Photoshop is not going to be any 3D designer’s first choice for creating models for 3D printing. But there are a ton of designers that are proficient at Photoshop that haven’t yet learned how to design anything on a true 3D modeling program. For those Photoshop whizzes who aren’t quite ready to make the jump to true 3D modeling, this short tutorial found at Digital Arts is for you.

You’ll need Photoshop CS6 Extended, plus two free cross-platform tools: 3D printing utility Cura, and model-cleanup and processing tool MeshLab. The CS6 Extended version has greatly improved 3D modeling options that let you create 3D models from 2D designs.

The tutorial will show how to create a three dimensional figure in Photoshop and then go to print with it. The 3D model is included in the project files. Time to complete the lessons is two hours, plus four hours for printing (goes to show you how much faster 3D printers need to become!).

Have fun And if you run through this yourself, let us know how it goes.

Tutorial: Digital Arts

h/t: 3DPrinting.com