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I am a 3D modeller (mostly CAD, but some organics/Zbrush experience) who works in the industry. I am exploring the possibility of modelling for hire- you'd contact me with your idea (custom bits, models, etc.) and I would create the 3D Model. Once you were happy with the model, You'd pay me, and I'd send you the files, cleaned up and ready to print.

It seems the good part of the idea is " I want X bit with my custom insignia on it, or Y weapon option that doesn't yet exist, or Z cool idea for a model that no one else has done yet." The bad part is "So, I have to pay for the modelling, THEN pay to have it printed." What I'd like to know is, would the additional step of getting the item printed be too off-putting to pursue such a service, or does the idea of getting your own custom parts designed to your specs sound good enough to deal with the extra step?

Opinions? (I hear the internet is full of 'em!)

(I originally posted this in Dakka Discussions, but I figured I might hit my target audience better posting it here. My apologies if this breaks the forum rules; though I didn't see anything that would lead me to believe I have.)

Model an improved tau manta and producing it a bit cheaper would definitely attract people. So will making cheaper versions of all heavy apocalypse units and selling them cheaper. For heaven's sakes the tau manta is two thousand USD!

Hmmm simple things id love to see.....Simple token kits for objectives, HP, Relics n things. (or cooler yet tokens with Dice slots for Mysterious objectives or stuff too.



Repetitive wall bits for casting terrains (hopefully based on DOW stuff)

Also, scenery and game boards. Right now, every piece costs sixty, and sector imperialis costs seventy five. For the scenery ruins, forests, and piles of junk would be nice, along with statues and fortifications.

lliu wrote:
Model an improved tau manta and producing it a bit cheaper would definitely attract people. So will making cheaper versions of all heavy apocalypse units and selling them cheaper. For heaven's sakes the tau manta is two thousand USD!

And this is why it costs that much:



If you tried to 3d print it at a decent level of quality it would be even more expensive.

lliu wrote:
Also, scenery and game boards. Right now, every piece costs sixty, and sector imperialis costs seventy five. For the scenery ruins, forests, and piles of junk would be nice, along with statues and fortifications.

And, like the Manta, this is something that isn't appropriate for 3d printing. If you want decent quality you're going to be paying hundreds to thousands of dollars for a terrain piece. Making large models like this requires either resin casting or injection molding, and both of those are much more complicated than just making a 3d model file and sending it to be printed.

I am not really looking into producing my own kits right now.

(Unless you're suggesting you would want to commission your own personal Tau Manta variant. Which I would be open to, but that's a pretty big project, and if you factored in what I would likely need to charge (even at cut-rate prices) to put in that amount of time with the cost of the 3D printing, it would likely end up being more than the FW product.)

I think it has possibilities, I for one have a head swimming with idea that I don't have the skills to sculpt or model (though I am working on them!) I personally don't think that anyone who is willing to work with you come up with designs and tweak them would be put off having to get them printed.
The only thing I could see happen is you getting lots of requests for shoulderpad designs for homebrew chapters. Perhapes if you were to post some pics of some finished and/or printed models you could get the ball rolling.

Maybe you could find someone who prints and work out a deal with them for discounts of bulk orders if your looking for that.

The shoulder pad thing had occurred to me. I would likely model two or three blank shoulder pad styles, then customize them per client request. Which means I would only charge for the customization, and not the base pad.

Shapeways is already pretty reasonably priced, and the Frosted Ultra Detail material has enough resolution for this sort of thing. Since they charge by volume of the print rather than how long it takes to print (they gang print as many models at a time as they can fit onto the platform) it'd be tough to beat their prices. Higher resolution prints would likely be too expensive for most people. Those places tend to charge by time, often in the $50-$100 an hour range. (A shoulder pad would likely be between one and two hours with those technologies.) I know quite a few modellers who are very happy with Shapeways prints, though, so it's likely the best option for people. (Especially if you've got some resin casting skills- you could get two or three prints, then mold and cast as many copies of your prints as you needed.)

At the moment, I can't really post much for photos. Certainly, I will be if I pursue this further, but the large bulk of my work is not mine to post. I am working on my own models, though, to put up as examples. (I hit on this idea when I began modelling some Eldar bits to convert Guardians into the different Aspect warriors, and nearly everyone I mentioned it to immediately offered to buy copies.) Certainly, I don't expect to get any customers without examples.

What?! I thought you just designed them! I thought mold injections would be for the models.

I make small pieces to add detail to terrain and vehicles and weapons. Using various pieces of software but I'll be settling on rhino soon.

I have seen plenty of people making custom bits for models on shapeways, mostly marines but also tau, eldar, the shoulder pads thing is something I've seen before.

Your idea of sending them the 3d model file instead of prints though somewhere like shapeways does have some advantages, but some people may prefer it if you could handle that for them so they only have to click a button (aka shapeways), if only down to ignorance let alone time or contacts to do it themselves.

Best of luck mate, small details are the way forward for now at least.

lliu wrote:
What?! I thought you just designed them! I thought mold injections would be for the models.

I'm not sure I understand your meaning. My idea is to design parts based on the customer's specs ("Hey, Lord Derp, I have this homebrew SM chapter I thought of called the Funky Marines, and here's their chapter badge. I'd like some shoulder pads and some Rhino doors with the badge on it. Also, I want some custom heads for Wraithguard that look like this thing here that I drew.") and then send them the 3D files so they could get them printed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 OneManNoodles wrote:
I make small pieces to add detail to terrain and vehicles and weapons. Using various pieces of software but I'll be settling on rhino soon.

I have seen plenty of people making custom bits for models on shapeways, mostly marines but also tau, eldar, the shoulder pads thing is something I've seen before.

Your idea of sending them the 3d model file instead of prints though somewhere like shapeways does have some advantages, but some people may prefer it if you could handle that for them so they only have to click a button (aka shapeways), if only down to ignorance let alone time or contacts to do it themselves.

Best of luck mate, small details are the way forward for now at least.

Ideally, I would print the parts myself. Except I'd just be a middle man in that process. (Maybe someday, I would get my own printer, and then go that route.) Getting that taken care of would be an extra hassle for me, though, and so I'd probably want to charge a fee for that, on top of what the 3D printer company would charge. Not to mention, tiny parts can break during shipping, and if I'm a middle man, I'm responsible for getting them reprinted. I suppose I could handle sending the files to the printer, and have the parts shipped directly to the customer. But again, if there's a problem with the printing, that becomes a headache for me, and takes time away from actually designing models.

Maybe this way is a little more work for the end user, but it's also a bit cheaper. Also, there are enough people out there with printers, or who know people with printers, or have access to printers themselves, who wouldn't want the extra cost of getting them printed, when they maybe have a way to get it for cheap or even free.

Regardless, it's all up in the air at this point. It may well be that nobody wants this service if it involves the extra step of getting the files printed.