This was done in Zbrush, don't know who by, it shows now just how good printing is getting. I held this piece and it is quite stunning, my photos don't do it justice. Pretty much mould ready. Amazing!

Hi zodiac, who ever made the original has either seen to many movies or has got something sick going on in their head,, but it does look the bis... look great painted

Agreed Malc, the thing is the finish of the printed piece was smooth! Detail was retained and on a par with traditional sculpted, I mean the detailing was the equal of. I hadn't expected to see anything this good for a while and it was a pleasant surprise. This means skin and cloth texture can be replicated. This piece came ready to mould up too. The technology to achieve it is out of the hobbyists price range, the printer is over eighty grand but like all technology the price comes down so fingers crossed, the technology is heading in the right direction and may well change our hobby sooner than later.

Most modern technology is a complete mystery to me, but am I right in thinking that if you do a sculpt and digitise it, you can then print out masters from that program in however many different scales you want to?
Best wishes, Gary.

Well this piece was sculpted in Zbrush software so no 'traditional' sculpt work here. Yes you can scan a piece and print it out at different sizes however it isn't as simple as that and relies on the type of printer and materials, it can result in loss of detail. I think personally it's more fun to digitally sculpt a piece and print it out as the above example.

Do you know what material this one is composed of?.....is it a resin or some other material?

Briefly its a resin that is cured as it prints, I'm no chemist. It is as toolable as any traditional resin figure. For more info check out envisiontec.com.

It will have been cast from a resin tray within the printer,very very expensive, ie ,a resin tray of £60000 for the resin alone.

The design is laser guided from a mirror above.
The mirror tilts and Zodiac is correct, it cures as the laser touches the surface of the pool of resin.

The tray drops, each level equates to a line, smaller the drop then longer the cast but more refined
( a big drop causes the lines we see in prints but is cheaper in resin for the printer, hense Shapeways budget printing and the harsh lines on curves)
The sweep is also important as it skims the resin and the settle time.

It means quality is high but no need for sprues/feeds unless a overhang of 10mm ( the wippy machines build the supports from the bottom up)
I spent a whole day with the Rolls Royce design department in Bristol, one to one last week.

Now I understand a lot, and some of it is hot air
The machine that printed this must have been utilised for other things as figure modelling alone, at present, would not pay for a print of this quality. Was it a hollow cast? I assume so knowing the process, was it light in weight and what was the costs for the print?

A guide at present, and a machine that could not print to our defined level ( perfect for machine parts initial test with cleanup after) was £40000 for the printer and £8000 per kilo of resin
They had 6 printers worth approx 6 million including a colour, the detail is crap but used to show how engine parts heat in different areas.

There is even a metal printer now, I came away with some great contacts but also a mind set at rest
There are scanners that will scan at high resolution for as little as £15 a scan. The scan or design though is only as good as the print
It is nice now doing a bit of homework
Best wishes

I take it the market will not be flooded with cheapish, printed figurers any time soon, possibly killing the art of Sculpting.

We had this discussion already. Just another sculpting tool although Grae indicates that it's currently not an economic alternative. I assume you mean the art of tangible vs intangible sculpting.

Colin

yep

The figure was solid and printed similar to how Graham describes but they do something else as it prints which was a bit too technical for me to grasp. Of course the machine that printed this doesn't just do figures, the smoothness of print and it's toolability have many uses. So now it can be done, you can sculpt a figure in zbrush, print it out and give or take the odd hickey mold it up and start casting. I wish people would grasp just what a fantastic breakthrough this is. Although extremely expensive at the moment the point is that the future looks bright. Just imagine, not having to make chain mail laboriously link by link, instead using Alphas designed in whatever pattern is appropriate then printed out on the figure, that's just one example that came to mind when typing this.

Zodiac I enjoy the excitement you exhibit in all your posts about digital. I think you are disappointed that some of us are not buying in to the new tech. You are correct, some of us aren't and likely won't. If I am any indicator, we Luddites don't really care. Sorry but that is the truth and no amount of digital evangelism will change that.

In my view the sculpting side of the hobby will change and move forward in two parallel streams - digital and traditional. Painters won't care what the sculpting origin is of the work they paint. If it appeals, they will paint it. The important thing is that the two sculpting sides of the hobby continue to respect and support each other given all the overlap in interests.

Colin

Colin,
I can't speak for Zodiac, but I find your attitude refreshing. I don't believe that the creation of one new medium is necessarily the death of another. I still work in wood from time to time (although it has been 2 years since I've worked in wood as I am studying 3D intensely). I still pickup clay. Its a nasty little habit of mine just to make figures from plastisene and then roll them back up into a lump. My mind craves diversity, and won't allow me to cling stubbornly to one medium or the other, which probably explains why I am so mediocre in all of them, but at least I am happy.
I think at some point, as printers become more affordable, you are going to see the solid materials sculptors merge in part with the digital tools. I've seen some folks who buy weapons and helmets and buttons and eyes from a 3rd party vendors instead of sculpting those objects. In the future, they will just print those out.
In addition you can create new and complicated tools to assist your material sculpting projects. Custom clamps, and detailing tools and even armatures can assist the materials sculptor and make them more productive and effective than they already are.
More and more of the vehicles you see in dioramas are currently created in CAD systems, then a prototype is printed and molds are made. One day you'll buy a 3D model online, print it out on your printer, the file will self distruct and you will be left with a sweet model of an object that you bought without wasting gas driving to the store or waiting 4 days to a month to get in the mail.
Everyone will benefit from 3D technology.

I honestly don't care about luddites and never have. They tend to wear their idiocy proudly as a tattoo on their foreheads. I post on this digital forum because at the moment I'm very interested in it and want to share what I find out and learn from others. Anyone who calls themselves a sculptor and isn't a least bit curious is pretty sad in my book. I think it's just because some people get frightened by anything resembling a wheel. I care and am interested and open because I am a commercial prototype and fine sculptor. I couldn't give a monkeys toss really if you're interested or not. There are folk who are and that's fine for me.

Then we shall have to agree to disagree. So much for mutual respect.

I have casted about a dozen of digital designed figures.
The main problem that I have found is the printing. Sometimes it is hard to see them, but, in the end, you always find layers even in the best printings I think that it will be a matter of time to get perfect printings.
The quality of the sculpture depends more of the sculptor than the media.

I was sharing what I saw which is superb. It wasn't my intention to start arguing or disagreeing with anyone on this thread. Colin if you're not interested why are you posting on the digital forum? You had nothing to say except the usual 'we're not interested blah blah blah..yawn! I'm not interested in 54mm wombats so the last thing I'd do is post on a forum that specializes in them declaring my non interest.

Good point Diegoff. I have to agree with you on that, but point out, that with each mold I make from a print I get a little bit better at finding the layers and dealing with them. I've never reached the level of expertize with clay to completely remove the tool marks that I made while sculpting. That is due a lot to the scale I am working in and my eye sight. The same goes for the prints I recieve. It is a process of finding the gross flaws, then removing them, then prep painting the pieces to reveal the remaining flaws. I miss less and less each time I do this and the quality of the cast improves. So far to date I have made molds and casted 28 prints, I have another 7 that I'm cleaning up and getting ready for molds, and another 8 that I just printed and painted. So, I've been getting a lot of practice, and eventually practice will make perfect.
Zodiac, I understand your frustration. I didn't think Collin actually used the term luddite to apply to his actions but only his stubborness to stick with materials and not digital. I thought he meant anachronist, but luddite was the first word that came to mind, otherwise why would he say

A luddite wouldn't respect or support technology, he would tear it down.

Based on what I saw and held in my hand, I think it will be sooner rather than later.