 3D Models Very Easy

Stratasys

11 Nov, 2020 09:48 PM

Labels represent your product and brand. When designing your label, you want it just right especially after all the effort and time spent designing it. The last thing you want to worry about is color accuracy, position, readability, and all of that transferring perfectly when printing out your model. Thankfully, now that KeyShot integrates with GrabCAD Print, label headaches become a thing of the past with how simple this new workflow can be!

1. Step 1: Import your SOLIDWORKS part of your choice!

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Import your SOLIDWORKS part of your choice!

2. Step 2: Select your texture and color of choice

   • In the KeyShot materials library, move to your desired texture then select and drag it to your body of choice.
   • We navigate the library further to apply this soft rough green texture to another body.
   • In this example, we customized the texture color and change it from the green to a cool teal.

   
   

   
   

   
   

3. Step 3: Apply multiple colors and textures to the same body

   Remember, it’s possible to apply different colors and textures to different areas of the model. In this example, the nozzle and the trigger are both a part of the same body but we want a different color for the nozzle. 

   To do this, we select “unlink the material” so that we can apply a different material to the nozzle. 

   We add another material to replace the color of the white casing.

   
   

   
   

4. Step 4: Apply the label

   Moving our focus to the right menu to select the camera to manipulate the Azimuth. This allows for the ideal viewing angle when we apply a label to our part.

   
   

   • In the material menu select the material tab.
   • Select labels which will allow you to import a png for your part. 
   • The move texture button makes it so that if you were to click on any section of your part, the label will be moved there instantaneously.

   
   

   Once the label is applied, we move back to camera to improve our viewing angle.

   

   
   

   
   

5. Step 5: Ensure the label is in the best placement

   • We move back to the material tab to manipulate our label. Under Label Textures we deselect the Two Sided option and reselect the Move Texture button so that we can center the label on the part. 
   • We type in the desired angle so that our label is where we need it to be.
   • To change the width of the label, uncheck the Use DPI for the size box. We can now move this label into a more appropriate location.
   • To make the label more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, we move to Label Type and change the label material to a metallic paint.
   • We now change the metal color so that it shows up much better on the casing.

   
   

   Notice how moving the label around to our desired location is effortless in KeyShot!

   
   

   
   

6. Step 6: Finish designing your part

   Clicking on Colors in the Library takes us to all of KeyShot’s color libraries. In this example, we select PANTONE Solid Coated V4 library. With that selected, all we need to do is type in our desired color and then we can drag it to our specific body.

7. Step 7: Export your part

   • Go to File
   • Click on export
   • Select 3MF! DPI (Dots per inch) is the resolution. 500-600 dpi  is a good minimum for 3d printed parts, any lower and the file might be blurry.

8. Step 8: Open GrabCAD Print

   
   

   We can open up GrabCAD Print and import our newly created KeyShot 3MF part! Notice how we have all our part’s bodies nice and separated from the start of our workflow!

   In this example, we decide to select the rubberized handle portion so that we can manipulate the shore value so that it matches the tactile feel we are looking for. 

   To do this, we selected color picker in the drop down menu and from there we can better alter the amount of Agilus30Clear in our handle section.