I’m not sure if this is completely true dude I definitely sculpted creases into clothing on my last print which came out fine… I thought by making all those subdivisions then sculpting was the idea of actual geometry then you have to apply it - I could be wrong as I’m new to all this but isn’t that the reason you end up with the massive stl full of detailed ploys?
My advice is, don’t rely on the 3D printer software to make your mesh watertight. It rarely (if ever) does an acceptable job. Grab a copy of ZBrush, or the free trial, merge all of your objects into a single subtool, dynamesh at a level that retains your details, and then hit it with decimation master to get it to a level that isn’t a nightmare to work with in terms of file size.
Thanks for this mate - what format do you export in for zbrush? I was trying to get the best out of blender alone as I know it has a decimator as well. You’ve given me a load of zbrush keywords to research and get my head around Thank you.
To be fair magics is a fantastic bit of kit and if you get someone who knows what there doing you can get models spot on. I’ve seen loads of problems within stl’s especially with organic models. The wraps can been as thin as 0.1mm but I know what you’re saying.
I’m not sure if this is completely true dude I definitely sculpted creases into clothing on my last print which came out fine… I thought by making all those subdivisions then sculpting was the idea of actual geometry then you have to apply it - I could be wrong as I’m new to all this but isn’t that the reason you end up with the massive stl full of detailed ploys?
Sculpting is real geometry you can print, just using a texture to simulate sculpted details (as a bump map or normal map) cannot be printed, they are purely for a rendered effect
I was trying to get the best out of blender alone as I know it has a decimator as well.
The zbrush decimation master is far superior
Thanks for this mate - what format do you export in for zbrush?
zbrush can export as .stl, vrml or .obj
You export a .obj to ZBrush (or use the GoB Blender/ZBrush applink). ZBrush can then export directly to .stl or .vrml for printing. And yeah, Decimation Master is really best-in-class as far as poly reduction goes.
You want to avoid doing a lot of work that will be lost in the printing. Even if you work at the place you must still have a budget. Scale (and apply scale) your lizard up to what you can afford to print - and since it’s your first it’s probably not going to be a keeper, so don’t blow your budget right away!
In the N properties enable the edge length display and zoom in on the smallest detail bump area. If the edge lengths in that area are smaller than 0.4mm they won’t print.
For example, a 20cm print is quite big (and pricey!). That’s 200mm. That’s only 500 vertices @0.4mm resolution, top to bottom, uniformly spaced. You get the idea?
You are going to wind up needing a lot fo geometry for this, and another idea is to use a tileable black and white displacement map, and the displace modifer, for the smallest scales. You’ll need a multires/subsurf combined level of 5,6 or 7 to get where you need to be. The advantage of the displace modifier is that:
a) You don’t need to sculpt every inch of the trex
b) You can instantly change the size of the scales, by scaling the uvs.
You would, once happy happy, apply all the subsurfs/mulrires- and do some custom work on the odd large scales.
You could also use the png I posted as a sculpt brush, and do it by hand, varying the sizing.
Here’s a test on a t-rex I have never really finished, the tileable map I made from the screenshot you provided in the first post.
Hi Guys - Thanks for all the info. Here is a picture of the test print I had done. I had very little to do with regards to stl correction as all the normals were fine… just had a couple of holes that i’l look into… all things considered it came out as I expected now I’m eager to finish the rest and print the full thing…
I’m really happy with all of the detail that has come out and I’m confident that I can get the rest of the body the same way using displacement maps and sculpting…
Just taken delivery of my airbrush so I’m looking forward to painting it too… Thanks again!
just curious here
what kind of material did u use to do this and at what cost ?
also how long to print this shape?
The material is Nylon printed on an SLS machine. This is very strong you can drop it and it won’t break and the texture is similar to a soft mint - the cost would be approx £80
Turnaround is 8-10 working days but you can get an express price which would be roughly double that.
Very cool product, please post after you paint too
Definitely! It’s an exciting time for product development and prototyping so much potential - My aim with this project is to get the most out of the technology through Blender, which, the more I learn proves to be an amazing piece of software…
Your absolutely right - the whole idea of the test was to get rid of some of the questions about what is actually possible especially where it came to sculpted detail which should be the digital equivalent of clay ( thats the way i see it). Im lucky that the company is fantastic and eager to learn as much as I am so they help me with regards to cost. My aim for this is to be a keeper hence all the research Thanks for the post mate!
Started painting during the week Got loads to do on it but as you asked thought I’d show some progress. This is a test to see the kinds of results I can get in prep for the full print…
Cheers Mod :)! - Yeah I agree needs something to protect the paint and finish it off… I’ve been doing some gloss experiments this week, the material is very porous so I need to do a heavy undercoat when it comes to the final version.
We hardly ever see the painted models here - very nice. Is that with a paintbrush or airbrush?
Depending on the paint you are using you might want to prime the model with one of Golden’s GAC mediums, maybe 400. This keeps paint from sinking in as it looks lke it is now.
Thanks DruBan… Yes its mainly airbrushed but the fine detail will be done by hand. It’s actually my first airbrush paint job - I’ve always wanted one and finally had an excuse to buy a kit. Never heard of GAC mediums before thanks for the heads up, will definitely look into that.
Thank you.
