Big Ben+Eiffel Tower+London Monument Mashup Fix (important information in description)

thingiverse

You might ask why 8 calendar years later I am still stewarding this design consisting of a mashup of Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the London Monument. The answer is that over the years I've had to keep fixing it via various repair tools. On my original upload I had sent thingiverse the collada version. The original author of the source components (MakeALot) had done an STL conversion of that upload. I uploaded an STL version of the model to the page afterwards. After MakeALot did his version I was in a position where I had to do several fixes, including deleting an erroneous spike that is clearly visible in MakeALot's instance. The fixes should also be helpful in other ways, especially to programs and hardware that complain about geometry. This STL binary model is 297k polygons and 892k vertices and 14 megabytes compared to the 8 megabytes of the unfixed version that had quite fewer polygons and vertices. That clock... at least now 3D Builder, Netfabb Basic, and Formware all do not complain or find anything wrong. Blender fixes and NanoDLP fixes end up breaking the model, and this model breaks aspose's checker/fixer. The erroneous spike comes from the Big Ben model I used, and it's fixable with a simple delete. However, using the fill holes command like I did may have had a cost. 3D Builder at least was fine with the model before I removed the spike, since to make the internal geometry go away I used what became Microsoft's 3D Tools azure fixer. Thus it was technically already fixed. Deleting those two tall thin spike triangles and filling them automatically made me have to go through so much trouble to get things proper again (multiple fixing tools). If I wanted to make a fixed version that retains the internal geometry I would have to deal with the big ben immediately, and given the whole scenario above it could cause issues just even doing the needed close, which is also why it could complicate remixing and fixing the clock itself. I don't want to ruin it. Also if MakeALot fixes it on his end it would be welcome, but keep in mind that the Big Ben model I used is a solidified version of the assembled model by MakeALot of his put-together clock. In MeshLab where I merged it, the non-solid Big Ben is far larger than the solidified version. So scale of a fixed version derived again from that 100 megabyte hollow clock could be off enough to cause issues with the merger of that fixed redux of the Solid Big Ben by MakeALot and his Eiffel Tower Bud Vase and London Monument model. I don't want to risk anything. Oh, and on the subject of this merger vision, I did it way back 8 calendar years ago (2014) out of boredom and it was absolutely stunning to see, and honestly quite iconic. It's probably the 3D work I am most proud of, and I was 12 when I did it. I have plans for this model that involve selling 3D prints of it or commercial products based on it, but in every box there will be a QR code that when scanned will take you to this very thingiverse page. This design is definitely lucrative given how iconic it is. My goal is to get it made into any products any of the source buildings are currently made into. However I will not sell the model file or use it as an NFT. I will never stop you from printing this model on your own 3D printer for any reason. As an irrelevant aside, I hate NFTs. I'm fine with you putting it in your games and asset packs, as well as in things like Source Filmmaker and Source 2 Filmmaker. It would definitely look good and iconic in a game or film. This model is a concept I had one day all those years ago that can definitely go places. Heck, I'm fine with Photoshoppers like James Fridman using it in humorous ways when someone asks to be Photoshopped into being at the Eiffel Tower when they actually were just at home. Photoshop can import 3D models. I remember back in 2014 making CS4 do 3D import, and it actually handles 3D printing model formats. The possibilities of this design are endless. Like MakeALot's original Eiffel Bud Vase, you can make it into a vase via omitting the topmost layer and doing hollow or vase mode.