Early April Preview, MMF Voting, Resin Experiments! Also a WOR Kickstarter announcement
Added 2022-03-12 22:36:15 +0000 UTCMMF Painting Contest
First off , DBLewis entered his print of our first stronghold design into an MMF Painting competition. Unfortunately Gamescape3d is a terrible brand for winning internet popularity contests (my fault), which is what this looks like it is, so hop over there quick and help a fella out by clicking the heart (like).
If anyone else is doing this, let me know and I'll add it here and give a shoutout on discord as well:) Good Luck Buddy!
Early April Preview!
We had a request for smaller ruins so I've been cranking them out as you can see above. It includes a couple half profiles that will be set up for resin printing as well. There will be more to come, it is still fairly early in the month. I have a ruined halfling house in the works and a few more things coming. Speaking of resin!
On Going Experiments in Resin!
Yes it looks like we are finally ready to start offering full on resin prints for larger beds, I've been working out issues on the larger ruins from the last months, though I have not taken on the foundation levels yet. I think discussing my over all approach will be very helpful. I will offer pre-supports for new building, but understanding what works best will help folks zero in things for themselves. I think that will be a critical option for the larger resin parts.
I've been able to zero in on printing large parts without geometry distortion and warped parts on chitubox. I've use Lychee as well but the support connections are really tough with Lychee so I've stuck with chitubox.
Hollowing: I've hallowed all the models with 1.25mm walls. Also did some with 1.5mm walls but didn't see much difference. I've been setting infill to 15% when I do the hollowing, I found this really helps keep things straight. Make sure to put in plenty of drain holes, I usually add this in flat areas along the top or bottom. I never use drain holes smaller than 3mm and prefer larger if it can be managed.
Setting up Model: I find with the large models I don't always have a choice. Obviously we would like to see auto supports generate onto bottom flat surfaces but it is okay if that is not possible. The previous and next step are much more important than this one.
Auto Supports in Chitubox. Select medium supports and set support density to 60%. This is a 10% increase from the default 50% on chitubox. I found the heavy supports cause print failure too often with the large model. The raft often covers most of the plate and makes it easier for the raft to get pulled off from the pressure of all the times it gets yanked off the tank film. I found increasing the support density eliminates the warping I was finding at sharp corners. Large flat bottom surfaces should have supports manually added if the model could not be orientated to allow for it. I find on chitubox it is easiest to add supports if you rotate the model so you can see it from underneath. This seems to make the program drop the visual support preview and you are left with just seeing little pins where a support is added. Here is some screen shots of the results. It is a lot of supports but chitubox supports pop off fairly easily, and it is less painful than losing a ton of resin on a print that looks good but then turns out not to be.
A final thing I've been working on is totally shelling out the bottom, this seems to reduce resin use a good amount, you can see an example of this on one of the fountains we released this month. Unfortunately it requires a really aggressive bottom to create the room needed. So far this month, the fully leveled building is the only one giving me the space needed for this procedure.
Feel free to add comments on your own experiences. I have resources to experiment with better approaches, this just happens to be the one I came up with that has been providing reliable results.
WOR Kickstarter
Our Friends over at Worlds Over Run have a kickstarter up if you want to check it out. It features a wizards tower design that is potentially several feet high and a good selection of highly detailed undead creatures!
Comments
Hey David, as I went through things, I've decided to make a paper making factory. There is a lot of cool looking large equipment for it and it looks like I can tie in some scribe and vellum making stuff as well. They have a lot of surreal looking stuff in these paper making museums over in italy I came across. I think it will be a fun set of models, also creates a cool set of assets for schools of magic as well.
2022-03-14 23:11:22 +0000 UTCHi Hunter, good to hear from you. I will do this when I can. It ssems to make the pieces a lot lighter so I think it helps save a bit of resin as well. I hadn't even thought about the advantages of having an open bottom on rough terrain, thanks for the comment.
