Online model repositories (Thingiverse, Printables) in 3D Printing - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Exploring Online Model Repositories for 3D Printing

📖 Scenario: You want to find and organize 3D models for printing from popular online repositories like Thingiverse and Printables. These websites offer many free designs shared by the community.Imagine you are creating a simple list of models you like from these sites to keep track of them.

🎯 Goal: Build a small collection of 3D model names and their source websites using a dictionary. Then, add a filter to select models from a specific repository.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a dictionary called models with exact model names as keys and their source websites as values

Create a variable called selected_site to hold the name of the repository to filter by

Use a dictionary comprehension to create a new dictionary called filtered_models that only includes models from selected_site

Add a final step to include a count of how many models are in filtered_models using a variable called count

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

3D printing enthusiasts often browse online repositories like Thingiverse and Printables to find models to print. Organizing and filtering these models helps manage printing projects.

💼 Career

Understanding how to organize and filter data from online sources is useful for roles in digital fabrication, product design, and maker communities.

1

Create the initial model dictionary

Create a dictionary called models with these exact entries: 'Gearbox': 'Thingiverse', 'Phone Stand': 'Printables', 'Drone Frame': 'Thingiverse', 'Chess Set': 'Printables', 'Vase': 'Thingiverse'.

3D Printing

# Create the models dictionary with given entries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces {} to create a dictionary with the exact keys and values.

2

Set the repository to filter by

Create a variable called selected_site and set it to the string 'Thingiverse'.

3D Printing

models = {
    'Gearbox': 'Thingiverse',
    'Phone Stand': 'Printables',
    'Drone Frame': 'Thingiverse',
    'Chess Set': 'Printables',
    'Vase': 'Thingiverse'
}
# Set the selected_site variable to 'Thingiverse'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Assign the string 'Thingiverse' to the variable selected_site.

3

Filter models by the selected repository

Use a dictionary comprehension to create a new dictionary called filtered_models that includes only the models from selected_site. Use for model, site in models.items() in your comprehension.

3D Printing

models = {
    'Gearbox': 'Thingiverse',
    'Phone Stand': 'Printables',
    'Drone Frame': 'Thingiverse',
    'Chess Set': 'Printables',
    'Vase': 'Thingiverse'
}
selected_site = 'Thingiverse'
# Create filtered_models dictionary with models only from selected_site
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a dictionary comprehension with if site == selected_site to filter.

4

Count the filtered models

Create a variable called count and set it to the number of items in filtered_models using the len() function.

3D Printing

models = {
    'Gearbox': 'Thingiverse',
    'Phone Stand': 'Printables',
    'Drone Frame': 'Thingiverse',
    'Chess Set': 'Printables',
    'Vase': 'Thingiverse'
}
selected_site = 'Thingiverse'
filtered_models = {model: site for model, site in models.items() if site == selected_site}
# Count how many models are in filtered_models
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use len(filtered_models) to get the count.