Dear Planet Figure forum,

Please check out this new figure I had 3d printed.

I wanted to share this with you all because I thought that it would inspire anyone interested in the transition from traditional media to digital.

The design is original and was sculpted using autodesk mudbox.

It is 100mm tall, but the real beauty of 3d printing is that once you have the digital master any scale is easily achievable.

I intend to make castings of The Dentist and begin a limited run just to see what sort of interest it generates.

The artist is Wayne Robson and I currently have a license to 3dprint his 'doodles' which includes this piece and many more.

It's a new venture and I hope the subject matter is not too sci-fi because I notice a lot of war-like historical pieces on this forum.

Thanks for viewing.

Robin

I won't even guess what 3-D printed means. I assume you create the design digitally and then through some magic the computer creates a mold? If you can provide a bit more background for the dinosaurs like me it would be appreciated.

Colin

Well 3D printing has certainly come on a ways since the last time I saw a sample if this is anything to go by, the surface is much smoother than I was expecting!

Best of luck with it Robin

Einion

There are a lot that also like the Sci-Fi stuff so keep them coming.

That is a great figure and I also agree that it is a lot better than the stuff i've seen come out of the hobby 3D printers like Maker-Bot. Or at least I hope it didn't come from one or there goes my budget

very cool Robin, thanks for sharing

3d printing certainly has matured over recent years!

I recall a few years back fully working 1/35 tracklinks and that was equally impressive

Here's a look into the future of our hobby.

Sculpting by hand is so 20th century!!

As I understand, you first create the figure using a 3D software and then a machine, create the physical figure in a given material. Right ? If so, I WANT THAT MACHINE.

http://www.mininet.tv/egminiatures.html

If you have upwards of around £9000 spare then you can buy the machine http://www.techsoft.co.uk/products/3d-printing/

Thank you very much for the info Martyn.
Edorta.

Killer!

3D modeling and 'printing' seems to be gaining momentum - especially in the sci-fy/fantasy gaming industry.

As to the figure, I'm not really clear here. Is this an adaptation of a Star Trek Borg type figure?

Thanks for all the resposes guys. Its great to hear any feedback at all, be it positive or negative.

CRF: You are correct about the digital design and also the magic part (the technology even bamboozles me somtimes) and I have been working with it for 13 years now!
Basically the 3d data is sliced up using mathematical algorithms and then sent to the 3dprinter (sometime called rapid prototyping). The 3dprinter then builds the real model up in very fine layers. This is the general process but differs slightly with different makes of 3dprinter, which also allow different resolutions and different materials.
You got me thinking about the mold making one though.....I guess it would work if you had the split lines and vents etc modelled into the CAD.

Einion: Thanks for the support

toy4x4: That's encouraging to hear, I'll certainly keep posting the sci-fi models, cheers.

gordy: Cheers Gordy, your doing a great job with the site by the way.

TonyDawe: It is the future of this industry and we must embrace it. Although the trad skills must never be lost also.

Edotra: As War Griffon mentioned HP do one. Other companies selling 3dprinters are 3dsystems, Envisiontec (which The Dentist was built on), Stratysys, Objet (great for high detail figures of 100mm upwards - no support structure needed, so really smooth finish with little post processing),
and Zcorporation (colour 3dprinting).

War Griffon: Indeed they are expensive machines but are gradually getting more affordable.

Meehan34: Cheers, Love the Avatar by the way.

Glen: The figure is straight from the artists imagination and is 100% original. He has had a fear of dentists from an early age and continues to have nightmares about them! These are the things which inspire him to sculpt his demons away!

More to come.
Over and out

Robin

Martyn, I´ve some of questions more. What material is made the dentist? . Eeach time you want to make a dentist, you do it with the machine? You can design individual parts of a figure, printed in 3D and then put them together to build a model?
Thanks.
Edorta.

Hi Edorta,

The material is high grade plastic acrylate and is suitable for painting and most post processing applications. But as with all plastics it does eventually break if pushed hard enough!

The process I used is quite expensive so I will be using this as a master model and then make a mold from that. The Objet machine is a production modeller which would allow multiple 3dprints from the machine but again the material cost is just out of reach of the mainstream modeller.

Yes, you can design the figure in bits, then 3dprint, and piece back together.
Hope this answers your questions.

Robin

They've been around for a little while. Wish I could buy one. This clip might help you visualize better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw

And cool figure.
JAmes

Thank you very much Robin, for your accurate reponse. For now, as I see, this digital method is an alternative way for making an initial master, due to the costs.

I have some basic knowledge of 3D Studio and model a figure with this software, depending on the ability of each one, of course, also costs a lot. The main advantage I see in this method is that, for example, from a basic human model, created in the computer, can be
create infinite variations to build different individuals. I also find it very interesting that you can print the figure on the scale you want.

In any case, we can model a master using the traditional method, scan it , and then create all the variations we want.

Personally, I think that this technology doesn´t have to replace anything, and as far as more affordable, can be a valuable support tool for the modeler.
Edorta.

http://www.mininet.tv/egminiaturas.html

Great work with this medium.

marc