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3D printing


Kalle Bowo

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Hey folks,

remember this thread when I was asking "how do I extract the 3d models from your game files"? Well, after ordering online a ton of test prints produced with different printers using the same model as reference (by now I got the Hand of Nod like ... 8 times? ^^) I finally bought my own 3D printer, to be more specific, the Ultimaker 2+. And it's amazing! ^^ The base is growing :D

I actually remodeled the Weapons Factory completely from scratch with Cinema 4D, since I just couldn't figure out why on earth the printer sometimes just didn't feel like printing certain parts. The rest was printed just as I extracted the files from the game. But this little modeling exercise helped me clearing up the issue for future project.

Still it's a lot of tinkering on how detailed the models can be, how to get the model to stick nicely to the build plate and a ton of other issues. But for roughly 1 week of tinkering around I'm quite happy with the outcome :) and it's super fun!

I keep you updated on the mini base :)

cheers,

Kalle Bowo

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I new you guys would like that kind of stuff :D printing a SBH is a nice idea, indeed. A normal 0$ Nod soldier as a little figurine is already on my list. But my next project will be a mammoth tank with the same scale as the old original Renegade merchandise. Right now I'm figuring out a way on how to print tank tracks already interlocked and movable. I keep you updated :)

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That's friggin awesome!

Do these printers also print with colour? Would be nice to see the textures on these things as well. Otherwise its all about hand painting them afterwards. I'd love to have a model of some of the characters in colour.

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@ Kalle

just for information.. how much cost your 3d printer.. how much cost the material.. and can you tell whats the cost of one of this prints ? :D

A decent 3D printer costs way too much for the average person currently. It's only worth buying if you have big plans with them, otherwise just wait another 5 years :)

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@ Havoc89:

Well, I can load another filament in the printer and print the whole thing completely in red or blue or glow-in-the-dark or whatever, there's way too much stuff out there already. But I can't print texture on it. But that's why I also bought a used quite professional air brush set (pistol, compressor, a bunch of colors) from a friend of friend of mine. Both are in a model making club, so they know their stuff, and they say it's good stuff. I can't tell, I didn't find the time and patience to try it out yet. But yes, long-term-plan is to paint all the stuff, of course :D

@ Schmitzenbergh:

Do you know that I actually developed a Command & Conquer boardgame during my studies? ^^ it's really fun to play, people love it. And that's actually a nice opportunity to make some real 3D figurines for that. But the ones I'm making right now won't fit to the game, I need to design new ones for that. But remodeling all the RenX buildings and optimizing them for the printing process helps me a lot gettig some experience. So yes, that's another long-term-goal of mine ^^

@ Ska-Ara:

I bought my Ultimaker 2+ for about 2300€, added a new print bed for 50€, material costs something in between 20-40€ per kg. When taking orders (which I haven't so far) I calculated that charging 5€ per printing hour is a fair price. Why? because when you go to 3dhubs.com (a site where people are offering their personal printers as a service), the people there charge even more. How do I know? Before I settled for the Ultimaker 2+ I ordered a couple of test prints, everytime the same model to be able to compare the quality. In Short by now I got the HON 8 times on my desk and on average one of these HON's costed 20€. I could print such a HON in roughly 3 hours, so technically I could charge even more money because the others do so, too, but I won't, because I'm such a nice guy :D

@ all:

I will tell you when the whole GDI and Nod base are ready. I simply want the models/prints to reach a certain quality level so that I can honestly say "yes, it's ok to charge money for that". You know, I'm quite a perfectionist and when I'm not happy with the quality I wouldn't feel well selling the stuff, simple as that.

To be honest, when I bought the printer I really didn't think of printing stuff to sell it. I just wanted to have that machine soooo badly for years, so I can finally print all that fancy merchandise that I either can't buy at all (like a CnC mini base) or that is simply too expensive (I mean, honestly ... 300€ for ---> THAT THING ?!?!?). But yeah, it seems as if there are more crazy people out there that would love to own that kind of super geeky stuff, so why not :D

Which models would I consider as final?

- GDI Warfactory

- GDI/Nod Refinery

- Nod Airstrip

- Nod Obelisk

Which models need further improvement?

- GDI Barracks

- GDI/Nod Power Plant

Which models am I working on at the moment?

- Nod Turret

Which models didn't I print at all so far?

- GDI Advanced Guard Tower

- Tiberium Silo

- Hand of Nod (obviously because I got too many of them :D)

Which models do I want to add, modeled completely from scratch?

- GDI/Nod Radar

- Nod Samsite

- Temple of Nod

- GDI Guard Tower

- walls, sandbags

- basically most of the Tiberian Dawn stuff, inspired by Renegade

About the attachement:

The first photo shows my (currently final) board game prototype, developed already 5 years ago.

On the second one you can see the different HON's I ordered online, printed out with different machines. This really helped me to find out which printer is capable of delivering the kind of quality I had in mind. I settled for the no6, counted from the left, which was the Ultimnaker 2 :)

cheers,

Kalle

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Paint that shit!

I will! Patience, young Padawan. ;)

The board game looks absolutely awesome! How is it meant to be played?

At the moment it's designed to be a 2 player game with 2 dfferent game modes. One mode takes between 20min and 1 hour and the other lasts between 1 and 3 hours. Each player goes through different phases like building, moving units and attacking. Then it's the other player's turn. It's not a table top where you have to carefully measure out distances and all that sophisticated stuff. I rather tried to capture the essence of CnC and build abstract, simplified rules, so that the overall gameplay FEELS like CnC. And oh boy, it does ^^ there are so many moments that feel like CnC. Like killing the enemy's harvester over and over and watch how he loses all his money and grows more and more desperate ^^ or crippling his economy by destroying his powerplants. Driving over his soldiers with tanks and harvesters. Playing airstrikes. Landing with paratroopers in his base, then capturing his warfactory, building a powerplant next to it and start prodiucing tanks inside his own base. :D

Let's just hope EA develops a new CnC at some point in the future so I can continue with the negotiations. I really want to see this baby on the market. I am 100% sure you will like it.

Have you considered vehicles too? I would gladly pay for a mammoth tank, especially one with rotating turret and adjustable cannons if that's possible.

I am working on exactly that :) rotating turret and adjustable canons. I want to use the hatch on the top of the turret as a rotating button which translates via some gears on the inside to the canons moving up and down. But since this will be my most sophisticated 3d project so far, it will take some time. But it is coming, i assure you that :)

Cheers guys

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