How to use DAZ Studio to create 3D-print physical miniatures?

john_antkowiak

Hi, everyone :)  Well, it's happened again. I've gone almost a full year hardly touching Daz Studio. I've forgotten so much, and now I'm wondering if it can be used in a way I never contemplated, to challenge my first hobby: physical painting of scale miniatures... which I also haven't done in about 15 years. Both hobbies have passed me by but I have a compelling reason to paint again, and I'd like to use Daz Studio if it's even possible. When I search the forums for topics like 3D printing, I can't find anything relevant among hundred of hits. I'd welcome a link to where they're discussing this; I can't be the only one wanting to print 3D models.

What I'm trying to do is pose two historical figures for the upcoming 80th anniversary of D-Day: one Army lieutenant and one Navy ensign. They won't be for sale; they'll be gifts but it's conceivable I might paint them 2-3 times for different people. So I have a few ultra-noob questions:

1) I think I saw a 3D printer once, a long time ago, just sitting there dormant on someone's desk. I'm not what you'd call an experienced user! But I guess the models have to be .stl format before they can be read and printed by the machines, yes? Or can they be .obj files? And the real question is, can Daz Studio export a scene subset in printer-ready format? (I'll have figures only with clothes and props.) I'd print them separately and create the scene around them.

2) I've never tried the face-tansfer products. What's the preferred tool for that these days? 

3) What are the legal issues involved? I foresee two of interest here.

• I noticed a long time ago the Shop offers option for 3D Printing licensing, but the relevant section of the EULA I just read today makes no sense on its face. I think I'm seeing that it's ok to print whatever I buy as long as it's for personal use, which this is. So why do I need to buy a 3D Print license Add-on?
• I suppose Tom Hanks & friends get bent out of shape when their likenesses are used without permission. But what about actual people? It must be alright to create a likeness of George Washington or George Patton, yes? What if I wanted to produce a physical 3D portrait of two WWII veterans no longer living, using available photos? Does the source of the photo become a legal complication? Are there legal pitfalls I'm not considering?

4) How does one optimize an output model like this so that the parts can be painted separately and assiembled like a commercial model kit?

5) Maybe this is better suited to the ones with their hands on the printing machines, but I'm wondering if I need to set up the model so it gets printed at a specified scale?

There might be more later but those are the big ones now. I'll be curious to learn about it. Thank you kindly -
John A.

Leana

3D print license add-on is for people who want to make 3D prints for commercial use. Personal, non-commercial use is covered by the standard license.

john_antkowiak

Thank you, Leana 

kpr

There are online "stores" with very high-end printers that will provide the fine detail you'd need for a decent model (single item). Most affordable "home/office" printers would struggle to produce facial-features etc.

Face Transfer plugin is for face transfers https://www.daz3d.com/face-transfer-2.

Neither of the george's will sue you if it's personal use - just like if you did a painting/portrait to hang on your wall

3D printing. You could do in "parts" and then glue them but usually they're printed as one model (like toy-soldiers) - the "stores" mentioned would prob do it like that

There's a Windows "component" that will allow you to import (obj, I think) and then links to stores that offer the printing eg https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/3d-printing/windows-10-imaterialise

john_antkowiak

Hi, KPR,

Thank you for alerting me to the limitations of home use models; I really don't konw anything about them. I'm wondering how to export a .duf in a way that will be convertible to an .stl. I know I can export a single item as an .obj file, and convert that to .stl, but there's a problem. As far as I know, items in a scene parented to, say, a figure - be it clothes, hair, props, anything at all - will not become part of the exported item. Has Daz Studio recently improved in this regard?

I just tried out the Face Transfer utility today when I realized there's a free trial included by default. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the script copies the facial expression too, and that only a certain input portrait photo pose is going to be successful. Passport photo good; three-quarter profile with toothy grin bad. That's going to make it very hard to find a usable historical source photo :(

It just occurred to me as I'm writing this that you wouldn't have to cut the 3D model apart for this because there's no mold to create and pour into, so posing the figure in a sort of plane isn't the practical issue it is with a mold. That is, injecting liquid into a mold where the limbs are straight out to the sides isn't likely to lose detail in the limbs, unlike trying to inject into a mold where an arm or leg crosses the torso. Interesting...

