3D Prints Cheap+Good (Free Print Game is ON P.3!)

[desmoda]

Hey guys! Just wanted to say something about a WIP project I'm working on. Been workin the last two months to set up a service for zbrushers where I 3D print your stuff cheap (well.. relatively speaking).

Basically, you send me your ztl file and I make a 9 inch action figure for you, fully colored with a base and everything. I'm designing some official boxes too, but they're not ready yet. Flat price $299 for any character regardless of size. I print all your models in real plastic... not zcorp.

Um.. my website is www.ownage.com (http://www.ownage.com).. sorry, I still need to put more pictures up of models that I've already finished. Big shout out to grassetti for helping me out with zbrush stuff.

Anyway, any feedback would be great! Hope this isn't off topic. Send me your models! I would love to make them for you! :D

Oh yah, the new bases I'm using are the one's on hellboy, not the one on pumumu's sniper wolf.

[Gareee]

Be nice to also see the zbrush models side by side for comparison

[desmoda]

Yah.. lemme see if I can pull up some renders, on my powerbook right now -_- (no zbrush).. but rafael gave me some renders. Gimme a few min =D thx for the reply

[desmoda]

Here's a sheet side by side with sniperwolf. Its much easier for me to do bronzes and single tones. Hellboy was the first full color model I did so I wasn't really happy with the final paint. Could definitely do better with more practice. Hellboy side by side next.

[desmoda]

wanted him to come out more orange.. but yah.. im working on making the whole process better.. these were just the first.. so keep em coming everyone :lol: thanks for the suggestion gareee! I'm working on making a sexier flash animation that will pull up original renders and final models. ill try to support turntable uploads on the website too. shouldnt be too hard. appreciate any feedback!

[Gareee]

It would also be good to mention how big you can actually make, and provide unpainted pics as well as the finished painted ones.

I know many people are looking for a good hard copy source.

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

I'm really interested. I already have an account!

[desmoda]

Haha.. half at a time? :lol: For any humanoid figure print, its $299 for a standard 200mm head to toe model. The 200mm I measure doesn't include helmets, weaponry, wings, etc. So those will push your model beyond the 200mm height (8.5+ inch) but its still the same price. Those are free. I'll copy and paste the data from my ordering page... one sec.. Thanks for the response guys! If you have any personal size requirements, I do my best to honor all requests. But because printing is like REALLY expensive, I'm almost doing these at cost not to mention the painting. So be kind and thoughtful when your only requirement is that its really big... At 200mm head to toe, the model print is really clear (because its plastic). Some of the details get lost in paint cause Enamel (oil) paints are pretty thick. We're still working on the airbrush quality so that we won't be losing any of your print details. Next time I make a model, I'll take a picture of the model with only paint primer on it so you can see.

[desmoda]

Copied from the order page:

Custom Figurine for ZBrush Product Details



200mm (8.5" to 9") from head to toe 1
Printed in Ownage Plastic01 :: toy-grade, durable plastics
Tamiya Enamel Colors
Custom weighted base for your model to stand on (default = black) 2

Production Timelines


Typically 2-3 weeks door to door. 3
Shipping Types Available:

Priority Mail/EMS (2-5 business days to most countries)
Airmail (10-16 business days to most countries)

Keep track of live day to day progress on your Order Tracking Timeline.

Return Policy



You can cancel at any time before Stage 4 Manufacturing (http://www.ownage.com/official/wiki/Manufacturing_Stages) begins (typically 4 days into order).
D.O.A. figures are reprinted free of charge.

1 For gnomes, dwarves, and halflings we typically make these at 60-80% scale to match the rest of our line. Busts are 120mm or 5 inches. If you have your own size requirements, please say so in your order comments or email us anytime at support@ownage.com.
2 The Ownage autoprinter only makes character prints, user-created custom stands and bases is something we're looking into.
3 Sometimes we must pause production to achieve the best results. For example, if we are unable to automatch paint colors, we may pause production and ask if you would like to attach any comments or images to the order timeline.

[desmoda]

Oo.. I see a typo, I do busts at 140mm not 120mm.

[desmoda]

Ok, as a flat our comparison... if you're only speaking price, Offload Studios quotes a price of $500-1100 on their website for 9". I think they might be using ZCorp?

Any plastic 3d printing will run you a couple thousand dollars at 9 inches.

But its apple to oranges. I really really like what Offload Studios does, and they do a really good job. I still have a lot to learn from them. Plus they will do prints of any size! I only do prints up to the around 200mm size. I charge a flat price, so its probably in your best cost interest to get as big as I will allow. My desire is to make the most badass toy/model for you guys. If you're looking for an "investment cast" I'm kinda new at this so you might have to coach me through what you want.

I can do injection moulds and CNC work if you guys want to do full lines of 5000 models etc. Lets just keep it simple right now. 1 model, 1 print.

[desmoda]

A couple people wrote me PM's to tell me that ownage.com doesn't work right in IE. Thank you everyone!

I'll squash those IE bugs in a few hours. Just trying to catch a few hours of sleep. I wrote the entire website, did all the webdesign, and wrote the CRM + wiki all within the last two weeks. On top of making models and stuff like that -_-". I'm beat.

If you see any more bugs.. please digg it up on our feature request page.. ownage.uservoice.com (http://ownage.uservoice.com)! You can vote anonymously. Plz be kind.. I'm just a normal zbrusher like any of you other guys~

[fattkid]

Thanks desmoda. Keep us posted on your results. I'm looking forward to getting one of my sculpts printed at some point.

Maybe we could have some sort of "3D Prints" sticky thread where folks can post the results of getting their models printed? It would be cool to see who's doing what and how, as well as how well the prints are coming out and what not. This seems like pretty relevant info for us ZBrushers, and I would imagine probably be good for ZBrush marketing/publicity towards this emerging field as well.

[desmoda]

Oh hey MasterShokhan.. I just checked out your blog. Man.. I love your stuff. Ownage is primarily a game company so Anime + Comic models are really close to our hearts. Also saw some real sculpts/garage kits going on. I've always wanted to learn how to hobby mod from scratch using armatures and clay. Although the work Ownage does is very similar to spitting out garage kits.

My inspiration for Ownage is from a semi-famous hobby modeller called Jin Saotome. That guy rocks. But I don't rip apart models like he does, I make them all from scratch based on people's 3D data. Hopefully one day I will make the models posable+jointed too though.

Oh that reminds me, if you guys want to order Paint Primer only models so you can paint them yourself, garage-kit style. You can order it that way on the ownage website.

I actually used to be an engineer on a VR team at uni doing stuff with the Sensable Ghost Haptic system that you show on your blog. Haha.. good times. Actually ours was a lot bigger and we had these polarized 3D glasses.

[desmoda]

Thanks fattkid =D

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

Your rates are honestly the best I've seen on the net. I joined your site earlier this week and I cannot wait to work with you in the future. If you have any questions about armatures and clay please feel free to ask.

[spaceboy412]

I have to agree, the rates are nice, the height is nice, however right away i noticed some detail loss on the sniperwolf, her left pants pocket and various large folds just seem washed out. What is the level of detail available. Also it would be nice to understand more about the process, you leave it somewhat vague, is this some sort of CNC or what? You also say various parts are handmade, so if someone had a cowboy hat which is thin or wings do those get printed from the 3dmodel or are they handmade, what if they have texture in them, how is that achieved? how much is by hand/eye?
It would be really great if you could upload a video of your work process.
Lastlly what if you don't want your model even primered is that possible, to just get it raw?

[desmoda]

Hi spaceboy, thanks for helping us with the suggestions! I'm working on 4 more models right now so I was waiting to finish those so I could show you guys the results before posting.

The sniper in the picture I did at 160mm. We do all fullscale models at 200mm now (minimum) since Raf said that was the minimum size it needed to be cool.

Our general process is to print your model using industrial and medical prototyping equipment (made by Sony). Sometimes at the 200mm size, there's just no way to fix a part in Zbrush because it just won't print (like on hellboy, his rosary had a microscopic loop through which a string attached and hooked it to his belt). So we built the string form into his pants using resin. In total we spend around 40-60 hrs on each model.

A little bait and swap some service bureaus use is to quote an insane price.. like $2000 for a model in plastic, then say.. ok do it at $500. What they do is print your model laying down flat on its back so that it prints in 2-3 hrs. But if you print it this way, even if you use an objet, it comes out looking really bad (tried it). I do all model prints standing up. It takes me like 18-26 hrs. Thats the technical reason why I dont offer models much larger than 200mm at the moment. I'll cut them up in the future.

Most textures/alphas/deformations (even small ones) come out in the print... but are lost due to painting sometimes. I'm working on it! So I'm definitely experiencing a learning curve when it comes to Full Color models.

I noticed that most people ask questions like "are there any mesh requirements for printing" etc.. I can't think of any other than make sure your hair has thickness. All other problems the server fixes by itself. Also we have the ability to use traditional hobby modelling techniques to make up for areas in which 3D printing still sucks. Some of our staff have worked on models for Pixar and the World of Warcraft models for DC, but not in a design role. Just in a manufacture+painting role.

Sorry, the reason we need a minimum primer coat is because plastic01 is pure white. It's like looking at a model in Zbrush with Flat Shader on and set to White -_-".

[desmoda]

It seems like everyone and their mom has a printer nowadays :lol:

[desmoda]

Hey MasterShokhan (haha I keep wanting to type shotokan), I was thinking about the garage kitting/hobby modeling you do at home. I think ownage needs to set up a way for people to get free or cheap prints later. So if you print your action figure, and zbrush another sword later. We just throw that sword into production for free? The issue is that I haven't figured out how to elegantly code that into the website.

[desmoda]

Oh thanks guys for all the suggestions and feedback. I seriously think about each comment and figure out how to deliver. Spaceboy, you're the best, I've been reading some of your posts for the last two years. Thanks for the help!

[desmoda]

Oh, a little about the color process. Although I write this on the color wiki link when you checkout. We try to minimize as much of hand eye as possible. I use a Colormunki Photo, Colormunki Design, and an Eye-One to synchronize colors between our internal computers and on our design printouts. These are color spectrometers. We then use a pantone system to pick paints but sometimes we finish mixing the paint according to what the computer and pantone books say and are like WTF. IT doesn't look like the color in zbrush at all! Like hellboy, I was kinda sad cause we painted him 3 times! One layer on top of another, so a lot of the original details got washed away. Thanks to Rafael for coaching us through it and being really supportive though.

