Stencil Generator (stl silhouette) + examples (F35, animals)

Purpose

An OpenSCAD script to generate stencils from stl as silhouettes. It can also utilize 3d or 2d model in openScad as input.

Beginners/pre-intermediate who know basic operations of OpenScad shall manage to use it too.

User guide

Steps to generate the STL:

1. Download all files (there are simplified stl files, script and generated stencils)
2. try the script first. When Demo=true, it will generate demo stencils. One for framed and one for non-framed model.
3. If it's slow, try to turn on manifold or other speed-up options in the OpenSCAD. In case you don't see it, download newer version (may be a nightly build from year 2024).
4. Prepare a selected stl - simplify model & fix errors (Prusa slicer does nit nicely - see the picture).
5. set Demo=false
6. modify the Silhouette2D() module - everything is commented.
   1. First import the stl
   2. translate and rotate in onto right place.
   3. Try it (F5) and modify if needed.
7. Export the stl
8. … you already know …

In case anything is not clear, let me know. :-)

License terms details

If you use the generator and publish only generated stl, then the license CC BY-NC-SA as per my opinion does not apply. You don't need to report is as remix, but I would be happy if you mentioned used generator somewhere in the description and let me know. :-)

Different case is when you publish modified generator.