8/26/15 Product Update - KNight's 3D Printing Adventures

Sneak Peek;



Final thoughts(and better pictures) still to come but just wanted to leave this here in the meantime.

Mike

Alright, proper impressions are ready so here we go!

First some nice pictures!




So all in all, it turned out pretty good considering it was my first attempt at something like this, I was honestly expecting something much less workable on the first attempt honestly. Not everything was perfect and going forward I will be aiming to do things a bit differently compared to how I did this one but lets go over all that now.

Sprue and Materials
The Sprue was mostly functional, it could have stood to be thicker and stronger and over the 4 prints I received there were 5 breaks in the sprues and one more break that cause the loss of some parts before the prints were packaged for shipping. overall it still worked but could be better and will be something I'll improve on.



For materials, I had 4 prints made, 2 in each of Shapeway's Strong and Flexible White and Strong and Flexible White Polished. With the only real difference being that one set got polished while the other didn't they overall quality was roughly the same but the Polished prints were clearly superior compared to the unpolished ones.


Non-Polished on the Left, Polished on the Right

The Polished Material is even available in a number of Colors applied in a dying process as well. As long as I'm careful about where I connect the parts to the Sprue you won't even notice any discoloration in the assembled model so if you were interested in doing something for a board game or something you can color code things pretty easily or whatever, maybe you guys just really like <insert color here>!

It's All in the Details
One thing I was concerned about throughout the entire design process was making sure that the details I designed could actually be printed. Luckily I paid a lot of attention to Shapeway's guidelines for the Material and aside from the cockpit frame all the details showed up, some need some tweaking to show up a bit better but overall it worked out pretty well. I'm very pleased with the Gatling barrels actually, they turned out really well. Even the 6 small thrusters turned out really well but I did realize that I actually messed up the geometry a bit and I've fixed that now! xD






Success as a Model Kit?
So the intention with this right from the beginning was to design something akin to a "traditional" model kit and overall I think I've done it, the "problem" is that the Torrent, while it was designed with as large a range of movement as possible, even way back during the original design process three years ago, is that the torrent is really only "appealing" in a small range of poses, making a lot of the posability I built into the current kit into places like the knees quite superfluous. On top of that point at this scale the pins used in some areas like the arms in particular just aren't really suitable for the size/scale going on here. If you're picking a pose and gluing it together like I did it's not a big deal because the glue really strengthens the joints up, of course at that point they aren't really joints anymore right? ;p

So where to go from here?


I think what I'll be doing is making two Torrent Variants. A Figure variant at the same scale as this, all the same details(some tweaked of course) but no assembly needed. This would be about the same/slightly cheaper cost as it is now. I will also do a Kit variant that is larger(currently aiming at about 50% bigger) and still comes in multiple parts but with fewer parts in areas that don't need them(knees for example) but keeping the ball socket joints in the hips and ankles and letting the 'torso' twist and what not.

I will of course be designing other things as well to come, especially now that I've got a better grasp of how things go throughout the printing process. Until then!

Mike

I've been plugging away at this for a couple of weeks now here and there, still a ways to go, probably about another 10-15% to go on the first pass because everything is approximately where I think I want things.

It's actually kind funny how much texture LEGO can add almost subconsciously. There are several areas where I've had to kinda rethink the design because what worked with bricks doesn't really work with plain polygons like the side of the Tank hull(haven't really worked on that area yet) . It's been an interesting process for sure.

All in all I'm pretty happen with most of it, some areas like the head I might completely scrap and redo. Even the version pictured above is the 3rd major revision, I seem to always have trouble with head designs at this level of detail so to speak.

The Torso and Arm weapons have changed a bit, but I needed to tweak them a bit to allow for some possible variants and all told I think everything still captures all "power" of the original, maybe even exceeding it in some ways?

I haven't tested this for printability yet, but seeing as I'm working in the smaller Miniature scale first which uses a material that's much better for printing details I'm not too concerned, I haven't been keeping the material's properties in mind and before the final detail pass I will be doing fixes and making adjustments as needed of course.

I also have yet to design the different variants but I know what I want to do and have accounted for it in the overall design so far and once I'm happy with the rest making the variants will be pretty simple really.

