Game Piece Production

>>46639847

...I suppose you could have a statue of the eiffel tower "count as" a necron thingiemabob.

>>46639847

You need a huge investment in tools and supplies.

Then investment 3D design software.

Also, extrusion method printers are objectively the worst printers.

>>46639847
Been using that exact same printer at school. I'll just say that when it comes to 3D FDM printing only get into it if you want it as a new hobby. Don't bother ever getting a 3D printer just to support another hobby if you're not interested in 3D printing itself.

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>>46639847
I use a home made 3D printer that I use for occasional /tg/ related pieces. Building your own printer is a fun and reasonably priced(When compared to overpriced prebuilt printers) process that can be very rewarding. If I were to cast things, I would recommend using acetone to smooth out any ridges. Ideally, you should try to build an SLA printer at a higher cost, as they can potentially print at with much higher detail. The downside to this is that the parts are much more brittle and expensive, making it impractical for let's say robotics(What I use my printer for) or other functional purposes.

For game piece design, you are of course going to want to use CAD software of some sort and make a bunch of copies out of PVC.

Print tech needs a few more years to get the resolution required to make 28mm models. But eventually you should be able to make counterfeit warhammer models ez

Another anon here. I backed this.

Tell me how scammed I am.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/olo3d/olo-the-first-ever-smartphone-3d-printer

>>46640605
Please back out as soon as possible, for your own sake. There is no reason that you should buy something that weak and that requires proprietary resin.

Do yourself a favor, try following some online instructions and assembling a printer from scratch. That way, you can use a much stronger projector, use open source software, and any resin that you want.

>>46640636

I'll be fine, anon. I didn't invest a huge amount of money into it, I'm not bankrupting myself for it.

Still, it's hard to find a printer that gives me the resolution I want. Cheap FDM printers never get you very high resolution.

>>46640672
Resolution is entirely based on what components you use. Any DLP projector can be converted to bake resin with a little tweaking. A 2560x1600 projector will of course have finer results than a 1024x768 projector with a half-dead bulb.

>>46639847
Once I get my new PC I'm going to try my hand at 3d sculpting. Buddy's got a 3d printer, and he says it's one of the highest resolution ones on the market today. If all goes well I plan to mold and cast some to sell.

>>46640700

How about software? Any good software you recommend for beginners, or is it simply that one gets good at 3D design rather than a program and the program doesn't matter as much?

>>46640785
For 3D design I usually use OpenScad. Very light weight, well documented, and free. For more artful things you might want to look at Blender which has lots of sculpting tools. And there is the ever famous Google Sketchup, but as I said it isn't for more artful things and certainly not for anything organic.
3D design comes down to both. Each program has its own learning curve, though some workflows amongst 3D design software are pretty similar. There are a million tutorials out there which should help you.

>>46639847
check to see if your local library has a printer you can use, normally youll have to take a class on the weekend or some shit, but you get to use it all you want

>>46640843

Now, what about scanners? I've got a fair amount of skill with analog sculpting, but I'd like to get that into a digital format.

>>46641324
My experience with scanning isn't good. You probably will have to fork out for a good one if you want your scans to be acceptable(Depending on what you are sculpting of course, if you are just scanning a very simple object then go ahead and jury rig a webcam).

Scanning is certainly feasible even for high detail miniatures. Perry Miniatures hand sculpts then scans everything, and there figures are easily among the best plastics on the market.

>>46639969

>Also, extrusion method printers are objectively the worst printers.

Depends on the application. Obviously, for making game miniatures, that's true. Their resolution is, and always will be shit. For making functional pieces, though, FDM printers make much stronger parts than consumer-grade STL printers.

So for an engineer, an FDM printer is a hell of a lot of fun. For instance, the 3d printer in OP's picture is made mostly of parts printed on a similar machine. For a basic end-user, though an FDM printer is a fucking disappointment.

>>46639995
This is entirely true. I'd argue the same applies to resin casting as well.

>>46640843
>For 3D design I usually use OpenScad.

Go home Richard Stallman. Using OpenScad is not the ken of regular mortals.

Honestly, if you can somehow find access to even a student version of Solidworks, use that. It's an incredible piece of proprietary software, which is probably how they justify it's price tag.

>>46639847
Aluminum casting is cheap and easy. Or was when my grandpa did it in the 80s and 90s.

>>46641401

Well, that bodes well for me. But it looks like I'll have to put the research in on this.

Maybe if I can git gud enough, I can leave behind a guide for others to follow behind me.

>>46641441

I'll look for Solidworks if I can. Checking out Blender right now and now I have to study a whole lot of tutorials.

>>46641472

>I'll look for Solidworks if I can. Checking out Blender right now and now I have to study a whole lot of tutorials.

Oh, just a heads up, solidworks is an engineering program. It's for parametric modeling. That makes it excellent for making mechanical things, and quickly changing them to meet requirements.

If you're just looking to make pretty dollies, blender is probably where you want to start. Like you already know, it's free and has all sorts of tutorials available, also for free.

>>46641472
It's possible to get both Autodesk Maya and 3ds max for free by signing up for their student programs. Autodesk doesn't check your credentials nor does it want any proof that you are actually a student so it's possible to get those 3d modelling programs for free by entirely using fake credentials and a throw-away email address.

It's worth checking out especially for beginners because there are a ton of guides specifically made for those programs.

>>46641942
>Autodesk doesn't check your credentials nor does it want any proof that you are actually a student

I've always assumed this is just because they like having a large userbase, so companies involved in 3d asset design will buy it just because that's what people know how to use.

They even used to have a free, limited version I forget the name of. If you can find that, it might be good enough for your purposes, but it's pretty badly out of date now.