Low budget 3D-printing again ...

Discussion in 'General Entropia Universe Discussion' started by Jamira, Jan 9, 2015.

  1. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Some of you probably know me from the past regarding 3D-printing models of Entropia Universe (like "Ulla", "Marber Bravo", "Imperium Spec Lancer" and "Pitbull"). I know this is not really the right place to talk about such things without connection to EU. But unfortunately I didn't find something like "Misc" or "Art" at the forum here :-( At least we get regular informations about Hubble telescope here, don't we? ;-) So I decided to be bold and post this here. Just for folks who are interested in 3D-printing and testing it out.

    It'll be a complete new project. Just to leave the past behind ... all of my former efforts failed so far ... even the best: The "Imperium Spec Lancer". The model was too small (130 mm long) and my hobby-printer (800 Euro) delivered bad quality only. Not worth of fine tuning and coloring. I planned to make the Pitbull a bit bigger. That meant to print it in several parts and glue and color it later. It started very good with the shield and tires. But when I printed the first parts of the cabin all pieces were distorted too much. No chance to glue them later. Sooo much work at CAD! Vain endeavor! Well, not really endeavored ... I've learned a lot from it!

    Okay. We had more or less technical structures so far or low poly models of an avatar even. I made too small models. Those are all bad conditions to start with 3D-print. What to do now?
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2015
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  2. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Let's see what we are talking about to try next. It should be more rounded, smooth, not that exactly determined by straight edges, bigger (>300 mm). Okay, a famale warrior ... like this:
    upload_2015-1-9_2-3-1.jpeg

    or this ?
    upload_2015-1-9_2-3-58.jpeg
    or this ?
    upload_2015-1-9_2-5-6.jpeg

    I prefer the last one!

    Imagine she sits in the corner of your window (kinda 300 or 400 mm)!
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2015
  3. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    place holder
     
  4. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    The plan for me is:
    1. Find some cheap sofware to build and treat the character (for free if possible) ... will be DAZ ... Done! Canceled!
    2. Find a good pre-modeled caracter as 3D-model (for free if possible) ... Done! Canceled!
    3. Adopt the software and adjust your model until it fits your requirements Canceled!
    4. Make a STL-file and import it to Rhino 3D Done!
    5. Split the model to printable parts Done!
    6. Run some prints and look what they'll bring up Done!
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2015
  5. sissi

    sissi sissi

    gogogo model 1 :)
     
  6. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    LOL! Well, it would be hard to model this robot-babe. It shoulden't be my first try. My prio one is to learn, if it's possible to print halfway meaningful models with this bullshit-printer ;-)

    First step is to resize the final 3D-print to something like 300 or 400 mm. This alone will help a lot. Next step is to find (and probably buy) a good basic 3D-model via internet. I can make some attachements by myself. Like the pistol and the boots. The tricky part will be to learn how to pose the figure in a good way.

    Let's say: IF it works I will surely try other things later
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2015
  7. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Yes, it is too simple. And too small. Ohh ahh Autodesk! ... Except of 3D Studio they never ever made a good thing. I cannot understand why they are still in biz. Must have been the same issue like Microsoft did ...

    Your links show only CAD-models, no 3D-prints. The 3D-prints are the tricky part: you can watch and touch them irl. The prints will look way more shitty because of the printer layers (~0.25 mm). But I aim for another "Mädel". Will be DAZ's Victoria I guess. Dunno yet. No rush.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2015
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  8. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    For now I will continue with point 2 and 3. I'm afraid this will take a while. (Don't forget: I have still a heavy business in Skyrim ...
     
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  9. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    I like the last one. :biggrin:
     
  10. You don't want to create your own using Makehuman and Blender?

    Both GPL and Open Source.
     
  11. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    No, I won't. The goal is to make a nice figure and print it at a 3D-printer. Not to learn to make figures. But thank you for the hints Nikto. Although I knew at least Blender already ;-)
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2015
  12. If you didn't seen Makehuman yet, it very similar to avatar creation process. So making nice figure wouldn't take too much time. Last time i tried it out was around 5-6 years ago in early alpha stage, so I guess a lot of things improved since than.

    But, anyway, if I'll run across some good free 3D model - I'll post link here, GL with your project! :)
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Heh thanks Nikto. But I don't need free models. Most of them have several problems with posing and rendering. I will go with DAZ's Victoria for now. Should do the job.
     
  14. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    Predictability. I like this one
     
  15. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Yep, predictable ;-) I like it too!
    But for now I want to check the abilities with simple models. Faster than expected I got good models from DAZ studio. Exported them as *.obj and imported them to Rhino. Made some works on them and exported parts of them as *.stl for the printer software. Many problems as usual. DAZ studio is meant for rendering nice pictures or animations ... not for making propper 3D-printer-models. The boys at DAZ should rethink this one day ...
    Two test-prints are done already ... hmm ... the results arn't that impressive. Pictures will follow ...
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
  16. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    Okay, first pictures.
    Fine! We'll have really high resolution models. This is a DAZ standard (free) model imported to Rhino3D:
    screenshot01.jpg
    Details:
    screenshot02.jpg
    screenshot03.jpg
    I cutted the head off to make some initial test-3D-prints:
    screenshot04.jpg
    Theoretically it should look like this:
    screenshot05.jpg
    Practically we have lots of issues with the print. I will show later.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    Some nice models. Would you recommend a good mid priced 3d printer. Say in the 2k usd rage? I've done some initial research when you were first looking for printers, but sifting through the pros and cons, leaves me to think that it may be better to wait for the new models coming out in 2016. What's your opinion on this. :smile:
     
  18. Jamira

    Jamira Samurai Girl

    I wouldn't recommend anything. The printer is your third issue. The first and main problem is to be able to make, transform and handle 3D-models, to be able to use several 3D-programs (DAZ/Poser, Blender/3DS Max/Maya, SolidWorks/Rhino3D), to know how to convert and treat 3D-data between different formats (igs, stp, stl, 3ds, obj ...) and to know what to do at all will be number two. After this you may think about buying a 3D-printer. Than let your wallet speak the last word ...
    ... wait for the pictures of my first prints. You'll be shell-shocked. And $1k or $2k plus won't help much. The God is the layer thickness. I am at ~0.25 mm. And "mid priced" is more like $8k ... not $2k.

    P.S. start with making a 3D-model of this:

    [​IMG]
    I'll print and paint it for you when you're done.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
    • Informative Informative x 1
  19. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    I agree. I'll do some more runs with the programs listed. :biggrin:
    Thank you for your time and input. Gl with your project. :smile:
     
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