One issue is that a lot of the complex shaders in zbrush cannot be achieved with a single or even two layers of paint. It's like the sound that the phone makes when you pick it up. Anyone see the movie Adaptation? That sound needs two people to sing at the same time. This is a technique I'm still working on.

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

No prob, "shotokan" was the inspiration for the name. Cheap prints later sound great! ( If I forget to send a prop.. )

Oh, please consider using Paypal. I think your business will skyrocket!

[desmoda]

Really? Ok, I'll add paypal. I have to rethink when people pay for their models.. because I dont want to charge people or ask them to paypal anything until the model starts printing. Gonna redo the whole thing~

[desmoda]

Just got a print done sorry this one took 20+ hrs.

But its only just starting cause the hard part begins now -_-. I put the print next to some every day objects so you can see what 200/210mm looks like. Sorry, I dunno what the orc is doing to my wacom stylus.

gorge_port.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117213%27,%27gorge_port.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)
whats_going_on_with_orc.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117214%27,%27whats_going_on_wi th_orc.jpg%27,1,0%29)
haruhi_is_a_rude_girl.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117215%27,%27haruhi_is_a_rude_ girl.jpg%27,1,0%29)

Also a closeup with macro lens to show the surface straight out of print.

jorge_no_stairstep.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117217%27,%27jorge_no_stairste p.jpg%27,1,0%29)

Also, see how the model is like transparent white -_-. Which makes it doubly hard to see the details. Hence minimum grey primer paint is needed cause we need to be able to see what we just printed and get started on the next step. More pics of the next step soon (gonna program today, start paint maybe tmr)! The goal is to do something bronze this time around since we don't have any color renders to work with.

jorge_bronze.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117218%27,%27jorge_bronze.jpg% 27,1,0%29)

Also did a new sniper at 200mm and a vampire bust which I can show once I primer them.

Stay tuned... gonna have some contests for free prints coming up. You don't even have to ZBrush, just have to solve a riddle and be the first with the right answer.

[desmoda]

yay i just learned how to inline images! ^^

<-- vbBulletin noob

Um.. also, I would like to thank LT for letting me borrow his canon 450d, even though i have no idea what i'm doing. but it works so great! I just wish I knew a little more about lighting.

Thanks to Rafael and MasterShokhan and all you others who PM'd me with ideas to fix the website. I'm almost done redoing the entire order system. But if you would still like your ownage prints done right now, just PM me.

[Gareee]

When taking picture of something white liek that, it's better to have a slightly darker area, and a bright light shining on it from one side... details will become apparant then.

Did the ribbing come through on his knee guards?

It's also GREAT you included your wacom pen in one pic.. that gives me a perfect size comparison!

I've got a critter that might be interesting to print.. but he's similar to a cow.. how tall would he come out with your process? Here's a image of him...
zbrush.jpg

[spaceboy412]

awesome so far, thanks for all the extra info and the pics. i'd like to see the mohawk to get some sense of detail. i noticed much washed out in the hellboy, i know you're refining the process so maybe thats all thats about.
personally i would still prefer to just get the model as printed and primer it myself, especially if your primer is knocking out the detail as seen in the hellboy. do you use acrylic or enamel primer?
also in relation to garee's post are you willing to do things like that or even say Rodin type sculptures or are you just staying action figure based?
what is the smallest detail available with your machine?
i'm really excited so far please don't take any of this as negative, just my observations.

[Gareee]

I also would want the raw 3d print, and not a primered one. I'd want to decorate it myself. if it needs special primering, providing that info would be fine, and it would reduce developement time and costs as well.

[Imagineer]

No matter what model I use- even a simple cube or plane will explode.Any help would be great.

[spaceboy412]

i noticed you removed that you're using a SLA process, any reason for that? this is what made me curious about the resolution.
also i just read you use enamels i know there are issues with painting enamels and acrylics on top of each other, this is another reason why self primering would be best.

[desmoda]

Hehe.. that birdo dragon thingee's got a lot of dark meat. I've actually not done anything like that before so I'd probably pick a good round number.. like 160mm and see how it looks. But if you want it in 200, I'll do that too :D .

Spaceboy! I love all your comments. So keep them coming. Also wanna shout out to Lemonnado and BillRobertson and all the other RP'ers on zbc. Oh.. hehe.. i went over some of my posts and edited cause I thought I was starting to ramble and sound unprofessional. Plus I felt like 90% of this thread was just me blabbing. So trying to shorten things and let pictures do the talking.

I'm definitely up for all these suggestions. Can do things in acrylic if you guys want. I think I'm using enamel as a design choice right now cause they feel so luxurious to the touch, plus they give a little extra strength to the parts (like PVC rubber feel). The primer coat is so thin that nothing changes. It's the color paint afterwards that washes things out right now.

Oops sorry, I'm not using enamel, I'm using Mr. Color right now... so that makes it lacquer (lost in translation!).

I'm gonna start the paint on 2 of the models right now. 200mm sniper will probably have to wait for tmr. Also doing another model that just came in. Will take pictures and update soon!

[desmoda]

sneak peak.. extremely wip

face.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117390','face.jpg',1,0))
belt.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117391','belt.jpg',1,0))

gorge_wip1.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117392','gorge_wip1.jpg',1, 0))
gorge_wip2.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117393','gorge_wip2.jpg',1, 0))
gorge_wip3.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117394','gorge_wip3.jpg',1, 0))
gorge_wip4.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117395','gorge_wip4.jpg',1, 0))

vamp_posed.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117396','vamp_posed.jpg',1, 0))
vamps_wip2.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117397','vamps_wip2.jpg',1, 0))
vamps_wip1.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('117397','vamps_wip2.jpg',1, 0))

The dusty stuff is baby powder. No sanding or Mr Surfacer 1000 yet.

Going paint shopping. The photo tips were really helpful! Thx Garee~

Free Print Contest in 2-3 days.

[desmoda]

Just to clarify, models are 200mm from toe to head. This is actually 8 inches (I'm gonna update the website and wiki and all the other places I say 9 inches). Hair, helmets, wings, horns, etc are free, and they push the model above 200mm.

I dunno how to measure a model thats non-humonoid so I'm open to suggestions.

Models that aren't standing straight, I use a string to guesstimate and try to give you the benefit of the doubt in height. I'm also pretty open to custom heights up to a point, so don't be afraid to ask.

Almost done updating the order system.. its just really complicated to design something that is really simple and user friendly.. sry!

[grassetti]

looking hooott man !! :tu:

ps: i think it should be moved to the main forum.

[desmoda]

dude.. its cause the model you made was so hawt! i'm just trying my best to get it back to where it originally was. :lol:

[desmoda]

finished vamps.. just need to wetsand the base a little more.

for color inspiration, raf wanted me to use the skyfisherman by offload studios.. so thats basically what i did, except that I added a little red to the color cause of the whole vampire thing....

ABilgic_SkyFisherman_04.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117530%27,%27ABilgic_SkyFisher man_04.jpg%27,1,0%29)
vamp_posed.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117531%27,%27vamp_posed.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)
vamps1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117532%27,%27vamps1.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
vamps2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117533%27,%27vamps2.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
vamps3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117534%27,%27vamps3.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
vamps4.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117535%27,%27vamps4.jpg%27,1,0 %29)

I'm like halfway done with the marine. While I was painting vamps, I thought the colors on this tray were nice, so this is the color pallette I decided to use... the kind of rusted brown color for the base color and a very faint black for the cavities. Rendered a matcap in zbrush but I'll post it later when I'm in front of my PC.

hellboy_pallette.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27117537%27,%27hellboy_pallette. jpg%27,1,0%29)

Oh.. please dont upload anything more on ownage, I'm gonna dump all existing uploads and dump the completed orders and start the database afresh for the new order system. User accounts will be safe. Thx for your patience :)

Oh and thx all for the photography tips. I'm slowly emerging from camera noobdom (pictures less blurry). I'm also making liberal use of Garee's "light from one side" trick.

[grassetti]

great work on this one man!
keep updating :)

[spaceboy412]

thanks for the newest photos they do show more of the detail, nice painting too!

[spaceboy412]

ownage seems to be a better deal pricewise.

[grassetti]

ownage seems to be a better deal pricewise.no doubt

[desmoda]

haha.. you guys are funnie. yah.. ownage is really good in some ways. but i'm gonna let you guys go out and figure out why for yourself :lol:

um.. by spaceboy request.. i figured out why sniper dropped some quality and fixed it. there was some backend server code that that cleans up meshes that was making triangles too big. so i fixed that and redid sniper.

face.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118148','face.jpg',1,0))
boobshot.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118149','boobshot.jpg',1,0) )
buttshot.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118150','buttshot.jpg',1,0) )
gunshot.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118151','gunshot.jpg',1,0))

Waiting for some humbrol art paints to come in from overseas. Might be able to finish gorge today. But I dunno if the thinners in the paints will mess up my basecoat.. if its really bad, I might print gorge again and start over. Will update~

gorgegrey.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118152','gorgegrey.jpg',1,0 ))

[desmoda]

Intervain wins, gg for now~

Sorry, please don't order or upload anything more on ownage. I'm seriously like 1000 more lines of code away from finishing the brand spanking new system (it looks really sexy too). Gimme 2 more days max.
edit: yay.. order system is done. paypal payments are in. zOMFG (http://www.ownage.com/zomfg/)

While you guys wait.. here's a free print game.


Guess the name of the new Ownage+ZBrush service.

First person to get the right answer gets a free print + whatever paint or nonpaint that they want. All ownage amenities included and free 2-5 day ship.

Hehe.. I'll be giving hints in this post every 2-3 hrs till someone gets it right.

Take a break from the Pixologic hero contest and take a stab at a free print =D.. Fairness Rules: Answer as many times as you want, No editing your posts, answer here not in PM.

