Hello people, just wondering if anyone has the 3D models for any of the ships or assets ingame that might make for good 3D prints?
It would be nice to 3D print out a Helion, doesn’t need to be amazing detail because most printers only do ~0.1mm anyway (in the horizontal plane).
Models would be an excellent idea, later down the line, though I personally would prefer if they were resin or plastic kits, rather than 3D prints.
Don’t know how feasible that is, but I can dream. Half the fun of a model is putting it together.
Agreed.
However, I have some very nice looking dust collectors on top of my dresser. 
You can buy Resin printers, not beyond a studio or well paid professional to do. However the models printed by one may be a bit expensive as the Resin is $100 per litre and isn’t recyclable.
Eventually filament 3D printers will get faster and better, just going to take time.
Also I won’t be paying for a 3D model, as a creator myself if push comes to shove I will just make the Helion myself in Blender, it’s a simple model.
A resin print is still a 3D print. I’m talking about kits. You know, like for planes or tanks? The kind that come in a box, mounted on sprue, and you have to glue them together?
Yeah. One of THOSE would be awesome. Crisper edges, no print lines to deal with, etc…
Like I said. Don’t know how feasible that would be, but I can dream.
We’ve discussed this in the past, however the models aren’t built for 3D Printing, and would require a lot of work to prepare.
We may be able to do this in the future though. What that will look like, I have no idea…
But could you print a kit? Of course, there would be quite some work to turn a model into a multiple-models kit, but it would be there anyway.
The problem with other techniques is that you need a big initial cost (the mould, for example), so it is interesting only if you have a big run.
Export your base object model as stl file, pretty simple. I’m sure the model is made up of many parts however which is likely what you’re talking about in the sense of difficulty.
If it’s all in one large model project then most 3d programs let you merge and export those pretty easily, if their seperate then yes the problem exists in getting all those models together (not major ordeal but still time consuming).
@ThornEel I really don’t understand the purpose of a kit. Its a simple model mate, what exactly would you glue together? and how would that equal better quality model? think about it for a bit
I’m insterested too in getting battlescape models for 3D printing.
I already printed the Battlescape logo.
Liking it.
Nice. I can’t help imagining it sewn in a black leather jacket’s shoulder or back to make it look like a pilot’s jacket.
The difference between 3d printed models and plastic injection molds is HUGE. Plastic injection molds allow for rediculous detail, most 3d printing doesn’t even allow for smooth surfaces. But I’m sure 3d printing will someday be as good as injection molds.
Agreed. I have a bit of experience prepping models for 3D printing (Both CAD files and polygonal meshes), CAD files are way easier than polygonal to get prepped for 3D printing. I’ve also always been very disappointed in the 3D print quality.
I grew up making a lot of 1:48 scale aircraft models and that’s the kind of detail I really want in 3D printing someday.
Most people print at 0.2 resolution, you can go down to 40 microns with some printers but that resolution is only in the horizontal, most still only have a vertical 0.4mm nozzle.
The thing is you can go get yourself a 0.1 or 0.05 nozzle and make smooth surface prints but the print time is astronomical (takes ages to get working right also), we are talking DAYS here to print something at that resolution. It’s going to take a fair bit of time before 3D printers are fast enough to print those resolutions in a reasonable time frame.
You should however check out some prints done correctly (aligned so highest resolution is shown on outside of model) with 100 or 50 micron resolution, they are quite good and if you want mold quality you can expose them to acetone vapour for a short while or use a 3d model resin paint.
For on shelf models I think that is pretty good atm, but majority of 3d printed objects just don’t need to be ultra quality for their function.
Is it possible to have multiple nozzles, to avoid it taking too much time?
doesn’t work like a inkjet printer just yet, maybe one day. But when you think about it, plastic doesn’t quite flow like ink. I think maybe if they make a printer that takes 0.5 sized filament then something could be done with speeding printing up because atm if you attempt to go too fast it oozes out too much and just simply makes a mess.
SLS is the only way to go for 3D printing models rather than simple components.
