Low budget 3D-printing again ...

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?

 

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:


or this ?

or this ?


I prefer the last one!

Imagine she sits in the corner of your window (kinda 300 or 400 mm)!

 

place holder

 

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!

 

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

 

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.

 

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 ...

 

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 ;-)

 

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.

 

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 ...

 

Okay, first pictures.
Fine! We'll have really high resolution models. This is a DAZ standard (free) model imported to Rhino3D:

Details:


I cutted the head off to make some initial test-3D-prints:

Theoretically it should look like this:

Practically we have lots of issues with the print. I will show later.

 

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:


I'll print and paint it for you when you're done.