Hey guys, I am a Zbrush sculptor and I was wondering how I would

>>941212
If you don't want to build/carve/model it by hand, you'll have to look past consumer grade 3D printers and be willing to spend a whole lot of money, or find a service that offers high quality printing for a fee.

Otherwise, just buy some polymer clay and practice sculpting.

>>941212
Enjoy getting sued.

>>941225
Creating a 3D model on your computer and then turning that into a physical object is illegal now?

>>941226
>selling Star Trek figurines without a license
Go on, keep being a retard.

>>941231
I don't read "Star Trek" or "sell" anywhere except your post. Why do you feel the need to make up stories?

>>941231
>Jumps from op wanting to make his own figs, to op wanting to making Star Trek figs to sell.

Calm down sonny.

>>941215
this.
alternatively:
Standard fdm with abs followed by acetone vapour.
SLA printing. make mold. resin cast.

>>941240
>Standard fdm with abs followed by acetone vapour. SLA printing.

I have no idea what you said. I understand the make mold and resin cast. So are you saying I should 3D print it and then make a mold and resin cast from it? What then after? How would I texture the object? Do I manually paint each and individual one of those?

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>>941302
>Do I manually paint each and individual one of those?
yes

>>941302
FDM is the kind of (the most common type) 3D printing where you layer thin string of plastic to get a product made of plastic. Acetone vapor bath is used to smooth the ridges between layers to make it look respectable.

SLA printing is using a laser to cure photosensitive liquid resin in layers. It typically allows you to get better detail than FDM because you're curing entire layers at a time using a high resolution laser.

FDM produces plastic parts with noticeable ridging and lower quality. SLA produces resin parts with a little bit of ridging and higher quality.

He's saying that either way you should only use a 3D printed part to make a mold and then using normal casting resin to reproduce the part. On that note. Consider using Shapeways. They can produce some good quality parts for mold making and resin recasting.

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>>941212
wait until HP's multijet fusion machine comes out. It should have better print quality than those Z-corp 3d printers.

FUN FACT: Z-corp prints are weak as fuck and have about the same structural properties of chocolate.

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>>941318
better pic
>>941305
>>He's saying that either way you should only use a 3D printed part to make a mold and then using normal casting resin to reproduce the part
resin casting does not make sense if you aren't producing very many figures

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>>941320
>>941318
shit I almost forgot, there is a great machine on the market that can already do high resolution 3d prints in color. Objet Connex3, you won't be able to afford it so find a service bureau that runs one. It's the best thing out there as far as color 3d printing goes.

It will probably cost you in the range of $1000 or more for a small fig.

>>941320
Why would you put the time into designing and making a toy and then not sell reproductions?

>>941325
could always just go full warhammer and paint blank/solo color units.

>>941335
Because its based on, or incorporates elements of, other people's work

Because it lacks commercial appeal.

Because its not profitable, i.e. total variable and fixed costs are greater than the Sales price.

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>>941305
thanks man.
>>941302
http://airwolf3d.com/2013/11/26/7-steps-shiny-finish-on-abs-parts-acetone/
You can use that to make your mold in whatever your mold material is. It seems to only work with abs(and hips maybe), and cheap printers are able to work with these two materials.
SLA will be better quality, require less cleanup, but much more complicated or expensive. Still better using the printed part to make the mold.

>>941325
There are quite a few up and coming affordable SLS printers that are under $30k. It'd be more economical in the long run than paying a few thousand dollars for a prototype from a prototyping firm that does a lot more work than necessary for some dinky action figure.

>>941212
If you're serious about it you can get a SLA printer for under $2,500 that will output a print with almost unperceivable layering and incredible resolution. That's a laughably small investment for a business.

They will be single-color garage kits. Full-color work is vastly more complicated and is usually still done by a room full of Vietnamese children.

The actual 3D modeling is where all the time and talent is. The printing is easy and affordable now.

>>941212
Mind if we see what you are doing with zbrush?
I suggest you to invest in sculpting material. This is very fun to sculpt the real thing.
The only way for you is to make a society print them for you then duplicate them.

>>941366
This. SLA is the most cost effective option. Print in SLA and then recast it in a more durable resin, like an ABS simulant, for injection molding-like durability. With casting resin you can also add in resin pigmentation to get a good base color and then paint over the details (how actual toys do it).

For example, Figmas mold their skin pieces in flesh colored ABS and then paint the clothes and/or details using lacquer.

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>>941356
Post an affordable SLS machine and I'll tell you why it sucks.

They can't print in high resolution color like OP wants.

Also seems like OP isn't interested in mass producing figs and just wants to make one or two.

Also tip for OP, the ink in these machines has an expiration date. So people who own said machines will often let you print stuff for free when the expiration date gets close.

>>941454
Sand Made is going to release a SLS printer for $28k and it looks pretty good.

Not sure why you're insisting it has to be printed in full color. I can't see where OP says it's a necessity, he just wants to make toys and toys are usually hand painted at some level.

>>941471
>> sand made
Well you got me. That machine looks pretty legit. I am a bit skeptical that it doesn't have an inert gas hook up. Most polymers brown when hot for a while. Maybe they are able to run the bed cooler because of their flashy heat lamp.

What about filling the mold with the 3D printer head, or one of those 3D printing pens? You get to spread the colors however you want, it's probably faster than handpainting each piece, definitely more durable than paint, and I imagine you'd get better structural strength too since you wouldn't be laying down thin layers but large blobs.

If there was actual software support for this, it'd be entirely possible to use a 3D printer to fill the mold automatically too, only manually switching the spools for the various colors.

>>941212

Speaking of knock offs, op, i've recently gotten into recasting. (For myself, not for profit - Bolter Bitches ain't cheap) I have a bunch of lead lying around, what do I need to make a lead-friendly mold?

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>>941999
Just RTV Silicone.

Try getting some Tin in there, it'll bring down the melting point significantly and improve the overall quality.

Also getting some Antimony or Bismuth into the mix somewhere will reduce shrinkage.

A great source of Tin/Antimony is scrap Pewter, like Tankards, plates, jugs - that crap can still be brought really cheaply.

>>941303
That's bullshit. Why can't I just cast figures in the right colors?

>>942223
You might look at lithography techniques. I'm sure you can get overlapping ellipsoids over your mesh mapped to a color-printed plane, then fix errors by hand.

Alternatively, impregnate light-activated dye into your print matrix and use lasers to color everything.

I think the best way would be to do the model and pay a hundred or so dollars for each non-colored prototype, scan each prototype, then coat in your special laser-activated paint and laze. When you settle on one prototype, get a negative cast set and you can use plastic or metal or whatever. Then coat. Then laze.

I wonder how hasbro does it. I wonder how those people that sell little but highly-detailed Romans do it. Well, I've told you how I would do it. Maybe cast in bronze.

Oh! Investigate "bronze patina techniques".

>>942298
>I wonder how hasbro does it. I wonder how those people that sell little but highly-detailed Romans do it.
Chinese sweatshops.