Hints:
1) It's sort of an acronym.
2) Spaceboy is on the right track. It has etymology roots in leetspeak. Same as ownage proper.
3) its all letters. and its a popular internet meme.
4) Zbrush part of the acronym is first. Ownage part is second.
5) ownage manufactures stuff for zbrushers.
6) [fun hint] there's an unintentional swear word in the name (haha).
7) ZBrush + Ownage + Manufacturing

[lemonnado]

OwnZit
:D Lemo

[desmoda]

hehe hi lemonnado! =DDDD

nope.. not ownzit. =(

[spaceboy412]

zwnage?
like pwnage?

btw the detailing on the new sniper wolf is much better, i think you said you are using baby powder or something is that why there is that texture or is that part of the printing process?

[desmoda]

yah, i use baby powder with a combination of a very light paint primer to let me see the details without having to resort to heavy coats of paint. i also use another secret french ingredient in the ownage alchemy book.

i guess its not fair to say that I print the models. In reality, we use a laser. Two lasers. No sharks tho.

You're on the right track~ its definitely leetspeak related. :D

[spaceboy412]

ownzd?

[3Point14]

ZForge..... Z4g3..... Z4rk..... 14Z3r..... Zm0d315..... 14Z3r.....or The Zbrush Ownage 3D Printing Company Pty. Ltd.? :)

[desmoda]

haha.. i love people who can l337SP34|<. actually, the next hint is a double. its all letters. and its a popular internet meme.

[hells angel]

pixown....ownlogic.......ownzed.......zownage..... ..

[desmoda]

vivek is the closest so far.. glad you could make it man =). Hint's are going to be very specific starting now. I imagine I will be basically spelling out the answer within the next 5 hints.

Next Hint: Zbrush part of the acronym is first. Ownage part is second.

[hells angel]

forgot these....pixage...brushage.....:P

[hobo]

with respect :)
Pwnd pxage

[desmoda]

I feel like you guys are almost there! Lemme add a new hint and review the hints so far.

1) It's sort of an acronym.
2) Spaceboy is on the right track. It has etymology roots in leetspeak. Same as ownage proper.
3) its all letters. and its a popular internet meme.
4) Zbrush part of the acronym is first. Ownage part is second.

-- new hints --
5) ownage manufactures stuff for zbrushers.
6) [fun hint] there's an unintentional swear word in the name (haha).

[hells angel]

pizage...pizzage??:)...pizown?

[lemonnado]

Pixnage

[hobo]

brushage

zbown

zboned

zbond

zbned

zbne

zbonzd

zbownzd

[hells angel]

zbownage

zbowned

[hells angel]

bownage

zownage

sorry...completely bored saturday spent in front of the pc!:)

[desmoda]

haha.. got the dedication award vivek. (bownage... hahaha)

ok.. everyone get their thinking caps on

Zbrush + Ownage + Manufacturing

I'm essentially spelling it out now. All you gotta do is think up the funniest word that exists. I'll be waiting at the finish line! (Gonna be in paint all day so I'll be back to check the winner in a few hours)~

[lemonnado]

rofl.... or...
zbrownamaker
zbrownacaster
zbrownicator

[Intervain]

ZOMG? lol

[lemonnado]

zOMG! you r teh winz!!

I give up.... lol

[hells angel]

dammit....i cant beleive i woke up ro do this!!...hehehe....i have a feeling ZOMG wins too!!;)


heres mine before i go back to bed....


bownman

ZOMF

zownmf
....alrite..i'm done!

[hells angel]

i might have one more in me...or 2...or more....

ZBOMF

zbowmf

zbownmf

ZOM

ZBOM


ok....sleep time....:D

[desmoda]

haha..

ok close enuf.. winner declared..

intervain.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27118244%27,%27intervain.jpg%27, 1,0%29)

you win a free print once the website is done :D .. gonna be painting all night so ill find some time to finish the last 2 things on the website tonight. thanks all for participating and making me laugh so hard. i seriously need a z-bown-a-maker = girlfriend too. as aptly put above. intervain, u r the winz :cool:

zomfg.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27118246%27,%27zomfg.jpg%27,1,0% 29)

for those in the dark.. z (zbrush) + o (ownage) + mfg (manufacturing) or in internet language.. its zomfg = z oh mah effin gawd.

[Intervain]

YAY :D :tu: :cool:

[hells angel]

hahaha....dammit...so close.....congratulations Intervain!:tu::D

[hobo]

ha ha, well done Intervain!

[desmoda]

Yay, done with the website. Actually, was done yesterday but I think everyone was hanging out with the fam's for holidays yah?

It's not perfect but i think it'll do its job for the time being. Of note:
*switched all payments to Paypal
*Recoded the entire order system.

Anyone who used the system before knew how kinda ass it was.

Now you just upload a ZTL and an order is created. Creating orders is free, and we do all the upfront brainstorming, model conversion, etc before you have to worry about anything. Pay only if we print.

If an order is not created, finished, or cancelled.. the ZTL's are automatically deleted (saves on storage). Below are some screenies. Thanks all for the suggestions. There are MAJOR IE, Safari, and Chrome issues. I promise to fix soon guys..

Plz lemme know if you have any more suggestions! Officially open for business now. I'll contact those of you who have pending prints. Thx~

ownage_a.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118925','ownage_a.jpg',1,0) )
ownage_b.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118926','ownage_b.jpg',1,0) )
ownage_c.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118927','ownage_c.jpg',1,0) )
ownage_d.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118928','ownage_d.jpg',1,0) )

As for production statuses. I finished painting sniper and am gonna ship it soon.. decided to reprint marine and start from scratch cause someone pointed out it was 200mm flat and wasn't 200mm from head to toe (not counting hair). So I was off by 7mm and i guess that bugged me. And I just recruited a professional gundam painter who's gonna oversee robotic type paints and I wanna see what he can do. So should be done painting the reprinted marine by next wednesday. I just learned how to drybrush and overpaint and its REALLY fun to paint. I'm gonna throw together some tutorials on the website later when I become more pro so you guys can join the fun yourselves.

[desmoda]

Oh forgot.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy New Year!

[Gareee]

As an artist myself, having to get a 3d print painted would be a negative to me. There should be two tier pricing.. painted or unpainted.

[desmoda]

Hm, thats a good suggestion. We're doing the painting for free since we're selling the prints at cost. So if anything, full painted models will be slightly more expensive in the future.. like $329 and we might drop the unpainted models to $279 for the sake of having a price drop somewhere? Any more votes for this?

[Gareee]

Makes sense to me. If you spend an hour painting something up (or more) you should b compensated for that time. And if you are doing less work, then you can produce the figures cheaper.

[desmoda]

I'll try to roll that suggestion into the next update Garee! Thx~ maybe in a week or so. Just have to go through all the places I say $299 and then edit all that stuff. Then have to make new graphics and a few code changes.

Hehe.. I miss working on models so I'm gonna work on a few models first.

Oh.. and if I see a unpainted order come through under the name Garee or something.. I'll set the price lower on the final checkout when it comes time to pay haha :lol:

[Gareee]

Lol!

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

$279 is an amazing possibility. I definitely support that. :D

[desmoda]

haha i love you guys. ok ok. gimme a few days. i reprinted raf's marine and decided to do a full color paint that i designed myself.. *cross fingers* hope it turns out well.

after i finish that paint.. ill spend a few days thinking about how to reprice everything. ideally, ill do like 2-3 different product sizes.. a 150mm (6 inch).. the current 200mm (8 inch) and a super big size at like 300mm or something. Then ill set prices accordingly, like sub $199 for the 6 incher, $299 for the 8 incher.. etc. then subtract money for no paint etc. that way you guys have more options. kinda how apple splits up their product line. but all that is gonna come later. i think i can throw together the $279 no color thing by next week. I'll keep you guys updated!

but right now im just focused on doing one thing really really well. i kinda want to make sure our 8 incher and color/painting system is SUPER S-Grade Perfect first. also, even with a laser, things like veins start becoming hard to see at the 6 inch size and its really hard to paint eyeballs.

I'm prolly gonna start intervains print sometime this week when she finishes the sculpt.

[lemonnado]

I'm prolly gonna start intervains print sometime this week when he finishes the sculpt.

She, not he.... Magdalena Dadela is our lovely and talented ZBrush fairy!

Lemo

[desmoda]

oops hehe! sorry magda! i wasn't sure... haha =D thanks lemonnado you saved me from potential bigger embarassment. I guess I don't hang out on ZBC long enough. Must jack up my ZBC drip!

btw lemmy, I was born and raised in Morristown, NJ. Went to Delbarton. i remember my mom taking me to montclair or bloomfield back in the day but I can't remember what for.. =(

[hells angel]

ah...looks like 2009 is gonna be a good year after all!i'm watching this thread like i would the stock market now:P..

[desmoda]

I'm back! Sorry, been busy doing stuff. Ok.. first off.. Hi Vivek.. haha! I hope you don't mean that Ownage is going to go the way of GM and Lehman Brothers :lol:

Second, finished Magda's sculpt + paint unless she tells me she wants to change something. Haha.. this was a easy one in my book~ Pst... I love easy ones. But I also like challenging ones. hrm =/

ref_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121241%27,%27ref_sm.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
lighting_fixed1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121393%27,%27lighting_fixed1.j pg%27,1,0%29)
lighting_fixed2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121394%27,%27lighting_fixed2.j pg%27,1,0%29)
[/url][url="http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121395%27,%27lighting_fixed3.j pg%27,1,0%29"]lighting_fixed3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121244%27,%27done-back.jpg%27,1,0%29)

Third.. I updated the order system and unpainted models are now $279. Unpainted models have a very very thin grey paint primer that will not affect whether you use acrylic/enamel/oil/or lacquer on top of them.

I like ZTLs cause in the case of magda's order.. if i didn't have the lower subD's it woulda been hard to extrude out the back to attach to the base. Imagine doing that in maya with 1 million polys in the back.. ugh.. how?

But Mastershokan said obj is nice cause of the whole multiple texture deal. So I gotcha. In fact.. there's really nothing stopping you from creating an order with a zsphere ztl. Then adding MAX files or OBJ or anything as attachments. Haha.. it's just not officially sanctioned.. thats all~ I'm working on officially adding obj to the upload list.

