Ye Olde Inn

lestodante wrote:just the barbarian's sword looks a bit tiny

That is correct. The scan seems to have broken down at the top. You could always print a larger sword and a hole in the handle to pin it.

It seemed good enough as is to me. But next to the original, it is obviously less heroic.

whitebeard wrote:

lestodante wrote:just the barbarian's sword looks a bit tiny

That is correct. The scan seems to have broken down at the top. You could always print a larger sword and a hole in the handle to pin it.

It seemed good enough as is to me. But next to the original, it is obviously less heroic.

Size don't matter none. I hear it ALL the time... I'm heroic in other respects, they say.

knightkrawler wrote:

whitebeard wrote:

lestodante wrote:just the barbarian's sword looks a bit tiny

That is correct. The scan seems to have broken down at the top. You could always print a larger sword and a hole in the handle to pin it.

It seemed good enough as is to me. But next to the original, it is obviously less heroic.

Size don't matter none. I hear it ALL the time... I'm heroic in other respects, they say.

They just want to comfort you. Lucky man you're not a barbarian. Among them, it's all that matters. You have different opinions? Either you fight or compare the size.

Opinions are for Elves!

Hey Whitebeard, where's the URL you get stuff from...Thingiverse?

One of my workmates bought himself a $400 (AUD) 3D printer and has been printing a few parts for his bike, a door stop with Hodor on it and other stuff.

I asked about him printing miniatures, as he himself plays ADnD.

Can you send me any links you have already for Heroquest stuff, and I'll ask him to print them out.

Also, I've played with a few programs like Blender, but just couldn't quite get the hang of it. I was trying to design a better monk mini, more to match my character card.

Love the work you've done also, an imagination after my own heart!

MadMickyG wrote:Hey Whitebeard, where's the URL you get stuff from...Thingiverse?

Yes. I find most stuff on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com. Just search the site for "Heroquest".

The REALLY good HQ scans are on there. There are also several good HQ style furniture pieces (and lots of bad ones).

You can also google "heroquest stl" and you will find lower quality scans including some rare expansions. These scans may be passable, but I would like to learn Blender and clean up the cool models.

Be advised that tuning the printer settings to the exact roll of filament you are using (brand and color change everything) is important before printing a miniature. I print all of mine with white Hatchbox PLA, the other colors are not as soft and this prints without visible layer lines (but your brushes will find them).

whiteboard, in case you're interested, check out some videos on acetate misting for smoothing 3D parts. The first one looks easy to do. I don't know if it will help with HQ minis, but maybe.

You would want to print in ABS, then the acetone vapor will melt the surface of the print and soften the print lines (and details)
May be possible to tweak the exposure so there is the perfect trade off.

For smoothing with alcohol rather than somewhat nasty acetone, there is a product called "Polysher" which may also be of help. Around $350 - but i bet there are some on ebay

Thantos wrote:You would want to print in ABS, then the acetone vapor will melt the surface of the print and soften the print lines (and details)
May be possible to tweak the exposure so there is the perfect trade off.

For smoothing with alcohol rather than somewhat nasty acetone, there is a product called "Polysher" which may also be of help. Around $350 - but i bet there are some on ebay

I do not print with ABS because the fumes are bad and I do not have a great ventilation system. The PLA I print with has no odor and no MSDS. Of course there could be contaminants in the supply chain that the producer is not aware of... but it's prety much clean.

The 3D Printing DM on YouTube has lots of tricks. I believe his $500 resin printer will get you where you need to be. Another approach to smoothing PLA is filler primer, but I'd be conserned with losing detail. Maybe this is an application for that useless liquid green stuff I bought when I first started painting?

I've wanted a laser cut board ever since seeing Harry's on his "Harry Does Heroquest" thread http://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=2951&p=54621.

Now that I have a 3D printer, I think I can do something very similar.

I learned just enough Blender (Artistic 3D modeling) to be able to reproduce the effect.

First I applied some filters in GIMP to the board scan I found on this site to achieve what looks like B&W but the shadows are backwards... so it's more related to the gradient in the image. It looks like this:



Then I brought it into Blender and made a 3D model using the image as a texture on a solid object, and modifying that texture to be a height map. I printed a sample and painted it up with my craft store paint (cheap) and did not have a good brush on hand (So I could not stay in the lines ... but I think it is a viable prototype for what will come next.