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Myself and Arakasi have been away on business this week, which gave us plenty of time to catch up and talk about all our future plans for my Guard and his Orks. One of the things we *always* end up talking about are all the things we're trying to make out of greenStuff or plasticard to get our forces looking "just so". A number of times we've talked about creating bitz and kitz to sell, but we're not happy with the level of our greenstuff skills to produce exactly what we've got in our heads (of which there are many-many-many-lots of ideas!) so it's always fizzled away.

This time, inspired by Paulson Games, we decided using 3d printing might be the way forward. The only downside to this awesome plan is that neither of us have ever done any 3d modelling. Ooops!

So. Despite all our other projects, we've decided to give it a go and start this blog to try and get some momentum going as well as feedback/suggestions on our ideas as the items will, hopefully, end up being printed and sold.

As we're just starting out we're going to go with Blender as the software of choice... mainly because it's free and there's plenty of online resources for it.

One of my main goals is to digitise the Russ I started making out of plasticard so it's easier to play with new designs and turrets.

While my initial goal is towards Trukk kustomisations (surprise surprise)

You two are as thick as thieves man... Its like the Dukes of Hazard of Wargaming...

What will Arakasi and endtransmission do next? As they jump an ork trukk over impassible terrain.


I can't wait to see what you two do

The Dukes of Hazard of Wargaming. I'm going to have to Sig that one

AMG!!! I've been sigged tis the happiest day of my life. Now bring on the 3d modeling

This should be sweet. Looking forward to more, and good luck!

This will be very intresting

Good luck, my advice for 3d printing would be, learn to build a clean model before you learn to build a complex model

Okay - we are going from complete noobs here - what do you mean by a "clean" model? (Assuming my assumption of what a "complex" model is is correct )

Subscribed!!

Arakasi wrote:Okay - we are going from complete noobs here - what do you mean by a "clean" model? (Assuming my assumption of what a "complex" model is is correct )

Baby steps, Warmill is saying make sure you can get something created that looks functional before you go creating pieces of art.

Same advice holds for casting Arakasi... learning how to design something that casts well is completely different from designing something that looks good (they aren't mutually exclusive, but they are two different skill sets). Learn to master the mechanics of what you're going to do before you try to master the aesthetics.

Blender is an awesome software, even tough is free is almost at the level of Maya, 3DSMAX, etc.

I Just recoment one thing, begin doing simple things like a couch or other things you have at home that are rather simple and then advance to more complicated things, always do the basic form first and then add the details.


Also having a sketch from 3-4 views of the object you want to create will be very helpfull.



After having the skecth or the actual drawing you can just 'fill' so to say and do your object rather easily
Hope I helped a bit.

You would probably be better off with 3dsmax for doing non-organics.

Sounds interesting. I'll be following this one with interest

Alfndrate wrote:Baby steps, Warmill is saying make sure you can get something created that looks functional before you go creating pieces of art.

As I said, noob - I can't assume anything! Especially as I would have thought "simple" was the opposite of "complex" - I figured it might well be a technical term. So all helpful suggestions will be better appreciated (and acted upon) if explained as if we are two year olds

Gitsplitta wrote:Same advice holds for casting Arakasi... learning how to design something that casts well is completely different from designing something that looks good (they aren't mutually exclusive, but they are two different skill sets). Learn to master the mechanics of what you're going to do before you try to master the aesthetics.

I am getting the suspicion that you guys think we are about to bite off more than we can chew! No - I'm not planning anything as extravagant as my current custom Trukks - though that is the *eventual* end goal! No, I thought wheels might be a good place to start - starting with just the basic shape of the wheel - which I presume will be easier to 3D model and have printed than my previous thoughts involving plasticard and tubes. I can then start the casting of that to use for blanks to add detail in a more traditional sense, improving my casting, while simultaneously trying to replicate my additions and casting experience back onto the "blank" 3D model. Well - this is sort of how I have it pictured in my mind anyway... Is that baby steps enough for everyone? Or do I need more? Another end goal is, other than actually finishing/being successful, is providing a path to follow for others - so we'll need to keep the steps simple enough for everyone...

Khazgor wrote:I Just recoment one thing, begin doing simple things like a couch or other things you have at home that are rather simple and then advance to more complicated things, always do the basic form first and then add the details. Also having a sketch from 3-4 views of the object you want to create will be very helpfull. After having the skecth or the actual drawing you can just 'fill' so to say and do your object rather easily
Hope I helped a bit.

