Meshmixer: editing and repairing models for 3D printing

What Meshmixer can do

Meshmixer was developed by Autodesk and for a long time it was a favourite helper for 3D printing. It works with a polygon mesh, that is what is in an STL file. It can merge models, cut them, smooth them, add supports by hand and make hollow models with drain holes. It works as a quick tool for tweaking a finished mesh, not for designing from scratch.

Autodesk no longer develops it and no new features are being added. It can still be downloaded and used, but it may have problems on newer operating systems. Similar edits are now handled by Blender or Fusion.

Model repair

The Inspector function finds holes and gaps in a mesh and offers to repair them automatically. It is useful for models from 3D scans or for an older downloaded STL that is not manifold. More about repairs is in the entry on model repair.

We also repair small holes automatically, straight after upload. If the error is bigger, we will write to you. So you do not need Meshmixer, but it is handy for a bigger intervention.

Hollowing and saving material

Meshmixer can hollow a model out and leave a wall of a set thickness. With FDM printing this mostly makes no sense, since the inside is filled with sparse infill anyway and a full cavity would trap air, which complicates the print. You set the infill in the calculator by choosing the strength, so you do not need to edit it in the model.

Meshmixer and your order

Meshmixer is not CAD, so it cannot change the size of a hole or the thickness of a wall exactly by a number. It works with triangles, not with parameters. A common mistake is over-simplifying the mesh: curved surfaces become faceted. So use it for repairs, not for changing the shape.

If you edit a model in Meshmixer, save it as STL or OBJ and upload it. Check that the dimensions are still in millimetres and that the model does not consist of several overlapping bodies. The price is then calculated from real grams and time after it is actually prepared for printing.