nodrogj

For anyone looking at trying to 3D print .craft files they make in KSP, here's my solution using this tool which should work even if you've never used blender in your life. I built this method after stumbling around for a while; there's probably a better way, but finding it would probably require spending thousands of hours to master Blender, and this seems to work pretty well. 1. Install the tool just like is presented in the original post, including a fresh copy of Blender 2.83 (NOT THE NEWEST VERSION, you need to specifically download 2.83 LTS) 2. Open Blender, and select and hit Delete on the cube, light, and camera that come in the default scene in the center. Alternatively, right click the objects in the top right list, and select delete. If delete isn't working, make sure your mouse is over the main view window; Blender can be a bit weird about what things do depending on where you have your cursor. 3. Select File - Import - KSP Craft (.craft), and wait. If everything works, you should see the craft in the middle of the scene. If you get flashing red warnings, go over the install steps and make sure every step is done perfectly. If it still doesn't work, you might have an issue with the craft file itself, especially if it uses mod parts. Not much to do but build a different craft, and try with unmodded KSP and parts. 4. Left click the model. It should highlight the whole thing. Then in the upper part of the main view window, click Object - Apply - Make Instances Real. 5. Select File - Export - Stl, and you're done! Just in case you want to make some edits, like deleting RCS blocks or solar panels for easier printing, or removing some of the random extra things that get added on for some parts like landing gear, do the following additional steps: 6. Again in the upper part of the main view window, click Select - Select All by Type - Mesh. You should see only the craft highlighted, with all the extra random lines left black. 7. Click Select - Invert. Highlights should move from craft to everything else. 8. Hit Delete. You should now only see your craft, without all the random extra components KSP needs for lighting, movement, etc. 9. You can now just click on components on the craft, and hit delete to get rid of them. You can also slide them around, rotate them, or scale them using the tiles on the left side of the view window. Most of these work roughly the same as they do in KSP itself (If only KSP had a scale feature outside mods...) 10. When you're done, Select File - Export -Stl. Of note, the Stl will not be a single solid object, and will instead be made up of a bunch of separate and slightly overlapping parts. I could still print these without issue, but you might have some issues as infill won't work perfectly in many programs. Still, it's better than 95% of other meshes you'll find online, since these at least tend to be watertight. Hopefully this helps any random 3D printer people who stumble upon this tool, but aren't super knowledgeable about blender. I've had pretty good luck with this working for most stock crafts, and in theory it should be able to pull modded parts as well without too much trouble.