I'm sure you did!

ph34r wrote:You would probably be better off with 3dsmax for doing non-organics.

We will have to keep this in mind as things get more serious I guess. At the moment, Blender is free. Is learning in Blender not going to transfer to 3dsmax later? Also - can you give more reason to us noobs as to why you recommend 3dsmax for doing non-organics?

Thanks for the helpful feedback, suggestions and advice - looks like this thread is set on the correct course already!

Good luck fellas! Will be watching with interest (and offering any advice I can along the way). Do be careful with what you do produce (avoid IP infringement).

Arakasi wrote: No, I thought wheels might be a good place to start !

It's a great place to start mate, since it's a simple shape and then you can toy a bit and add all the details that you like

Its okay man, even though you deem yourself a noob, you're far more advanced than I am.

What I was saying is for 3D printing it's essential that your model is a completely closed solid, the normals (the way a polygon's 'facing') of your solids are all correct ie facing outwards, you don't have polygons and control points cutting through each other, etc etc. It avoids confusing the software that converts the model to the printing process and will save you a lot of time and headaches later on down the line. Likewise if you're taking a model from Max to Zbrush for some organic sculpting, a 'clean' mesh would be all 4-sided polygons which helps a lot when you're subdividing your model to add detail.

Apologies for the technical terms

Don't apologise for the technical terms - it sounds like it is very important to know! (But I'll accept your apology for not explaining them fully the first time )

I can already think of more questions from your explanation - but I might leave them until I've started some basics - they may answer themselves - and I wouldn't want to burn you out this early on... (thankfully I *think* I understand most of it - I guess we can only wait and see...)

Oh - and for the earlier comment from chaos0xomega - there is no intention on my part for IP infringement - unless GW have managed to copyright generic shapes - but I'm sure *someone* will point it out if we get near any lines in the sand...

OK, looks fun, I'll be watching.


Just to see if Daisy turns up

Arakasi wrote: unless GW have managed to copyright generic shapes

They've certainly tried. If I remember this right, they've claimed that they own the concept of a chevron, among other things, as regards to miniature wargaming in the Chapterhouse case.

Awesome! I can't wait to see how this goes! Good luck! You two are more adventurous than I!

To answer the various copyright comments, We have no intention of trying to step on anyone's toes as far as copyright goes. Certainly to start with this is all going to be for us and our armies until we're confident enough in our casting skills... so worrying about selling things or breaching copyright is a long way off.

As for designing things that are simple enough to cast, I've done enough casting to realise where most of the problems lie, so hopefully that will help when designing the pieces. I also like things to be very modular for conversions... so I'm fine with a few more pieces being designed in order to make casting simpler.

My plan for lunchtime is to learn how to make a dice as it is (hopefully) nice and simple... so expect screenshots later. I think I understood everything that you just said WarMill, with the exception of the 4 sided polygons. I assume you just have to keep a close eye on the mesh and make sure no triangles start appearing?

Will you be self printing or using a Rapid prototyping service or online printer for the final products.

Also not sure if it's been said but Sketchup is also a very good 3D design app that can be free has mountains of support and has a much lower learning curve than
blender or 3DS and with plugins and open source mods can output just as complicated models. there are also mountains of existing 40k content for it that could make
your modded items easier to produce or at least size and fit.

If nothing else Sketchup is a good way to familiarise yourself with 3D and the way the apps work and 3D planes etc before tackling the big guns.

I use SU and 3DS farely often for junk models as a hobby (make cities and buildings mechs and weapons etc) and have been considering some for use with my Skave if
I could get a reliable prototyper to print them or a 3D printer at a reasonable cost.

We don't have our own 3d printer, so we will eventually get some quotes from various companies in the UK... though Arakasi will need to look at Australian options at some point in the future.

Thanks for the suggestion of Sketchup. I'll have a look at the existing models as I do want to make pieces that can be used on the Chimera track units, but I'd be worried about relying on the accuracy of a model someone else has produced. Looking at the Russ and Chimera models on Google's library none of them look all that accurate.

And if no Australian options exist at that point, I'll just continue to use the ones I have established in the UK or elsewhere

If your a student then max is free.

Sadly neither of us are students. I think Blender is going to be more than sufficient for our needs though as we're just going to be creating meshes and won't really go into most of the advanced options