Fourth.. hmm.. which of the models we're working on can I talk about..? Oh.. these two are going to be two of the most challenging ones yet. I'm doing Brutikongs Rocksteady sculpt and DannyChoo.com Mirai-chan Mascot. The prints are easy. I just worry about a perfect paint. Mirai-chan I'm redoing her so her joints won't be just fake spheres. Going to make her a perfect Figma with posable joints and vinyl skirt and everything. Let's see how it turns out yah? Big shoutout to Ionized who is a great sculpter and super super modest.

final_sculpt2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121247%27,%27final_sculpt2.jpg %27,1,0%29)
mirai_ionized.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27121248%27,%27mirai_ionized.jpg %27,1,0%29)

[grassetti]

Awesome man! Really awesome!
Every project you do is becoming better and better!


Keep it up!

[desmoda]

:D Thanks Raf! But yah, there's still so much more to learn and improve!

I edited the above Intervain pics cause the lighting in the conference room is an unholy shade of yellow. I read on DannyChoo.com that the best lighting to take Figure pictures in is natural sunlight (haha.. also the cheapest).

Paint tut: Airbrushed a bronze basecoat. Then used black in airbrush to shade the hairline and sides of face to give it a natural look. Then used ice blue and green ink to wash the basecoat to add the patina. Then did a final drybrush of green+black do do some recessing~

[spaceboy412]

hey desmoda still in business or too busy, lol? this thread has been quiet for awhile, was hoping to see some more results. how has your attempts at increasing detail gone?
i'm wondering if requested that the base coat could be watercolor, this would allow you to see how it turned out and also be easily washed off.

[desmoda]

Agh yeah busy.

We're in the lab working on stuff and filling the existing orders. Almost got two painting processes down pat.

The first one is acrylic based using Testors Acryls + GamesWorkshop Citadel Paints + Tamiya Acrylic paints. Washes are done with 2 parts water 1 part paint. The basic color tones and layers are done with airbrushing. The damage effects and weathering are done with drybrushing and painting on metallic chips.

The second painting technique is lacquer based. We don't need to put down a primer for lacquer since it sticks and is self levelling. Base airbrushing is same as acrylic but requires only one coat. Washes applied and then weathering is done with oil pastels and gundam weathering kits because lacquer is too hard to drybrush.

Acrylic preserves features better because the layers are thinner.
Lacquer has a smooth finish due to self-levelling.
It's also possible to paint acrylic on top of lacquer.

Sure, you can request unpainted, unprimered~ The website needs to be updated. The work we do for unpainted models involves removing stairsteps from the 3d printing carefully if they exist (busts don't have stairstep because of the scale, but figures have stairstep for flat areas that are parallel to the floor). It comes out that light grey for the batman shown below. The grey is not primer~ its a putty mixture.

Model quality is still going up due both to experience, equipment, etc. We're working on three main things that people have requested:

1) Different product sizes 50mm, 150mm, 200mm, 300mm. All flat priced and cheaper (but better quality) than anything out there.
2) Cheap or free prints.. users can earn discounts (stackable) by referring their friends to ownage or suggesting an idea or bugfix that we end up implementing.
3) Website redesign, simple but powerful UI. Uploading seems to be a major point of pain right now. We're working on integrating private user FTP + email + regular website upload. You can use whichever method works for you. We'll remove all *.ZTL requirements so you can use OBJ, max, maya, wrl, ztl, collada or whatever you'd like to upload.


Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Was hoping to finish all these things before posting again. Thanks for being patient guys! And thank you so much Spaceboy for the interest and checking up on us! Really gives us energy knowing that people care~

Really ought to put a massive "BETA" tag on the ownage website huh (which needs a redesign.. again).

Okay, talk to you guys soon!

A couple unpainted prints~

rocksteady_fixing3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27126817%27,%27rocksteady_fixing 3.jpg%27,1,0%29)
batman_wip1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27126819%27,%27batman_wip1.jpg%2 7,1,0%29)

[hells angel]

oh yes we care!...dont let the silence mislead you:)
i've been saving up for a while to get a piece down from you guys...
love the two new pieces btw...really good quality.....waiting to see more!

V

[spaceboy412]

thanks for the update, detail is my main concern, but you seem to be having a handle on it. i'm worried that the model i want to get made will have too subtle detail to be seen. i like the more size options as well. just waiting on my tax return (and some more work on my model hehe).

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

This is great news! I'm so glad that you are busy! That Rocksteady is exactly what I'm looking for, Desmoda!;) I'm with spaceboy412...tax time = more work for you!

[desmoda]

Thanks guys :) Can't wait to work with you. In the meanwhile we'll try to keep updates up.

I think I fall in the "didn't make any money last year" tax bracket. So no tax rebate for me probably~ :( Maybe I qualify for a bailout! :p

We're almost at the limit of the technology we're using. Gonna start playing around with objet and perfactory and see if those help any~

Someone big on zbc wanted this one painted~ hopefully I'll have it done in a couple more days. Sorry about the resolution. I wanted to let you guys zoom up as close as possible. I dunno why this picture came out so good? It even has a vignette! I put the light right next to the camera.

Wish you guys could see it in person, it even has all the pores all over the skin. I'll try to take an underexposed photo, maybe that will help.

[desmoda]

Reprinted hellboy~ updates soon

hellboy_akuma_pose.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128526%27,%27hellboy_akuma_pos e.jpg%27,1,0%29)
hellboy_face_closeup.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128527%27,%27hellboy_face_clos eup.jpg%27,1,0%29)
hellboy_front_angle.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128528%27,%27hellboy_front_ang le.jpg%27,1,0%29)
hellboy_hand_doom.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128529%27,%27hellboy_hand_doom .jpg%27,1,0%29)
hellboy_laces.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128530%27,%27hellboy_laces.jpg %27,1,0%29)

[desmoda]

Some recent paints~ Our website is kinda borkey recently. Haven't been working on it while we work on upping our paint quality. If you need something made, best thing is just email me at desmoda@ownage.com and you can just use our ftp!

The marine was based on the starcraft limited edition model but maybe I should have gone for more of a realistic look instead of the toy look. Hellboy and Rocksteady painted coming tmr or day after tmr. I think I'm gonna repaint the chrome on the cyborg. It's really hard to weather chrome~

b.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('129297','b.jpg',1,0))
cyborg_mojette_sm.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('129298','cyborg_mojette_sm. jpg',1,0))

[desmoda]

fixed the chrome. this stuff is expensive but worth it. had my airbrush set way too high (25-30 psi) so the mirror finish was getting blasted away. kinda want togo back and do the marine again with airbrush only, that would be fun :).

attached large version too.

cyborg_fixed_sm.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('129530','cyborg_fixed_sm.jp g',1,0))

[desmoda]

hellboy just about finished. debating on whether or not to put the glowing highlights on the hand of doom. don't want paint to look campy.

rocksteady next! i gots 4-5 models in the works but i can't really talk about them. otherwise the only one i can talk about is the Mirai-chan anime FIGMA figure but I'm still modelling joints in maya, gonna take awhile cause I'm doing it for myself as a surprise gift for someone i don't know and not really as motivated. :p

large image attached.

hellboy_mark2_sm.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('129734','hellboy_mark2_sm.j pg',1,0))

[desmoda]

Rocksteady almost done now too. Probably gonna clean up a few things. The skin is actually a lot darker, exactly like the original render but I can't seem to set my camera up to take the picture right. Will figure it out and replace the image in a bit. :o

Aite, probably won't have any more model updates for 4-5 days. In the meanwhile, keep 'em coming guys~

rocksteady_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27130467%27,%27rocksteady_sm.jpg %27,1,0%29)

[Sebcesoir]

Superb....
Nice work on david character, the metal looks great....

The dino skin lookds really great too....

[desmoda]

Thanks Sebastien :). It was fun to work on too.

Here is the final render...

cyborg_mojette_closeup_sm.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('131060','cyborg_mojette_clo seup_sm.jpg',1,0)) images/attach/jpg.gif

[spaceboy412]

that metal does look good, its also nice to see some highres pics to get an idea of the marks left by the process.
have you updated the website to include those other sizes you were talking about? i'd like to see how much the 300mm is before i bother with a 200mm.
also i know i've asked this before, but could you say the size of the smallest detail that your machine can print.

[desmoda]

I'm gonna work on the website today and tmr. :( Been really lazy about it. Gonna fix all those backlogged things.

What I've generally been doing is if your model is skinny (think hellboy-ish), i've been upgrading people to 300mm for free~

Uhh.. I'm not really sure what the smallest detail it can print is. The smallest we've done is smaller than a hair (for a rod in a belt buckle). But it'll usually pick up skin wrinkles (like on rocksteady at 200mm). If you guys ever have any doubts, just email me (desmoda@ownage.com) or PM me and send me a screenshot. that's all i really need to tell you what we can do for you.

we've got a perfactory on hand~ its supposedly rated at 15 micron layers (smaller than objet) but the largest thing it can print is 200mm. so we'll probably do 50mm and 150mm things on it. when i got some test objects out ill upload some pics. if the test objects aren't that great, then we'll try out objet.

[spaceboy412]

cool, i'm not sure where this will fit into your skinny group. my worries are that the detail in the ribbing of the hat will not show up, i was also thinking about adding some texture to the cloth once i'm finished, that i don't expect to come out but thats okay. i should be done with this in a week hopefully lots to do still.
by the way i mean the hat on the right(not finished) not the one on her head(thats older and messy).

[desmoda]

Yah this is no problem at all, by small.. i mean that even the faint lines where her eyelashes are will come out. The ribbing on the hat is no problem, that's considered huge. If you're unhappy with the print, we basically print till you're happy, on different machines, etc etc, as long as it's a sane reason. So there's really no risk to you. Just make sure you're done sculpting.

Sizewise, yah this is what I mean by skinny. So I can probably do this at 300 for you for the regular 279/299 price. If not.. I'd probably only have to
resize it down to 270 at the smallest, but I'll try my best to make it 300mm. (Volume grows in x^3 so past a certain point, the price starts to skyrocket like a hockey stick).

