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3D printing

CoryG

Portfolio Importer & World Map Maintainer
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
For larger things I use a filament printer: Anycubic i3: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074BSVGMM/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_01pHEbF26MSGF
And for minis I am using a resin printer: Anycubic Photon: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07C3T7KBQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_x3pHEbW97F4Q9

I decided to buy my friend's Snapmaker 1.0 to get started with 3D printed terrain. I also picked up the terrain Humble Bundle that @ELF pointed to in the deals thread. My goal is to up my terrain game by finding a good balance between crafting by hand and 3D printing. Crafting by hand with materials like gravel, sand, tree bark, expanding foam, wooden sticks, extruded polystyrene insulation, dollar store foam board, etc... is great for large builds and structures. I think 3D printing will be a great way to augment those builds with details that would otherwise be impossible/impractical for me to create.

Another fun thing I'm looking into is this...

I love using Lego minis instead of regular DnD minis!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/330...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

They are the wrong scale but they can't help but make you smile when you play with them. :) Plus with my ahem... advanced age I find 28mm details are often to small for me to enjoy. One problem with these minis is that the large square bases that come with them are cumbersome to use on the table and don't look that great.

After searching around Thingiverse I found this:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2325713

Now I can print 28mm mini bases that have the built in pins to hold Lego minis and I can use my regular crafting and base painting skills to make the bases look cool and realistic. With this approach I get the best of both worlds; the seven year old Lego fiend inside of me gets to play with fun Lego men while my 45 year old eyes can comfortable see the pieces and base detail work with needing to use a tabletop magnifying glass!
 

ELF

Generator Sage
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
If you looking specifically for props, for that there is another Kickstarter that looks like decent value in its current state:
All Stretch Goals unlocked in less than 2 hours! We are going to need many more!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stlminiatures/3d-printable-fantasy-props

This campaign is a classic example of reward explosion, so there is some risk involved.

(@JochenL, should the 3D printing related messages be separated into its own thread? I don't have the power to do that.)
 

CoryG

Portfolio Importer & World Map Maintainer
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
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ELF

Generator Sage
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Free STL models of just about every D&D monster are available here:
Big DnD fan sharing my work with the world! Log in, download the models, and enjoy!
https://www.shapeways.com/designer/mz4250/creations

Polygon covers the story:
For more than five years, one man has been creating 3D models of every single monster in Dungeons & Dragons’ 5th edition, and giving away those digital files for free, so people with 3D printers can make them at home.

Miguel Zavala’s art project consists of more than 1,900 digital files, and he has nearly 3,000 paying subscribers supporting his work on Patreon. Polygon talked with Zavala about his work, and how (for the most part) he’s been able to avoid the ire of D&D’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast.
https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/10/21173630/dungeons-and-dragons-free-3d-printing-files-miguel-zavala
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
And most of them are really nice!
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
I created three props for a more modern game and want to share them with you - maybe you can use them, too.

Their scale is 1:56, so they should match with 1 inch = 5 feet.
I printed them with a layer height of 0.2 mm (pretty roughly) and without support.

modern-props.jpg
 

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Shadows over Scotland

New member
Wizard of Story
I created three props for a more modern game and want to share them with you - maybe you can use them, too.

Their scale is 1:56, so they should match with 1 inch = 5 feet.
I printed them with a layer height of 0.2 mm (pretty roughly) and without support.

View attachment 335

Love the drop scenery... Mind i fi bother you a bit about the basics of resin printing (I have a filament that gets limited use)

Do you need something special for the curing process? I want to grab one next but just need to work out what the extra bits that are needed are (or if its pretty straightforward and the other bits are optional)
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Love the drop scenery... Mind i fi bother you a bit about the basics of resin printing (I have a filament that gets limited use)

Do you need something special for the curing process? I want to grab one next but just need to work out what the extra bits that are needed are (or if its pretty straightforward and the other bits are optional)

For curing, you need a UV lamp. I looked around quite a bit and finally settled on a curing station used by nail studios. They are cheaper than those specialized for resin printers but work at least as well (a friend of mine has such a thing and it takes longer for him to cure his figures). You may want a nail curing "station" that has a detachable bottom so you can place it on stands and cure larger figures. Look at the wavelength of your resin and the UV lamps/LEDs of your station.

EDIT: It should cost about $30 to $40.
 

Shadows over Scotland

New member
Wizard of Story
Awesome - I had seen the curing things but makes more sense in lay person terms :)

Now to investigate printer options :)

If you don't mind the bombardment of questions - how do you find the Anycubic Photon?
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
If you don't mind the bombardment of questions - how do you find the Anycubic Photon?
I don't mind!

I like it. It is a sturdy build and working better than the one I had before. Additionally, you can easily remove the tank and that aids dumping left resin back into the bottle tremendously.

The above-mentioned friend has a different one with roughly the same dimensions and resolution. The problems are the same: If you fill the complete printing surface with figures the print will likely fail. I had success with up to 50% area usage. He tried different foils and got a far better result. So you should prepare for some fiddling with foils, printer settings, and resins when you want to extensively use the printer, likely no matter the brand.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
I normally print human-sized figures. The biggest one was a dire wolf. At one time I tried to print a small goblin war band at once: 3 archers, 3 warriors, 1 king, 1 shaman. That failed several times. Doing 1 to 3 at once usually succeeds. I did not try different foils, though.
 

BenS

Member
Wizard of Story
I can also recommend https://www.heroforge.com/
One of my players got himself an awesome 3D printer and the group went about building their own figures, bought the models on heroforge and he printed them. I really like the interface of heroforge and you can build quite some expressive figures, you can paint later on (it helps that we have warhammer players in the group, too...). The results were quite stunning and it was was a fun group experience. At least for the others. I only learned that I should leave the painting to others and stick with DMing...

I don't have a newer picture when he was painted completely with eyes etc. but the amount of detail was quite impressive. if you look closely, you can even see the slight tendency to provoke people when drunk that I just love about my character ;-).

Edit found a picture of another figure in the process of being painted
1598048374667.png
 

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