3D printing has a wide range of applications. For example, companies use 3D printing technology when developing product prototypes, and some schools also use 3D printers to assist in producing teaching materials or bringing students' design ideas to life.
This time, 3DMart received a 3D printing commission from industrial design students at a university to help them realize their design concepts. They happened to be designing shoes, each with different characteristics, and in this article, we will introduce their design process.
The first design, a yellow women's shoe, is the work of student Li. It was created for her graduation project, with design inspiration combining tree roots, bone density, and a vascular network. It is a very elegant and innovative women's shoe, targeting fashion-conscious young professional women aged 25-35.
Student Li stated that 3D printing technology was used to complete this shoe because the shoe model has a very complex shape and requires high precision. Choosing a 3D printer for manufacturing was also simpler, and the final completion was also very high.
Due to many hollow parts in the design, it was necessary to use an Ultimaker 3 dual-nozzle 3D printer, allowing PLA to be paired with water-soluble support material PVA. This eliminated worries about never-ending support removal and rough surfaces after support removal.
In the Cura settings, we minimized PVA usage as much as possible to avoid material waste and save soaking time. The total printing time was approximately 2 days.
The image shows a yellow women's shoe being 3D printed (Print layer thickness: 0.15mm, Infill density: 30%).
The decision to design shoes for the graduation project came from a suggestion by a professor. This was because during its vocational college period, the Department of Industrial Design at National United University focused primarily on shoe design before transitioning to product design. This time, there was a desire to return to their roots and challenge their past strength in shoe design.
The second design, a black unisex shoe, is the work of student Wang. He drew inspiration from architectural structures, combining the versatile shapes of bridges with dense and sparse structural designs. This resulted in a unique shoe product with architectural elements. The target audience for this product is people aged 20-40, from young adults to middle-aged individuals, who pursue fashion trends, have personality, and prefer a gender-neutral style.
The goal of designing this shoe was to flexibly use the recently learned generative design software to create a unique and fashionable shoe with architectural structure as part of this assignment.
Using generative design software to create the model, one only needs to adjust a few parameters to generate many different shapes and styles.
Because the design of this product is very complex, it is difficult to produce manually. However, 3D printing can perfectly print precise proportions, achieving the required level of refinement without any error.
Since the shoe has many suspended and hollow structures, it is necessary to use water-soluble support PVA during printing to avoid troublesome post-processing later. As shown in the image, this shoe used even more PVA, almost covering the entire shoe, which resulted in a printing time of up to 8 days.
The image shows the freshly printed black shoe (Print layer thickness: 0.15mm, Infill density: 30%).
Black unisex design shoe printed using an Ultimaker 3 Extended 3D printer.
Achieving high quality even with such long printing times, and crucially, without issues during the printing process, is the remarkable strength of the Ultimaker series of 3D printers.
The third piece is a design roller skate commissioned by student Lu, which combines functionality and aesthetics. Feeling that existing roller skates on the market were limited by their functionality, resulting in overly uniform appearances, Lu wanted to design a pair of roller skates that were both streamlined and aesthetically pleasing.
The target customers for this product are young people interested in roller skating as entertainment, and customizable roller skates are offered.
This project attempts to use the latest popular technology—3D printing—to challenge the possibilities of 3D printed shoes. 3D modeling software Grasshopper was used to achieve the flowing effect.
The design features many irregular hole shapes that are difficult to achieve with other manufacturing methods, but 3D printing can easily and quickly generate the required models. This not only allows for rapid customization of objects but also produces unique models. Compared to virtual 3D renderings, it provides a more intuitive understanding of the physical object's size and shortcomings.
During the manufacturing process, it's important to pay attention to the support placement, which can affect the model's appearance, and the material choice, which can impact post-processing and painting.
These parts (printed in multiple sections) were printed using an Ultimaker 3 Extended 3D printer, all with TPE material and PLA support. The thin upper parts are freely bendable and elastic.
Although 3D printed shoes currently have some material limitations and are not yet widely adopted in the market, we believe that with continuous improvements in 3D printers and the introduction of new materials in the future, 3D printed shoes will be more readily accepted and chosen by the general public.
That concludes this interesting sharing of 3D printed shoes!
The students' creativity is immense; their designs are not only beautiful but also unique and truly astounding. Compared to the past, students now have the option of 3D printers for model making, making it easier and more convenient to realize more unexpected ideas.
3DMart is also honored to assist these students in completing important assignments during their studies. We wish them all high scores and endless inspiration.