Your Very Own 3D Printer!!!

[Nytmare]

Hopefully at this point, the concept of 3 dimensional printing isn't new to anyone. What might be new, is a company that attached 3D printing to a do-it-yourself, Cafepress styled business model: http://www.shapeways.com

Pay particular attention to Clint Bellanger's gaming furniture: Shapeways | My Design

Gunslinger's assortment of game pieces, mechs, and meeples: Shapeways | My Design

and Oskar van Deventer's puzzles: Shapeways | My Design

 

[Roger]

Some nice game-related things produced by tedparsec also. Neat.


Cheers,
Roger

 

[Nytmare]

Whoa! Where did all the responses go?

 

[Zinovia]

That's really cool, thanks for mentioning it. The possibilities are endless!

 

[El Mahdi]

Some nice game-related things produced by tedparsec also. Neat.


Cheers,
Roger

Some of those were 39mm, but what size are the basic minis on the first page?

Are they 25mm?

That would be so cool to be able to make your own minis with exactly the things you wanted (race, weapons, clothing, equipment, etc.). Can you get enough definition at 25mm?

 

[Nytmare]

I'm pretty sure that 39mm is just chunky 25. Warhammer miniatures really started to push the envelope somewhere in the mid 90s and 25mm just kept getting fatter and fatter. I'm fairly certain that most "25mm" minis today are actually in the 30-40mm range.

 

[Roger]

I wonder if they can print with arbitrary scaling. It seems like they should be able to handle that, but I don't really know anything about it. I'd send them an email or something, but... ennnhhhh.


Cheers,
Roger

 

[Nytmare]

You'd have to rescale the project, and I don't think you can download other peoples' files.

 

[Ceramicwombat]

Thanks for pointing out this site, Nytmare. I have not yet completed any humanoid shapes but I did create a few dice. They are up at my shop at:

Shapeways | Made by Wombat

For anyone who wants to create humanoid minis (or anything else for Shapeways), I would recommend Blender, a free 3D program that allows for the export of STL files for sterolithographic printing. The user interface is counter intuitive and sometimes frustrating, but I think it is worth learning. Simple shapes are easier to create in SketchUp and then export to Blender.

You can't choose different arbitrary scales when purchasing items through the store, but the scale of the models is very easy to change. If you see a model in 39mm scale that you want in 25mm scale, e-mail the artist and ask if they can upload the model in the smaller scale.

I have had models made from the Transparent Detail and Stainless Steel materials, and the detail was very fine on both, but details smaller than .3mm start to become lost. Also, there is a definite grain to the printing process. This is noticeable on flat surfaces mostly, and I don't know how it would impact the complex surface of a humanoid model.

 

[AJCarrington]

Very interesting stuff...thanks for the links.

AJC