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3d printing?

tring01tring01 Posts: 305
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I'm planning to make some custom characters for my son's D&D group based on G3.  Was thinking it would be cool to have them printed out as miniatures.  Plan on exporting the files and sending them to a professional print shop.

Anyone have any tips?  Do I need to buy special software, or can I just export an .obj?

Comments

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,333

    For personal use it's allowed but you'd best figure out how to send commercial 3D printing businesses a proper 3D model so they can print it. Those sites should have good instructions or you can export in dau format & texture & prep properly in Blender (bing or google it).

    Alternatively you can buy a 3D printer & learn to sand & paint what you print if you are going to fill your knick-knack shelfs with custom figurines.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    You need to prepare daz figures for 3D printing,  they are not optimised for 3d printing, they are not water tight.  Also a 3d printer needs .stl format

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,865

    There should be a set of GeoGrafts for Genesis 3 that will make the base meshes at least watertight - if you haven't installed them yet they are a separate package in Install Manager.

  • DrowElfMorwenDrowElfMorwen Posts: 538

    I am interested in this as well, but I tend to use Genesis 1. Is there a way to make the original Genesis watertight? Also, when will 3D licenses be available?

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,865

    There isn't, so far as I am aware, a ready-to-use way to make Genesis water-tight (assuming it isn't already).

    Nothing further has been said about the additonal licenses - if you want to go beyond printing for personal use then you need to open a Sales Support ticket to discuss your particular case.

  • StrangeFateStrangeFate Posts: 816

    If you print them through Shapeways or similar online print shops they don't need to be watertight, their software will take care of that after uploading the OBJ or FBX. Only thing to keep in mind is that their software simply closes holes in the most simple way, so if the holes are in visible spots, that may affect the look of the model.
    A sleeve or pair of pants will probably be closed properly and print well, while an open shirt most likely wont.

    In the case of Shapeways, their online software does a good job at showing you any issues in the model that you need to fix before it can be printed (areas that are too thin etc)... and chances are that things will need fixing. Daz Hair for example is made out of poly planes which their software will simply close, but it will obviously print the hair in the shape of the planes, not the alpha hair you see on screen.
    Also, while thick hair should print, as soon as it gets to the strands or ends of it, I imagine it will show you a lot of problem areas, because the single strands of hair will be too thin to print.

    They do have a 'Print it anyway' option so that if you think the problems are neglectable, they'll print it regardless of whatever issues there may be.

    Overall, their software is pretty good at taking pretty broken meshes and turning them into something printable.

     

  • tring01tring01 Posts: 305
    Strangefate said:

    If you print them through Shapeways or similar online print shops they don't need to be watertight, their software will take care of that after uploading the OBJ or FBX. Only thing to keep in mind is that their software simply closes holes in the most simple way, so if the holes are in visible spots, that may affect the look of the model.
    A sleeve or pair of pants will probably be closed properly and print well, while an open shirt most likely wont.

    In the case of Shapeways, their online software does a good job at showing you any issues in the model that you need to fix before it can be printed (areas that are too thin etc)... and chances are that things will need fixing. Daz Hair for example is made out of poly planes which their software will simply close, but it will obviously print the hair in the shape of the planes, not the alpha hair you see on screen.
    Also, while thick hair should print, as soon as it gets to the strands or ends of it, I imagine it will show you a lot of problem areas, because the single strands of hair will be too thin to print.

    They do have a 'Print it anyway' option so that if you think the problems are neglectable, they'll print it regardless of whatever issues there may be.

    Overall, their software is pretty good at taking pretty broken meshes and turning them into something printable.

     

    Very helpful.  Thanks!!

     

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