Mike

Worked some more on the lower hull and worked out a variant for "hot-dropping" into combat zones for when you just really don't have time to land;



As many of you guys might remember, my Rolling Thunder was based heavily on one of the Mechs seen in the Armored Core V Trailer in which we see it air dropped. The thrusters and such weren't something I designed for my LEGO model way back when(in Amrored Core even tank hulls can dash all over the place if not as fast/far) and so I've been thinking about what would be needed to successfully "Hot Drop" something without built in thrusters, the obvious answer is Thruster Attachments! xD

The way I see it there isn't anything weight related to stopping the Rolling Thunder from being Air lifted, despite weighting about 2-3x more than a standard Mech might this would still be within the capabilitie's of the Lifter itself, the problem for the Rolling Thunder is not the Flying or the falling, it'd be the sudden stop when it reached the ground due to the lack of built in thrusters. so Extra weapons are eschewed for weight and attachment points on the lower hull are reserved for thrusters that are of the utmost importance of turning a metal tearing impact into a hard, but survivable landing. They are usually ejected upon landing but depending on terrain they might be retained for as long as fuel lasts for further use.

Still have ideas for a couple other variants to boot! ;p

Mike

It's always a great day when a package from Shapeways arrives! This time I got 3 things of note, a Custom part for a Gundam Plastic model kit I designed plus some special FX parts for it and other kits, Second is the quite small Torrent Miniature and lastly the new and larger Torrent Model Kit.

Beam Slasher


I had this printed in both "White Smooth and Flexible Polished"(WSFP) and "Frosted Detail"(FD) and no issues with either of them the WSFP actually turned out really well, the FD needs a bit more work yet before it'll be ready for pictures but assume it's better, for the cost WSFP is well worth it and FD is nice if you have the extra money but not strictly needed IMO.

The Beam FX parts also came out really well. For best results they will need a bit of sanding but nothing really extravagant.

All in all a great first step, now I need to think on how to make this work for other MS designs as this one was always rather particular to the Beginning Gundam.

Torrent Miniature



As you can see by it standing on a quarter it's pretty small standing at about 26-27mm tall.

Once again I printed the Torrent Mini in "White Smooth and Flexible Polished"(WSFP) and "Frosted Detail"(FD) and both turned out excellently. The FD is visibly more crisp but for it's size the WSFP print is pretty good, especially considering it's just slightly more than half the cost of the FD Print!

Torrent Model Kit 2.0



As I mentioned last time, in waning to make the kit version a bit bigger and despite all the work I put into it in the end just scaling up the original just turned out to be the best option in end! xD To that end it' doesn't look really all that different to the Older version as can be seen on top there, with the assembled example in the top right as well, below that is the Miniature Version with a Canadian Quarter below that(24mm Diameter).

I haven't had a chance to build it yet but when I do I'll be throwing up a few more pictures of that as well. In the mean time you can see the details on the smaller version I previously built here, here and here.

You can find this and other Items available via my Shapeways Shop and if you have any questions just let me know! I'm also open to doing commissions for things, I can't make any guarantees but it's something I'm open towards!

So technically these aren't model kits per say, buuuut I think you guys will get a kick out of them anyways;




All in all they turned out really good, a few minor tweaks I'll be making here and there but considering how much of a leap of faith it was to order these all right away without testing one alone first I'm very glad with the outcome! xD Well.....all but of one of the designs at least, it was a new design and a specific part kept breaking during polishing so it got rejected. I've already fixed it and just waiting to finish my current model before I put in a new order with the new model and the fixed rejected model. Hopefully I should be getting those in early January!

Mike

Very nice.

Just a preview for something I finished working on this morning in-between going out every hour to plow the driveway... >.>

This was originally going to be included into Planetary Annihilation as my personal Commander (and available for purchase by others) but once I confirmed that I'd need to basically sign away the rights for my design I decided instead to keep this one to myself and now it's all set for 3D Printing! Once I've confirmed the prints come out nice this will be available in my Shapeways Shop in both 30mm and 50mm heights as well as with or without base (I don't know yet if it'll balance on it's feet) but that's still a bit of a ways off, I'm waiting for an order that just shipped to come in with more new designs to see if any need fixing before I place this order.

Ah well, such is the way of things! Gives me more time to make something else to order!

Mike

That sucks I was really looking forward to purchasing your commander. Oh well, you do what you have to do.

Yeah, in the end I just really like the design, I'd probably stick it in my Top 5, so it seems like it's a shame to limit it to just PA, I still will have a Commander available for PA I just haven't really had time to sit down and work on that with the holidays and other projects.

Mike

The design is awesome; I really like it. Seeing the thought process behind it was great.

Edit: I'm looking forward to the new design.

So, one question: Are you doing it just for fun or are you a professional designer? Just asking, neither your flicker account nor your forum account told me something about it! Course otherwise I don´t see any reason why you didn´t simply set up a contract with Uber including to do and sell those 3D-prints of the tyrant!