I'll get back to you on the clothing texture. I'm doing one right now that I can't talk about that has blue jean texture on the pants. It's NDA-ish but I can take a little screenshot of the original texture + hi-res closeup of the finished print when its done printing. then we'll all know~

[desmoda]

oh hm.. maybe you mean the texture on the ribbing of the hat. i think it should come out. if not, we can print the hat separately on perfactory or objet and see if that helps, then assemble when complete. hybrid printing~

[grassetti]

that final model is looking awesome man!
congrats for your work! ure getting better and better every model!


cheers!

[desmoda]

Hey guys, spaceboy, yeah we can do faint wrinkles, here's a shot of some barely there cloth texturing and the corresponding 200mm print. :idea: It's hard to see the wrinkles myself with the naked eye but the macro lens can see them. But still, it would be cool if you guys could err on the safe side and make things a little more pronounced for the print.

pants.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27131300%27,%27pants.jpg%27,1,0% 29)
pants_closeup.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27131301%27,%27pants_closeup.jpg %27,1,0%29)

[spaceboy412]

awesome!, thanks for the comparison pic.:tu:

[hells angel]

I just love the output thats coming from your side and its really nice to see that your willing to go real far to satisfy us artists with your detailed prints.
Do keep us updated, will be waiting for more news.(and been saving up...so u'll be hearing from me soon about 2 pieces:))

[Kravit]

Sure are getting better with painting Des :)
Thats some nice detail output. Would hide some of the stepping aswell.

[desmoda]

Thanks guys, Vivek, Mic, Spaceboy =).

Yah, you should know our goals. It's the the title of the thread. Affordable, good, 3d prints. haha.. Although, technically we don't just print things. It involves many different types of printers, tons of manual labor, and a lot of lot of learning and experience. So we try to make these things as fast as possible (7 days or less). But since we're still dabbling in this beta phase, I hope you guys understand that sometime it takes longer because we want to make the best thing possible for you and it's not possible for us just to stick things into a printer and have them done in 6 hrs.

Also, grassetti made some cool stuff recently ;). You should check his blog out if you have time.

[KrakenCMT]

Wow, didn't see this! Very cool, and at a decent price.

I'd love to have my hero dude printed up. Now to check the sofa for some extra change.... :lol:

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

Desmoda, can you print a custom mug? would the cavity be a problem?

[Moni-Poroni]

Hi desmoda, wow -- that´s super cool stuff! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
But I have a little question regarding the payment.
I´m from Germany, would this be any problem? :)
Euro-Dollar?
And is there any possbility to pay via bank transfer -- (prepaid) ?
So that you´d recieve the money first?
Hope that´s possible?

I guess that would take much longer...but I´m planning to model something for my father and get it printed for christmas . So there´d be enough time if I´d do this in August/September. ;)

[desmoda]

Lol, Mastershokhan, we could print a mug, but I'm pretty sure that the photoresin will leach into your drink if you put anything hot in there. The plastic is thermo plastic as well so it will deform like PVC when warmed past a certain point. Even PET bottles have been proven to leach so I can't conscionably make the mug for you :cry:. If you really wanted to make something like that, it sounds reasonable to print a mould from ZCorp or SLS and then cast a ceramic piece. We don't run Zcorp here, but its only $2 a cubic inch materialwise, so hopefully if you find someone nice, they can do it for you at a decent price. If you need 3d printed knicknacks, Jujups.com does this. ZCorp :lol:

Thanks KrakenCMT! =)

Moni-Poroni, I googled it and it looks like Paypal works in Germany. I think paypal doesn't require an account if paying by credit card. But if you do make a Paypal account, you can link your bank account and send money for free (wires cost $30 in the US, how much does it cost in the Germany? :)). If you need help, I can spend some time figuring it out for you, just email me at desmoda@ownage.com or support@ownage.com or PM me. But send me a screenshot of what you want to make, thats more important than paying!

Sorry for the lack of pictures guys, sometimes I don't post about work if it's not a freebie or discounted in some way. I GUESS I can post these since they're public knowledge (don't kill me Raf! :lol: I'm plugging it! haha). Made these for Rafael recently, you have to check out his blog if you want to see more of the pics.. http://grassetti.wordpress.com. These were some amazing zbrush sculpts!

sangrecco_print_wip01_low.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27132919%27,%27sangrecco_print_w ip01_low.jpg%27,1,0%29)
rufo_print02.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27132921%27,%27rufo_print02.jpg% 27,1,0%29)

Newswise, we have a partner who is letting us use their Objet, so we're starting to test splitting up your models and printing hair and breakable parts using the rubbery material on objet and then assembling the final piece. If everything works out, we'll do this hybrid printing for free~ Playing with perfactory too. I printed a little 50mm piece to test out making Desktop Wargaming pieces. I'll have it on monday I think. Will show pictures if its decent.

Been coding a bit, we'll have individual and secure private FTPs for each of you guys in a few days. You'll each have 1gig to do whatever you want with, but if you need more.. just lemme know, I can give you infinite space (cloud storage).

Long post :( I'll update the prices on the website once I rewrite the shopping cart. Gotta redesign the website too! If anyone has a good idea how we should price things ($299 is actually the max), I'm all ears. For skinnier models, heck.. we can make it for you for $229-249. I just can't find a way to automatically determine if a model is fat or skinny. So normally I just upgrade you or discount you manually. 50mm things will probably be $30-40. 150mm $169? 300mm is hard to flat price.

[Moni-Poroni]

Thanks for the quick reply, desmoda. :)
Yep, I believe Paypal works here -- haven´t tried it so far.
Didn´t know if it´s possible to pay via Paypal -- didn´t see something on your homepage.
Don´t know how Paypal works - but I guess it´s easy.
I have no credit card -- never needed some.
Usually I pay everything cash *LOL*
So I think I´ll make an Paypal account and link my bank account.
Don´t know how much that´ll cost here..but that shouldn´t be the problem.

I´ll send you some sreenshots -- BUT I haven´t finished the model so far and I´m a newbie so I have to learn a lot more before I´m going to get something printed -- and ruin the print .
An ugly model wouldn´t be a nice present. ;)


Thanks for the info! :tu:

[desmoda]

I know how you feel, somedays (everyday haha) I wish I could zbrush like the majority of these guys (and girls.. magda :lol:) on ZBC. Keep at it man! :tu: These people sculpt like 24/7 I think thats the key. In computer science, we have a saying that it takes 10,000 hrs to become an expert at anything. On the print side, we'll take care of all the holes, and putting it together, and unprintable things for you. If you ever have any doubts, you can send me a screenshot and I can point out things that you could do to make the print better and stuff like that.

KrakenCMT! I just saw your hero thread, didn't realize Nerve was your hero! =) Great sculpt man. I was walking around the art store the other day and saw a piece of purple granite (real rock) that might go well as a base. Same basic shape. Or you can print the rock~ I need to go over some rock painting tutorials tho. Or maybe you want to paint it yourself (it's hella fun). :cool: I'm sure the people who won prints are gonna get some awesome stuff from Offload. But are they going to get some real ownage? :lol:

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

Hey Desmoda, I'm sending you my first print next week. I need a 5 or 6 inch circular base to go with it. Is that cool?

[desmoda]

np, I can CNC one or cannibalize a trophy/toy. Just need to tell me what you want+need (wood, plastic, metal, rock, printed etc). If I have to decide myself I get really wishy washy. :cry:

oh, remember if you want to send an obj or anything else (instead of ztl). just ftp it and send me an email. the ftp is upload only right now (so people can't download your stuff). the private ftp for each user thing is not gonna be done for a couple more days. i have to figure out how to integrate website upload with it and manage the quotas.

[Moni-Poroni]

"In computer science, we have a saying that it takes 10,000 hrs to become an expert at anything"

10,000 hours???? :( *LOL*
I´ve started with Zbrush 6 months ago.
I don´t think I´ve learned more than 500hours so far. :)
The good thing -- it´s just a hobby and I don´t need to be an expert in everything although I want to understand everything... (one day ;) ).

Thanks again!
I´ll contact you and send you some screenshots as soon as I have something to print. :)

Edit:
PS: Feels like I´ve been more than 10,000 hours online here @ZBC.
Does this count? ;)

[YONA]

Woww i'll definitly give you my characters to print! very good work! Do you make a price for a scene with 6 characters? (i'm kiding ;) )

[grassetti]

Just posting here some photos that i uploaded at my blog from the amazing piece done by Ownage of my Hellboy model.

http://grassetti.wordpress.com/

http://grassetti.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/hellboy_printcolor1.jpg


;)

Take care all!

[desmoda]

Thanks Raf! :tu:

Here's one I did for ZBC'er jbuck (Joshua Buck). He was nice and gave me this WarGaming Orc so I could perfect printing models at 32mm (we're almost there!). But I did a bigger one for him as a gift for helping me out. This one is four inches tall. Although normally it would have cost $189-ish to print it because it was so fat (more expensive than some 10 inch tall models!). Paints like this "AO Bake" are free if you want it. I'm not even sure I charge for full color paints at the moment :lol:. I just type a random low price in really~

plains_Orc_front_01.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137058%27,%27plains_Orc_front_ 01.jpg%27,1,0%29)
jbuck_1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137055%27,%27jbuck_1.jpg%27,1, 0%29)
jbuck_2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137056%27,%27jbuck_2.jpg%27,1, 0%29)
jbuck_3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137057%27,%27jbuck_3.jpg%27,1, 0%29)

Gimme one more week to finish that other freebie. I'm making 4 copies, printing it flexible-ish and adding articulation.

Thx guys~ Apologies for the huge resolution pictures.

[desmoda]

better pictures cause i used tripod. :p i kept the resolution at like 3000 pixels in the attachments below so you can see that I've basically destroyed rapid prototyping stairstepping now.

front_lo.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('137060','front_lo.jpg',1,0) )
back_lo.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('137061','back_lo.jpg',1,0))
face_lo.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('137062','face_lo.jpg',1,0))

[Intervain]

you're doing great work with those prints Desmoda! :tu: :cool:

[spaceboy412]

this is a great update!
i'm curious though as to the inflation on the belt buckles on the arm, they seem to have doubled in size, the metal parts not the leather. i'm guessing they were separate subtools or something, could you explain why this happened?

