JOINTLAB: A BLENDER ADD-ON FOR ARTICULATION AND 3D PRINTING

This chapter reports the development of JointLab, an experimental Blender add-on designed to support the creation of joints, connectors, and workflows for preparing three-dimensional models for three-dimensional printing. The experience emerged from identifying manual and repetitive tasks that hinder the transformation of digital geometry into a printable object, especially for beginner and intermediate users. Development was guided by the Iterato method, organized into the stages of Research and Analysis, Synthesis and Concept, Structuring, and Sensory Design. Because of the characteristics of Blender's interface and extension programming system, wireframes were used as initial support, while interface and functional decisions were validated through prototypes implemented directly in Python. The results included functional prototypes, digital models published for download, and the successful fabrication, through fused deposition modeling, of all models presented in this report. The objects were tested after printing, demonstrating continuity among preparation, slicing, and physical production. Systematic tests of usability, performance, and accuracy are still required.