2022-03-14 23:07:21 +0000 UTCShelling out the bottom is great news! Seems like a little thing. If I don't do it before I print, I tend to sand/grind out pieces after printing in post. I have a lot of textured (non flat) terrain builds and the more hollow the bottom the better they sit on the textured terrain. Not always perfect, but hollowed out almost always is more stable for me. π€
Hunter Mayer
2022-03-14 20:15:28 +0000 UTCHi Ricardo I appreciate the comment, thanks for the support!
2022-03-14 12:32:16 +0000 UTCI just casually came to remind you I love your work man, keep it good!
2022-03-14 05:12:03 +0000 UTCAh, yes, that is a lot. I generally discourage it. I feel like it is probably overwhelming to get that many files. If I remember right, I think the patreon coupons do not work on that one because the discount is already cooked in.
2022-03-13 23:29:31 +0000 UTCAwesome thank you! I am thinking of picking up the Mega bundle on your webpage :)
John Madeja
2022-03-13 21:05:08 +0000 UTCAh , I see. That one comes with the castle and castle ruins set. The wood buildings and palisade are part of an older set of buildings I added for the promo pics at the time. You can make other castle styles with it, I just provide plans for one example. The castle ruin that comes with that can be seen here https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-citadel-ruins-212434
2022-03-13 20:27:25 +0000 UTCThanks for the link I checked it out and it looks really cool! I think I am interested in getting the citadel/wall mega-download pack, I have a few questions as to what comes in the pack though. I see the citadel and walls/towers do. But when I go to the Imgur website to see the gallery I notice there are a lot of other buildings and battlements. Are those also included in the $105 pack? sorry I am not familiar with kickstarter and even brand new to patreon lol
John Madeja
2022-03-13 20:16:24 +0000 UTCHey John. Copy and past this link and see if it helps , I have it set to work with patreon coupons. https://gamescape3d.com/wp/product/citadel/ there is link to picture albums. I think the walkways are 3.5 inches. this is from a 2019 kickstarter. or just the walls are available on MMF https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-citadel-walls-gatehouse-ballista-and-oil-pour-towers-212761
2022-03-13 13:17:42 +0000 UTCIm definitely digging everything I've printed so far but I only found you two months ago. I know I've probably missed alot of things most patrons already have. To be honest I'm along for whatever is on this ride π I would however definitely be interested in a full-blown castle/battlements for a siege scenario for my warhammer games. I have seen a few kits with stone corner towers, deep wall sections you can put an entire squad of guys on, gatehouses etc. But haven't found something I truly 100% like yet. I kind of what that historical I have no clue how hard it is to make all that but its something I'd be interested in printing for sure. Either way keep up the great work I'm definitely enjoying printing and using the terrain pieces!
John Madeja
2022-03-13 05:50:12 +0000 UTCHi David, plenty of time to do other things. I have some ideas for smaller and larger things. I guess I could do a theme call to put together a new poll for worker sites. I know there was interests in cadavers and wrecked markets. In terms of going off the rails, I have some notions about fantasy factory equipment and a flesh golem makers lab. Otherwise I could do something more on target like notice boards and urban campground stuff . I keep putting off doing a rotting library stuff I've got assets for. If you have some specific smaller items in mind that you need, that is fine too.
2022-03-13 02:47:23 +0000 UTCNo Problem Rob, it has been slower than expected. There is a lot of nasty surprises waiting when the size goes up but I think we almost have it down:)
2022-03-13 02:33:27 +0000 UTCThank you for the support for resin printing.
Rob Mace
2022-03-13 00:05:48 +0000 UTCEverything looks awesome, per usual! Do you have any plans for pieces next month that aren't buildings? I find that your not-buildings end up being what I print the most. They're so unique and awesome. Things like the fountains, the market stalls, pig pens, the cooper set, etc.
David Dickson
2022-03-12 23:41:16 +0000 UTC