[desmoda]

Good eyes! I printed this at 50mm and the belt buckles and chains on armor plates all turned out like fishing wire. It was all there, but way too thin. So, to make it look better we inflated the belt buckles and chains for the 50mm. And for the sake of not having to fix the file for printing again, we just printed the inflated version for the large size as well. (attached bad print) when i have a good 32mm-50mm print. I'll primer it and show you guys.

worst_case_scenario.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137224%27,%27worst_case_scenar io.jpg%27,1,0%29)

Btw thanks Magda, spaceboy :)

[Disco Stu]

great work man :D :tu:

how long does this kind of ao finish take you?

[desmoda]

AO finish like that takes about 15-30 minutes. In toy painting, it's called 'washing.' So it's not a true AO bake. Washing is the technique that you cover the entire model in a diluted ink, and then use a cloth to wipe it off before it dries. All the recessed areas will be darker making the model really pop. Sometimes washing is better than a true AO Bake, especially on wargaming figures such as this. I used a lacquer basecoat so that Joshua can do a full paint on top of it later if he wants to :):tu:.

To paint a true AO Bake, you'd have to use an enamel based paint (because it dries really slow) and then dab a few drops of paint in the recess area. Before the paint starts to dry, use a brush to sweep out the ink into a nice gradient. It's a lot cleaner finish, but it takes more time. It's possible to do this with a wash as well but you'd have to pick a very subtle wash color and do a very good job wiping up the slop.

Another trick is that you can go out and buy some cheapo Artist's Oils like Windsor & Newton. Dillute it down with turpentine. And you got one of the best AO Bake oils available =P. Very smooth finish. But will tint/alter your base color slightly. Which in itself is another trick that some artists use on skintones to give skin that two-tone SSS/flushed look.


Here's a picture of unpainted ownage print to show the difference washing/AO Baking can make.

lightbox1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137401%27,%27lightbox1.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
front_lo.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27137402%27,%27front_lo.jpg%27,1 ,0%29)

Gonna fix up the ownage website eventually. In the process of hiring a full time web designer to the team. Will put a bunch of painting tutorials up so you guys can rock some models at home too. Will buy lacquer & enamel paints for you guys if you need them from Japan because they're not selling those directly in the US and Europe anymore. Acrylics are a good place to start too but they require a whole different set of tutorials that I will put up as well.

[Disco Stu]

washing makes total sense :D :tu:

[Gareee]

Actually you could use a acrylic based paint as well.. there are products you can mix in with acrylics to slow down the drying time.

[chronic]

after using enamel paints for a long time i much prefer acrylic paints, no fumes, wash your brushes in water, Vallejo makes some really great ones in cool little dropper bottles www.acrylicosvallejo.com

im loosing brain cells just thinking about paint thinner ;p

[Disco Stu]

were talking china here... waters 50 percent paint thinner there hahah

na just kidding i must say i always prefer the toxic paints when painting.
I probably lost a year of my life to them already but acrylics just feel wrong
and i find the colours just dont pop

[spaceboy412]

i prefer a stranger method, i prime white with acrylic, then i do watercolor washes over the surface, sometimes i then cover those with a clearcoat flat(for tooth) and continue with more washes, and finalize with approriate clearcoats.

btw desmoda, i loved your two blog entries about the zcorp and the wood polishing. can't wait to read more about other printers.
also, are you able to print purely clear parts?

[desmoda]

HAHA! dude.. its so not 50% thinner here. Get it right. It's 30% thinner. 30% sewage. 70% panda pee. (my math is gud)

so many painters and figure artists! love it guys! :D:tu::tu::tu:

There's no one way to paint definitely. That's what I've learned. I was over at the EnterBay factory the other day trying to pick up some tips from them and they do some CRAZY stuff over there that I'm not allowed to talk about.

Acrylics are good, Enamels are good, Lacquers are good, even ZCorp is good. Like spaceboy stated from my wood-planing article.. what did we learn from the Japanese wood carving masters? You can use any technique and material as long as you are creative with how you use it and make sure you consider its natural properties when putting it in place for your piece.

There could be an encyclopedia written about toy painting. Not to mention Liquitex Acrylic paints, Artist Oils, and even Pastels and Chalks.

There is one thing I don't like about acrylics.. In particular tamiya acrylics is that you cannot use them for a base color coat because they chip.. even if you finish them with future floor polish, dullcote, or glosscote. That's just the rule. Also tamiya acrylics don't brush well (unlike testors, vallejo, and games workshop).

Yup.. can print crystal clear. I had to pick that up because there are some World of Warcraft characters, like shadowform priests that I'm trying to do that need a transparent printing as the base before I put the transparent smoke painting on top. Plus printing diamond-like swords is something I wanted to do.

Okay.. really busy.. will get back to you guys soon with some cool updates =)

[desmoda]

For the sake of being thorough, and not leaving budding hobby painters with faulty information..

Acrylic does not always chip. It just has the weakest bond of all paints that people normally use. So what figure artists that specialize in acrylics normally do is to water down their acrylics heavily. The ratio is almost 50% water so its almost like a wash. Then they put 20-30 coats on for a base coat. That way if you knock the figure on a wall or drop it.. only 10 of the layers will chip off (haha :lol:). What are the benefits of acrylic? Gorgeous matte finish (more matte than dullcoat). Ease of use.. has a good 1-2 minute drying/play time.

Professional hobby painters and Factories only use lacquer and enamel though.

Lacquer dries almost mid-air. It also eats into the plastic underneath and bonds into it. Meaning it sands perfectly without chipping or marring your painted surface. Lacquer also can be painted directly on top with other lacquers, enamels, AND acrylics. Everything! Because it's the strongest of all the paints. Painting (like 3d modelling) is all about planning. And the rule in painting is that you always put your weak paints over your stronger paints. Lacquer, then enamel, then acrylic. So at ownage, we try to do as much non-brushwork and basecoating with lacquer because I understand that you might want to repaint your model in the future yourself and don't want you to mess up your model stripping it of paint. Just paint right on top of the exisiting paint. (Mojette and Grassetti.. you guys have to watch out cause I was young and foolish early on. So if you repaint (I know grassetti did one already), you guys need to strip paint or stay with acrylics only).

Enamel has the longest drying time. It can take 1 hr to dry. 1 day to harden and set. And maybe even a week or a month to fully cure into the final hardness. I go to toy factories at least twice a week, they all use Enamel (but irradiate their models in ovens to quick-dry them). I also reverse engineer toys made by macfarlane and DC and they all use Enamel for the most part. It's because enamel dries into a porcelain type hardness. It's like indestrutable compared to Lacquer and Acrylic. So for transformers, pvc figures, etc.. its the ideal paint. The gloss enamels are CRAZY glossy too.. almost like the Polycarbonate paint used on RC cars. It can chip if you use it on RC cars though (because cars are smooth surfaced and don't have enough grip for enamel paints to stick onto). So most RC manufacturer's and hobby-ist prefer Polycarbonate paints because they scuff rather than chip.

Toxicity wise, expensive, high-grade synthetic Lacquers and Enamels are not really toxic per se. In the 1950's.. Testors and other hobby/paint companies mainly used Benzene as the quick-drying liquid element (solvent). Benzene is proven to cause cancer/leukemia. But today, the main component of the thinner is Toluene which the FDA claims is safe. But if you really analyze it pathologically/metabolically.. DOES eventually break down into a form of Benzene or some type of carcinogen. So its not a huge risk but its better to be safe than sorry and wear a respirator or open a window. Why do you still itch when you use Toluene based thinners? It's because Toluene has a fat cutting property that eats into the fat in your skin and causes localized Dermatitis and Folliculitis. But don't go around rubbing it on your body if you're fat =P. The only treatment for this is a topical corticosteroid and time. If overused, Corticolsteroids thin your skin (permanantly). So wear gloves next time and open a window :cool::tu:. If you feel like you killed brain cells or have a headache.. its cause you're actually getting high on the toluene. haha.

To kill an urban legend, Japan stopped importing toluene paints into the US not because it was toxic... it was because the business guys at GSI said that the US market wasn't selling enough paint for them to justify the logistic cost of exporting. So it stopped selling.

I could keep going but I will save that for a painting wiki on Ownage or something!

[Disco Stu]

Haha yeah i totally forgot about the other 2 ingredients :D
I heard some of the pandas are getting sick of being abused for water
purifiing ^^ http://clips.rofl.to/clip/the-great-panda-escape

[jbuck]

And I gotta add... the orc print is looking down on me from my shelf at the moment and it looks awesome. Des did a great job on the wash and the resolution of the print is incredible.

[seth.]

just a quick note on the 32mm stuff. I'm a professional miniatures sculptor in my day job so if you need any help with what will and wont work at 32mm, thickness and detail wise then give me a shout and I will be more than happy to help :)

love your prints by the way, very clean, very sharp.

*edit 1 time cos seth cant spell*

[desmoda]

thanks josh! seth! :)

it's a lot of work to print things like that. :cry: especially at this price point. i would compare it to culturing mikimoto oysters. only the top 5% can make the cut, the rest we redo and redo and redo until it's perfect. hoping to get this whole thing down to a solid, push-button process.

the 50mm is looking better and better. this is the model straight out of print with no sanding or primer or nuttin. now imagine if i get my artists to work on it a little bit. i've attached the high rez below so you can zoom in and see the stairstepping. but remember that the model is about the same size as your wacom stylus holder. and the stairstepping is barely visible. can probably make it better and go down to 15 micron but its not worth the cost because i can have artists do the same work in 10 minutes for like $5.

wip_sm1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27139712%27,%27wip_sm1.jpg%27,1, 0%29)

here's an anime girl I'm working on.. i left one of the arms unpainted so spaceboy can see that we can print in transparent plastic too. but the transparent plastic doesn't have the same crispness as the non-transparent kind so don't request it unless you REALLY need something transparent and the object doesn't have skin/cloth wrinkles.. stuff like that.

mirai_front.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27139714%27,%27mirai.jpg%27,1,0% 29)
mirai_back.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27139715%27,%27mirai_back.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

sorry about the lack of updates. was doing some testing with our printing. and was moving offices so that really messed productivity up. back to normal now other than the print backlog i got to catch up on. so i'll update something really cool in a week when the print is done and painted.

thanks as always guys. :tu: keep sending those questions and requests. happy to push the envelope. :eek:

[Disco Stu]

:cool: :tu: looking forwards to that maaaaasssive update :D

[jul_lef]

Hey

Great job on your 3D printings and paintings.

