9 replies to this topic

[Iacov]

hi guys!

I'm really in love with mwo's cat K2 and i would love to have one for my BT mechs and one in museum scale...
i'd love to give pgi the money for it, but acording to AtD 37, I think, pgi-minis will never happen (and yes, this is somewhat a plea to please make official mwo mechs! somehow! even if they cost the double of normal BT minis)

therefore I would like to acquire the skills to make a printable model - and i have a lot of questions:

1) is it legal to "get a model printed"? or is it only allowed to print on one's own 3d printer?
2) what exact software do I need for this purpose? because I guess I will not need the same software as in the "How To: Creat Your Own Art Using Pgi's Mechs"
(free software is appreciated - but if a better/easier to work with software costs around 50€ then it's worth the money for me)
3) are there noob-proof tutorials? i've read through the awesome threads about 3d printing mwo models...but yet I do only understand some of the technical aspects, because I have no idea about 3d modeling at all!
4) what are "ideal" sizes? 4,4cm for TT and around 7,5cm for a "museum scale"?
5) should it be the goal to print several pieces for assembly or one solid piece? i'm not going to make a special pose...i just want a standing model, with centered torso
6) when looking for a 3d printing shop at my home town...what should i look for, regarding the printing method and material? (especially because I want to paint the models myself)


i'm sorry to ask such a lot of questions but I do hope that some of you might have advice for me!
thousand thanks in advance!

[Sentinel373]

allright i'll take the plunge

1. I dont know exactly but i've not been told to stop.

2. any 3d modeling program will do. Blender as suggested in the "Create Your Own Art Using Pgi's Mechs" works fine if you know how to use it. note 3d modeling can be difficult especialy if i dont know the basics.
3d model is fun once you learn how to do it. but learning it can be tricky. I've been doing it for 10 years

3. There are plenty of 3d modeling tutorials out there. just go on youtube and type in [name of 3d modeling program] and tutorial and you'll get tons of results. I've yet to see any tutorial out there on what you need to do to make a model printable though. other tutorial sites are 3dbuzz.com, Gnomon workshop, 3D total and digital tutors. However there is alot you'll need to learn and it might be more effort than its worth if all you want to do is make MWO tabletop miniatures. I make 3d models for videogames and visual effects. 3d printing is just something cool i can use to make some of my models into reality. also note that videogame models and models that are print viable both have very different requirements placed on them. a 3d printed model must at all times be completely solid. all of the pieces you want together have to be touching or intersecting. a videogame model should be as few polygons as possible without destroying the silouette or the overall likeness. this means those models are often not solid and have floating pieces everywhere. (the hunchback is especialy bad in this regard) so to convert a videogame model into a print viable model you'll need to close all the holes in the geometry. make sure everything is intersecting or touching. make sure there is no impossible geometry or inverted normals. also if you want to reduce the costs of the model you'll often have to make it hollow which can sometimes also be tricky.

4. I dont know the exact measurements. hell I don't even own any of the official battletech mini's so all the stuff I've made is based on observations of others and measurements taken by friends. My MWO mini's are around 4 to 4.5cm tall including the base

5. This is entirely up to you. I print them 100% assembled and posed because i'm lazy and not a wizard with glue.

6. I look for level of detail and price. every printer has different design rules associated with it. some are super high detail but made of wax. some are made of sandstone and shatter really easy. The printer i use has a minimum engraved detail of 0.1mm
and a minimum wall thickness of 0.3mm

I hope this has helped you and I wish you luck

Edited by Sentinel373, 02 June 2013 - 04:09 AM.

[Shepherd]

I'm no modeler, physical or computer or otherwise, but for what it's worth the Ral Partha Timberwolf that I've got sitting in front of me on my desk is exactly 4mm from toe to the top of its missile racks. The Kodiak that is wasting away in the corner, missing an arm, is 5.3mm from toe to top of the head.

[Iacov]

thank you thousand times, Sentinel373!

yes this helps a lot - especially the hint for the tutorial sites

is Blender the only program i'll need?

thanks again!

edit: guess blender foundation saw me coming and just introduced their "blender for 3d printing" tutorial dvd...might get that one then xD

Edited by Iacov, 02 June 2013 - 04:47 AM.

[Sentinel373]

Iacov, on 02 June 2013 - 04:44 AM, said:

thank you thousand times, Sentinel373!

yes this helps a lot - especially the hint for the tutorial sites

is Blender the only program i'll need?

thanks again!

in theory yes. but there are other programs you can use to check your model like netfabb and mechlab

[BLaaR]

Sentinel373, on 02 June 2013 - 03:59 AM, said:

1. I dont know exactly but i've not been told to stop.

Care to say/expand more, or are you not allowed to ?

[Dauphni]

Sentinel373, on 02 June 2013 - 03:59 AM, said:

3d model is fun once you learn how to do it. but learning it can be tricky. I've been doing it for 10 years

3. There are plenty of 3d modeling tutorials out there. just go on youtube and type in [name of 3d modeling program] and tutorial and you'll get tons of results. I've yet to see any tutorial out there on what you need to do to make a model printable though. other tutorial sites are 3dbuzz.com, Gnomon workshop, 3D total and digital tutors. However there is alot you'll need to learn and it might be more effort than its worth if all you want to do is make MWO tabletop miniatures. I make 3d models for videogames and visual effects. 3d printing is just something cool i can use to make some of my models into reality. also note that videogame models and models that are print viable both have very different requirements placed on them. a 3d printed model must at all times be completely solid. all of the pieces you want together have to be touching or intersecting. a videogame model should be as few polygons as possible without destroying the silouette or the overall likeness. this means those models are often not solid and have floating pieces everywhere. (the hunchback is especialy bad in this regard) so to convert a videogame model into a print viable model you'll need to close all the holes in the geometry. make sure everything is intersecting or touching. make sure there is no impossible geometry or inverted normals. also if you want to reduce the costs of the model you'll often have to make it hollow which can sometimes also be tricky.

I wonder whether a lot of that work would be made easier by importing the model into an engineering modeller like AutoCAD or SolidWorks, rather than an artists modeller like Maya or Blender. They are parametric- instead of polygon-based, and have features to easily hollow out shapes to a desired wall thickness. I'm not sure if a model like the ones from the game would import correctly, but it might be worth a try.

[Sentinel373]

BLaaR, on 02 June 2013 - 08:16 AM, said:

Care to say/expand more, or are you not allowed to ?

i just told you all i know. no expansion neccesary or availible.

Uite Dauphni, on 02 June 2013 - 09:24 AM, said:

I wonder whether a lot of that work would be made easier by importing the model into an engineering modeller like AutoCAD or SolidWorks, rather than an artists modeller like Maya or Blender. They are parametric- instead of polygon-based, and have features to easily hollow out shapes to a desired wall thickness. I'm not sure if a model like the ones from the game would import correctly, but it might be worth a try.

You can't import these files into cad programs. 2 completely different methods of modeling.

[Iacov]

and just to get the first steps right...
unzip the specific package from the game data
open it with noesis/cryengine plugin and export it to desired file format... (which one would be optimal for blender?)

do i add variant-parts (k2 arms and mgs) in noesis or in blender?

[Sentinel373]

in blender