WendyLuvsCatz

you really need software to make them 'watertight", there are many out there

various slicer softwares, they will save the stl you need

in fact many 3D printing services will do it too

I had a very bad experience with a useless home 3D filament printer which is basically landfill now taking up room in my laundry as a impromptu table  so would never do it myself again 

(my printer worked BTW but has DRM and now refuses to recognise the legitimate filament cartridges so unusable, the customer support is nonexistent for people outside the USA, they basically told me to F off)

john_antkowiak

Wendy, I'm so sorry that was such a disaster :( In my case, I would prefer to start looking for an experienced professional so I'm trying to figure out how to prepare the file they'll need. I think you're saying I need to use some sort of thrid-party software platform that will accept the .duf and create an .stl from it? Do you know of an example of this software? And... is the software independent of the printer? In other words, I imagine printers come with their own programs for interacting with them but I don't think that's what you're referring to with a "slicer." Am I right?

WendyLuvsCatz

would not be a duf

an obj export or maybe FBX, depends what and who you use

and yes most printers include software but often you can find something better the point is that is what you use

because DAZ studio doesn't do stl export

there was a plugin for DAZ studio I  used and I was very happy with the 3D print they made
GamePrint: 3D Print Plugin

but sadly I think they moved on to a bigger market and there is no longer a store link

john_antkowiak

hmmm... I feel like the time that I have to get this accomplished is slipping away. I had this idea for a presentation piece several days ago and started inquiring on several figure painting sites. I was hoping for a reply something like, "If that's the sort of an end product you want to wind up with, take a look at the following six commercial product suggestions for ready-to-build figure kits that you can modify." It didn't happen, and I'm no closer to knowing where to look for a pre-designed figure that'll suit my needs. Then someone suggested it could be 3D printed and asked me to PM him to talk about it. Except, he spent a whole day with very few and very vague one-line replies - mostly "yes/no" answers to "not yes/no" questions. So I came to the Daz forum.

Here's what I'm hoping to learn, because God bless you for answering at all, Wendy, but when you say, "It depends what and who you use" I'm kind of stressing out. I know Daz Studio and only Daz Studio. I already know it doesn't do .stl but since the store sells 3D printing licenses for every product, somebody uses Daz figures and products somehow for 3D printing of figures. I'm trying to figure out how. So maybe I'll re-frame the question. I'm hoping someone can fill in the blanks:

"You can use Daz Studio to create and pose your figure, but then you have to download and learn how to use [Please Somebody Suggest a Preferably-Free Preferably-Easy-To-Learn Application Name] so you can import it and turn it into an .stl, and then go to [Please Somebody Suggest A Way To Find a Vendor] to arrange to have it printed and shipped to you next week so you can prep it, modify, it, paint it, mount it and present it at the end of May."

I've been extended a once-in-a-lifetime invitation requiring a once-in-a-lifetime show of appreciation, but time is not my friend. God bless every forum user for all the help I've seen you provide hundreds of people over the years. I hope this is coming off as more of a desperate plea than a rude reply. If I failed then I owe a huge aplogy but I'd like to get this production process started today. Thank you everybody  

WendyLuvsCatz

well I used Zbrush to make mine watertight for the few I did on my printer creating a second skin and using close holes for good measure

that is likely overkill, I just happen to own Zbrush

DAZ millenium cat I printed

then I used it's included slicing program to add supports where needed but mostly posed things in such a way as to be able to build up from the plate without overhang

I had many fails with lots of hairy plastic like eldritch horrors too

that is why I suggested a 3D printing service, sadly the one I used for Jaderail no longer works with DAZ 
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/206201/3d-printing-plugin-for-daz-studio-gameprint-commercial/p1
I live in Australia and thus who I would use would differ to who you would use for logistical reasons

but the point I am trying to make is it's not what you do in DAZ studio that's important

it's exporting your models as you want them and finding someone to print them

you can only do that using Google etc to find 3D print businesses

some overseas options cheaper but you seem in a hurry, my model travelled from Israel to Australia I believe 

many use resin printers so less supports needed

check out threads
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/33778/3d-printing-from-hexagon-stl-files

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/10731/3d-printing-share-your-pictures/p1
 

 

john_antkowiak

Thank you x1000, Wendy )))  You produced a gorgeous piece there! I'm dying to paint it. I know just how to add whiskers. I'd also add something to explain the body posture and eye focus, but that's just the storyteller in me. I had the perfect example to show off here but just remembered all my personal photos were lost in a computer crash years ago  :(