The Tyrant is in no way tied to Uber, I have specifically chosen to not use the Tyrant as my Custom Commanders as I did not want to sign away my rights to the design and Will be figuring out something else for my Custom Commander Submission.

Mike

I just wanted to figure out WHY you did that turn, your post made it sound like you didn´t even considered any other options...

Overall it's a long story I don't want to get into here, but I did already mention a big key part of it;

So in short, if the Tyrant appears in PA, that'll be the only place it'll ever be, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't think the Tyrant was one of by best works to date, do I DO think that and want to capitalize on that as much as I can but it'd be hard to do that if Uber owns the right to the Tyrant.

Mike

Pretty awesome work here, loving the mecha.

One of my big passions for almost 7 years has been modding Games, in particular I spent most of my time working on various projects for Supreme Commander and later Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. I ended up being the Artist for a Team that ended up created what was in effect a second expansion that we called BlackOps. We ended up adding content to almost every part of the game but there were a few unit designs that really stood out, one of them was the Basilisk. At the time I was pretty proud of it, but that was in 2008, eventually I got my skills to the point where I wanted a second crack at the Basilisk, so about 2 years later I dove right in and we ended up with the updated Basilisk MKII.

Now the BlackOps team had always wanted to have Minis/Little Statues of some unit or another, but back then it wasn't really feasible for a bunch of kids in school and what not so it remained a "pie in the sky" type of deal, but now that's not the case! I went back and completely reworked to model to prepare it for 3D printing put the order in an wait, now, almost 8 years of waiting has paid off!




They turned out pretty great! I've also taken the opportunity now to go back and tweak the model in a few places to better show details and beef up a couple choice areas so it's truly all set to go!

The Basilisk Ultra Heavy Assault Bot MKII is the Pinnacle of Cybran Engineering. Designed by the rogue QAI it is the single most powerful unit to ever grace the battlegrounds of the Infinite War.

Among the Basilisk's Weaponry one of the most powerful is the double barrelled Plasma Cannon, firing devastating blasts focused focused plasma dealing incredible damage on impact. The Plasma Cannon is supported by a 10 Cell Cluster Missile Launcher, 2 EMP Cannons and 2 small close range Electron Bolters. For dealing with Air threads the Basilisk as 6 Dedicated Missile Cells to fire specialized Anti-Air Missiles.

It's final weapon is a Psychological one, it was designed with a strong animal influence, to the point in includes a powerful Vocalizer capable of blasting it's unique, bone chilling roars across entire battlefields, leaving Commanders notably shaken......assuming they survived the encounter.

The Basilisk's final trick is a transformation sequence that allows it to deploy a set of Long Range Artillery weapons to great affect, this cost many Commanders their lives until sufficient data retrieved by survives was able to clearly outline the Basilisk's full capabilities.

In it's Artillery mode the Basilisk reduces power to it's powertrain and completely shuts down it's side EMP Cannons to power it's incredibly long ranged Plasma Cannons and Siege Missile Fabricators in order to supply it's 20 Launch Cells. It's Electron Bolters stay active giving it a measure of close range defence but they only account for less than 10% of it's total damage output in Artillery Mode.

It is said that even at the extreme range of the Basilisk's Artillery Weapons it's bone chilling vocalization can still be heard, as if it were goading the enemy into a counter-attack.

The Basilisk is Available from My Shapeways Shop in either its "Standard" Mode and "Artillery" Mode and don't require a base or additional support to stand.

Mike

Dude that's awesome!

But yea i wonder: do you do this as a hobby, or is this some offspring of your job?

I'm not really sure what you mean, but this is mostly just a place where they both overlap. I get things I want 3D printed using printers that are way more advanced/capable than any Makerbot style ones and, if other happen to want the things I've upload they can buy it/them as well, I set a small markup and the site handles all the rest. It's not going to be something I'm trying to live off or anything, I know my limits, but hey, you never know where something will take you, maybe someone will commission me for something or a small group might find that something I've designed suits their needs and I'll get a bunch of orders, either way in the end it's just icing.

Hell, for full disclosure I've already spend hundreds getting copies of things for myself, it would take 100-200 sales in order for me to probably get into the ball park of breaking even, and never mind that's based on only my purchases so far, I got a bunch more I'm waiting on a few things for before putting through and hopefully that will continue.

So far I've made a total of......two sales, for a total "profit" of slightly more than 6$, rich I ain't but it's a good feeling nonetheless.

Mike

I think he was more asking if your a game designer for your profession (which based on what you've said you aren't? though I'd suggest given your modelling talent this is something you should look into ).