What type of printer do you use ?

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

Any new work?

[desmoda]

sorry about that guys. i have like 20 prints to show you guys. the rest are all NDA/private.

but im waiting till i finish some current work and update the website and stuff.

our current hybrid print tech is quite good. its about 30% (for smooth parts) to 200% better (for highly detailed parts) than what it was 5-6 months ago. still tweaking it. its custom tech so its up to half the price of everyone else. i wont say any more about it.. its just a lot of back breaking work..you'll have to ask people that actually have prints :tu:

here's two to hold you guys over until then~
overwatch_final1.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('160891','overwatch_final1.j pg',1,0))
overwatch_recast.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27160890%27,%27overwatch_recast. jpg%27,1,0%29)
langle.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('160892','langle.jpg',1,0))
front1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27160885%27,%27front1.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
Dredd-sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27160887%27,%27Dredd-sm.jpg%27,1,0%29)
dreddfront.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27160888%27,%27dreddfront.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)
60-blue.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27160889%27,%2760-blue.jpg%27,1,0%29)

dredd was like 10 inches~

we can do miniatures now if you want them done~ 28-54mm. but itll cost you $100-200 depending on needs~ sorry about that.. when we have machines full of miniatures then i might drop the price to around $50.

also been fiddling with writing some software for you guys. it'll help you with ur prints in the future~

[grassetti]

wow man! This dredd become really AWESOME!

Awesome work as always! Keep updating the forum and post some images on your flickr :P


c ya!

[Intervain]

sweet! I love those - I think I'm gonna get my next one printed with you again - wicked work :)

[Moni-Poroni]

Wow, these new prints look fantastic, too. Great work!

[desmoda]

hehe thx guys. i have SO much more to share.

lol i know raf. people are asking me to put their prints onto the flickr but im trying to finish my current workload first~

yah that dredd came out pretty good. i actually made an aquamarine one at first.. but then i was like 'better stick with the renders' so i redid it in blue. those tips Danno is giving me are really helping. plus that new sotar 20/20 airbrush.

haha.. that overwatch isn't even a print. the print was a lot better.. (although it was first gen technology.. dredd is the newest tweaking of the machines). overwatch was a cast cause i had to make 5 of them. oh gawd.. it was like 50 odd pieces.. don't remind me! lol.. casting that was a pain. but then Bowen wanted it.. so it has a nice home right now at Randy's place~ i wonder where he put it...

hi magda, moni =)

[lostinlmbo]

these are really great i cant believe how smooth and perfect the details are coming out. its amazing.. now i need to get my butt to work so i can get my current project printed too!!

[Disco Stu]

nice to see you back.
great job once again! Moaaar :D

[desmoda]

you guys won't let me hide in my corner huh ;).

ok ok. will update.

um..this is one that grassetti and I worked on for a game company at comicon. we made a limited edition run of 100 polystone figures (custom screenprinted boxing). marketing swag~ the figures were well received according to what people told me: 1) the only figures displayed at the sony booth.. 2) it got good words from editors at kotaku and other blogs.

go zbrush! :D we zbrushed, prototyped, and shipped all 100 in like 50 days.

ill try to update once a week.. if not.. just poke me.

pics of a random production piece i pulled off the line~

UBSAGA #1 STORY 2 PG 10 WRK2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161408%27,%27UBSAGA%20#1%20STO RY%202%20PG%2010%20WRK2.jpg%27,1,0%29)
statue-final.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161410%27,%27statue-final.jpg%27,1,0%29)
ubs1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161411%27,%27ubs1.jpg%27,1,0%2 9)
ubs3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161412%27,%27ubs3.jpg%27,1,0%2 9)
ubs4.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161413%27,%27ubs4.jpg%27,1,0%2 9)
ubs7.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27161415%27,%27ubs7.jpg%27,1,0%2 9)

[grassetti]

good that u mention the deadline.. This project was like a rush haha

[desmoda]

haha tell me about it.. i had to sit up all night for like 3 days straight with about 10 people and make sure it got done. boxed each one myself for QA :cry:. But you did a crazy job man =D considering the deadlines and stuff~ guess they couldn't just push back comicon for us huh. haha. hopefully there's a version 2.0. we can use some of those new zb3.5 features.. noise and stuff.

yo.. lets work on making some 1/6th style bodies.. and just making crazy heads and clothing. that would be cool.

[spaceboy412]

wow those are pretty sweet, could you explain how you made the fishnets, they look like they were separate and you added them, if not, how do you even paint something like that if its attached to the skin.

[desmoda]

hey spaceboy! yah i sewed together a bunch of fishnet b/c painting 100 like that (though doable) would be a pain. its possible to paint though. drybrushing would be a little too dirty so you would have to get a nice flat bristle brush (preferably red sable) and then make the edge (not the tip) of the brush very nice and sharp.. and just paint with a steady hand.

when you make something in zbrush.. its best to keep some of the clothing as separate subtools and not just extrude the fishnet from legs and stuff cause yah.. I'm willing to sew together real clothing for you from any type of material. but for the most part i avoid it unless you're serious about it b/c its a pain in the butt to make just one. im doing more of these right now.. with real transparent diamonds and real hair~ ill update one of these weeks =D

also.. its interesting to note that the belt on the guy is not castable (has undercuts). and we just RP'd a ton of belts and fit them on him.

[malc2304]

These look fantastic they have transferred really well from 2D to 3D. I also like the idea of the split base as well. Great job with the Dredd model and paint job as well.
Do you have to do a cast when printing in bulk like this?

[Bingo_Jackson]

Just saw the job you guys did in Gatis6's Judge Dredd model. That's really great work. You definitely have my business if I ever scape the money together, and make anything worth printing.

[YONA]

Hi Desmoda

I have some questions for you :

i'd like you to print these characters below
1/ do you consider this sculpt as 2 prints or 1 print as there is 2 characters.
2/ As i'd like a 8inch print of this sculpt will i pay twice the price?
3/ As you can see, the characters are tilted. Thanks to the music partition, i will consolidate the back of the sculpt. will that be enough?
4/ I'll probably ask you to print 2 others 6 inch characters (different subjects)
if i send you all these sculpt in one time, is it possible for you to send all the print in one time so that i won't have a lot of shipping cost for france?
5/ What are the shipping costs for France?

Thanks a lot

Cédric "YONA"

LH_posing01.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('168482','LH_posing01.jpg',1 ,0))

[desmoda]

Right now we only charge you for the amount of material and services that you need~ so if its 1 piece or 100 pieces. It's almost the same price. For something like this, my initial thoughts are:

1) needs metal in legs of robots
2) might need to be mounted to a base
3) sheet of music might be a little thin
4) crank handle either needs to be remade in metal or thicker

hth... you can email me at desmoda@ownage.com anytime if you need 1 on 1 support~

[benny350]

Damn the quality of your prints is insane! That Dredd is unreal. I have to pull my finger out and get some work to you.

[jamespthornton]

Nice prints, I'm looking to get some stuff done at the first of the year just for my personal collection. This looks very reasonable and high quality. :tu:

How bad is the shipping? Is it one of those things where it fits in a certain size box for a flat rate, or is it based on distance?

[desmoda]

thanks again guys~ here's one we finished for a Chris recently (muppetman on ZBC).

root-1-sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169329%27,%27root-1-sm.jpg%27,1,0%29)
root-2-sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169330%27,%27root-2-sm.jpg%27,1,0%29)
root-3-sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169331%27,%27root-3-sm.jpg%27,1,0%29)
root-4-sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169332%27,%27root-4-sm.jpg%27,1,0%29)

about 12 inches tall. 13 inches on the base maybe. did it kind of NECA/world of warcraft style with dual tone drybrushing. found a new way to drybrush with lacquers that really has that kind of choppy macfarlane look. washes were done with enamel paints and drybrushing on base I did with citadel. lacquers were mostly gaia color and gsi creos. the leg hairs/branches were made out of liquid latex (I had to make like 80 of them.. one by one).. attached with avex fix-it sculpt and then painted with latex paints (so they're rubbery and flexible.. can be folded in half). prices vary~ it cost him $590 + $18 shipping. hey.. if you win a zbc contest I will discount you as well~ so get zbrushin!

also attaching a picture of a helmet that illustrates the limitations of 3d printing. thats about as small as it gets. some of the stipple effects on there are tiny. smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. it'll look much better after its cleaned up and painted~

super-tiny.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169333%27,%27super-tiny.jpg%27,1,0%29)
super-tiny2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27169334%27,%27super-tiny2.jpg%27,1,0%29)

Rollin up on almost 1 year of Ownage! I will try to make a new website as an anniversary gift for you guys. Haven't touched it for literally a year. But now have enough people full-time that I should go back to my actual professional which is software engineering and software architecture. I'm gonna try to make 2010 ever better for you guys o<:-) *thats my santa hat emoticon.

[Gareee]

pics are all broken

[desmoda]

weird.. thanks G. fixed. it came up fine the first few times then just disappeared.

also.. i printed transparent diamonds for the helmet so I'm gonna finish it with a transparent effect so you guys can see some cool stuff.

can also print flexible stuff too~

[jamespthornton]

80 little branches attached, man that's crazy. $590 is an excellent price point being that you put so much good work into it. Just the painting itself is done nicely. I assume the price reduces just a simple print, which is what I'm after. I'll have to visit your website soon. Good freakin' work :tu:

[Disco Stu]

Way better then the won print :D
That helmet is looking very good for the scale but if it were up to me
prints should get bigger and not smaller :D
So just in theory, would you be able to print such an helmet lifesized?

[Moni-Poroni]

Hey, long time no talk... been busy with moving and some other things. The TMNT project is paused at the moment but I`ve something else which I`d like to get printed. :) I`m afraid that it`s impossible to print, though. :confused: It`s finished and I hope I can post it later in my thread. I`ll contact you via email then.

Love the new prints you did. Dr. Root looks awesome. Great job!

[desmoda]

Aww.. the base sculpt look pretty darn good tho Moni :cry: .

