I want to make a 3D printed Marshall logo for my guitar amp, so i downloaded a Marshall font, extruded etc. and turned into a mesh.

When I had it in the shape I needed and edited the pins, I wanted to slice it, but the problem is that the overlapping lettes produce internal geometry that confuses the slicer.

Im new to blender, but I tried many ways to remove the geometry (booleans, intersect etc) but no tool works like it should.

I need something to create an edge at the intersecting faces to remove them. I even installed an addon for this, but nothing works.

Overlapping Faces

Front View

I also think the whole geometry is mucked up, because the faces are ignoring the edges and go over them at some parts. I just dont know why its so mucked up. Is it because of the conversion from Text to Mesh?

Here's an example of the Overlapping

Face overlapping Edge

If it's too messed up, it would also be great to get a way to redo it properly. I started my first try with a vector graphic of the logo, but i couldnt get the conic shape of the text. With the font i just change the depth in the font settings and cut of the rest of the extruded material...

ah and here is what my slicer does with my Model:


  • 1
    $\begingroup$ How important is the bevel to you? The best way I know of to merge the letter shapes into non-intersecting bezier curves is actually to do it in Inkscape, then import as SVG. That curve object can be beveled and converted to a mesh, but the mesh will still have self-intersecting parts at various concave corners. That won't happen if it is just a straight extrude however. $\endgroup$ – risingfall Feb 19 '18 at 2:37
  • $\begingroup$ ok thanks, but if i do it from vector drawing, can i get the angle of the text? Only shrinking the top layer isnt the same. top text needs to be thinner $\endgroup$ – Megaloadon Feb 19 '18 at 7:53
  • $\begingroup$ I would suggest you to separate each letter (L > P > "Selection) then use the boolean modifier :) Or maybe try the remesh modifier, it could help ! $\endgroup$ – Kevin Jourdain Feb 19 '18 at 14:15
  • $\begingroup$ Start with flat text without bevel or extrusion, convert it to mesh and fix the topology in a manifold way so that there are no overlaps or disconnected vertices. After you have a clean 2D mesh you can just extrude/solidify modifier it and bevel the top edges. $\endgroup$ – kheetor Feb 20 '18 at 10:31
  • $\begingroup$ Ran into exactly the same problem. Is there any other 3D modeling software that can handle this neatly? $\endgroup$ – WawaBrother Nov 6 '18 at 18:26

I find this a rather unsatisfying answer, as it does not involve "proper" modeling, but a functional way to get an acceptable mesh for 3d printing (I think/hope) would be to bake a height map of your object, then use that height map to displace a subdivided plane. This bypasses the problem of self-intersecting geometry because the height map is an undifferentiated mass of height data.

marshall logo

The crispness of your edges and the smoothness of your surfaces will depend heavily on how much you subdivide your plane. It will also depend on the resolution and bit depth of your height map image, I'd suggest using a 16-bit file format. You'd have to relate all that to your 3D printing methodology to determine whether you'll get an acceptable result.

Please let me know if you'd like a description of how to bake a height map or what I did in this particular case, my previous answer here has some info.

But as a general matter, I'd love to learn a more . . . elegant solution to the problem of self-intersecting meshes. Something that doesn't involve a lot of manual retopologizing.

  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for the answer, but if I get it right, the height map only makes a smooth surface and has nothing to do with the inner geometry?? from the outside my model looked nice and closed, but the inside geometry makes the slicer mistake the edges and make the overlappings to holes. Is there no way to remove it? even roughly it would be okay as long as the slicer closes the object on top $\endgroup$ – Megaloadon Feb 19 '18 at 21:12
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    $\begingroup$ I'd say the height map method REMOVES the inner geometry completely. There's nothing inside to create weird holes, overlaps, and conflicting normals. If you want to keep your geometry, boolean tools will help you merge separate objects (as per @Kevin Jourdain), but the problem remains of the self-intersecting geometry created in individual letters when you bevel them. The tool that comes closest to addressing this issue is (in edit mode) Mesh-->Faces-->Intersect (Knife) with "Source" set to "Self Intersect" and Mode to "Cut." Try it! It might work for you, but often.disappoints. $\endgroup$ – risingfall Feb 19 '18 at 21:25
  • $\begingroup$ ah okay thanks. well thats what i already tried with knife intersect... didnt work for me. now that I understood what you say i want to learn how to use the height map method! $\endgroup$ – Megaloadon Feb 20 '18 at 0:46

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