Yah we can print any size.. but I have no experience painting lifesize stuff.. Mainly I try to focus on PF Sideshow and Hot Toys scale stuff. Like between 10-12 inches is optimal. At lifesize, tho doable.. would cost a bundle. 3d printed you'll get some crazy detail.. like noise deforms.. but it would make more sense to find someone to help you CNC two halves of that helmet out of wax. Then you could join the wax back together.. do some more physical sculpting to bring the detail back, and cast a real metal helmet out of pewter or bronze. Well.. technically you could 3d print the helmet in wax too. If you used PIC-100 material on the perfactory machine and then cast it in metal. Still.. the print wouldn't be cheap~

the CNC part should conceivably be less than $100 (I saw someone doing some really good work of a demo man head and the mojette's cyborg head). If I 3d printed a full size helmet.. You'd be looking at like $3-$4k easy.

here's a vid that jpsmith sent me~ fullsize bust for less than $100!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-7j_5ST1aA&feature=channel

[ElectricSun]

Damn, Des!! Wicked stuff! That Dr. Root is sick!! And those thin roots on the lower legs, incredible. I guess you really don't like sleeping too much, eh?

[desmoda]

Hey John! :) haha my fridge is full of redbull.

Here's that little helmet on my finger. The gem was made from transparent RP material.. then painted with Tamiya Clears to give it that sapphire look.

This was just a production test for a full model im doing with some real leather parts. Will update~

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[desmoda]

here's a Left 4 Dead tank head (actually there's a whole figure) that I'm doing Hot Toys style (transparent mottling and pastels). its not perfect but okay for a first try~ normally for a production we have to do test paints 3-4 times until everything is spot on.

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[Gareee]

Yeah, if you are going to emulate anyone's paint ops, Hot Toys is the way to go.

[lemonnado]

Stop strangling the toys!
:D Lemo

[desmoda]

haha it does look like that huh lemo :lol:

here's my 2010 take on that vampire I did awhile back for grassetti. instead of a basecoat and a simple wash like I used to do.. moved over to staining the basecoat with artist oils and then doing asymmetric tinting with transparent paints.

did this one for zbc'er spacemonkey

yarr.jpg
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gonna start making a bunch of really nice bases out of rosewood or something similar so you guys can start getting bases for free as well. or maybe i should sell the bases =P dunno.. but this was my first try at nice wood bases.

[MFleuret]

wooow, that last paint job is really awesome.
it's better and better everytime !!
good job

[nickz]

Boy, I really love that spacemonkey reptile sculpt. Turned out so nice. All the work on here is blowing me away!

I'm curious, how has decimation master changed things for the 3D printing process? Are you able to take full advantage of the extra detail that is now possible?

Thanks for showing all the work!

[calum5ZB]

Just love the service your offering.Im getting something together and will be at your site very soon.Also would like to hear the answer to nickz question.

[selahpoetic]

This stuff is amazing

[Pigumon]

I've been following the 3D print thing for about 7 years... lots of samples from different machines, with the stair-stepping getting smaller and smaller each sample.

From these pics... wow, they're almost GONE! Small enough where a bit of primer seems to fill it in. The only problem is this means actual detail is gone too.

I can't wait to see what another 6 months brings us.

My main concern is I'm more into the hard edge models, robots, and chibi characters that need a completely smooth surface. Organic stuff is easier to hide imperfections in.

Here's to the hope that prices will start coming down all around the industry, which is doubtful since business prototyping is still the driving force, and just like with cell phone, we're expected to pay outrageous business prices for consumer goods and services.

It's really great to see a few companies who understand the hobbyist or small production company.

Desmoda- Can you optimize a model to be cast, or can you cast a print and send the molds rather than a finished piece? You know, like a resin kit comes usually a torso, two legs, two arms, and some extra pieces.

[tobbeo]

That's an amazing print and paint job. When I do a model I'd like to get made into a sculpt I will definitely go with you guys. Fantastic stuff.

[desmoda]

Wow.. this thread is alive all the sudden. It's AALIIVVEE *spirit fingers*

Mm.. decimation master and 3d print exporter are great tools. For us, it hasn't really changed the game much because a lot of our prints are done from original ZTL's which we straight up export to OBJ.

Some people give us OBJ and STL's but it makes our job harder when it comes to cutting things apart for moulding or helping you redesign or thicken your piece so that parts are more durable/realistic. Some tend to over-decimate their models as well, maybe cause they're used to working with 3d printers that will only take a set limit of polygons. Or maybe cause its a pain to get 300MB zip files to me :lol:

Yup.. we do mini productions 1, 10, 10000. I'll make a testimonials and customers page eventually so you guys can get a grasp of what we do for who and at what scale. Basically a lot of video game companies, a bunch of figure and collectible companies, and surprisingly a whole bunch of indie producers.

Hmm.. smooth parts.. I guess I could post a bunch if ironman shots or something. I'd have to wait until the marketing photos are officially released. So I'll go with something safe and post a ZBC print that has both smooth surface and organic.

Did this Krank in a rustic bronze finish for Robert Vignone (need to do some wires on the brain drain helmet still.. and oops.. need to clean up that slight brushstroke on the cheek area).

painted.jpg

Merry Xmas guys! :D :D I'll post some pictures of more recognizable figures when I get the chance~

[desmoda]

Like here's a WIP of Dr. Root... this is actually partially glued together already (the original print was like 20-30 pieces). So if people give us STL's or OBJ's.. it makes it hard to re-engineer the piece for a nice print.

paint-wip.jpg

[XN-Sigma]

Hey desmoda! Nice work on the Krunk's "helmet", I guess you made it in separated parts and then glued them together, as seem in the pic of Dr.Root.

Also, I have a question that seems to not have been asked yet, what's the durability of the materials used to make the prints? Are they easy to break or are they "elastic" or hard, do they melt with heat, etc? Just curious to know what could be possible to do, like for example, a character floating on top of the base and being held by a uhh... "hook", like that Haruhi in one of the pics in this thread. :)

[desmoda]

the standard print material is pretty delicate. about the 70% the strength of polystone. so its quite heavy but kinda brittle. also.. 3d printing materials tend to be sensitive to heat and sunlight (excluding zcorp).. so please avoid these two. SLS and FDM materials are more resilient tho.

i have a couple materials that are indestructable.. like you can run them over with a car and they wont break. But I'm probably not going to release those until I finish my current workload and update the website.

We also make vinyl prints on a case by case basis depending on whether it really needs to be that way. The reason being is that the faux-vinyl is not a true vinyl so normal acetone PVC paints don't work on it :cry:. Have to resort to silicone paints which are expensive and don't have all the colors I need. Still tweaking it~ Hopefully we can get to real PVC~ I don't see why not. I'm just lacking time to sit down and do it~

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[desmoda]

been practicing my faux bronze work cause i feel like thats the area that needs some improvement. here's one that i did to mimic rs_classicbronze. was made by arman akopian i think for a personal piece (if not.. oops.. lemme know arman). some people tellin me that i need to learn how to do CS Moore bronzes~ that's up for practice soon.. (can't believe I've only been painting for 10months.. remember I'm a white hat software security programmer by trade.. you guys should pick it up.. its really fun). But my employees kinda frown when I do painting cause they think I should be focusing on software stuff and typical boss stuff like looking over their shoulders and hitting them with nerf bats~ So I do it on programming breaks~

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did a dragon with airbrush to practice making mottle flame effects on the wings. The dragon was a print for artist Ziv Qual (who promises me he's gonna pick up zbrush.. but he made the dragon in 3dsmax which meant I had to sit there forever and bake displacements in for him). :(

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on the technical side.. you can see that it's kinda irrelevant how fragile a piece is cause we can always add metal to your piece (like the legs of that girl) so that it won't break.

for the the dragon.. i guess the only special thing about it was that I made the base by hand instead of printing it to save Ziv some money. plz don't ask me to do this all the time though.. its a pain in a butt. also.. the dragon is not the greatest thing for mass production... would have to cut off a ton of horns and split the wings off and the bottom of the jaw off for casting. not fun.

[Gareee]

Out of curiosity.. are the wings on the dragon translucent?

The bronze looks really well done.. at least from pics you can't tell its not actually metal.

BTW, are those batman capes in the background in the first pic?

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

Great job desmoda (member.php?u=137543). Good to see the company growing. If a sculpt needs to be in multiple pieces to printed, will you keep it in pieces if the client wants that. ( I mean don't glue it together in the end )

[grassetti]

Damn, hate you man!!
Thats soo awesome!

Keep it up!


Cheers!

[desmoda]

Haha raf.. will get you those vids of that thing we need to work on soon. I'm gonna make them from scratch. Dude I have so many people hitting me up for preorders already for those and we haven't even concept art'd it yet. go figure :p we gonna kick so much butt

Gareee.. naw.. the dragon was printed opaque (attached image). Just painted to look transparent.

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Haha yeah those are batman capes =X. Production I'm doing for this company... Did a really decent paint design for them as well :D. Although it's my personal policy not to brag about commercial things publicly :( So hopefully you see it on the street one day and can be like "hey.. Des made that one"

Mastershokan.. hey long time~ Sure.. we do parts ready for cast all the time. Just lemme know what you need and I can put it together for you (or keep it apart.. :lol: ).

Okay.. what can I update this week.... hmm.. finished those wiring for the Krank print.. it's not exactly the same.. but i guess its close enough. Again.. by Robert Vignone. Fixed that cheek glitch as well.

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Did this hellboy for a personal piece as well for artist Gary Lee. He didn't really know what he wanted with the paint.. So I just did some kind of all metallic bronze thing but with a lot of different colors and shades. Turned out ok.

HBY_front.jpg
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Hmm.. an interesting thing about my company is that we used to farm out some productions to other local factories here in China cause that's what everyone else was doing. But wasted sooo much time and money helping the factory managers hire the right people and upgrade all their equipment and paints that now we only do productions inhouse and I train all my painting staff personally. We actually save money this way and all the production pieces are perfect clones of the prototypes. So everyone wins other than the local factory owners here. I treat them to drinking every now and then so they're happy as well.

I think I'll start posting funny stories about Ownage every now and then. I'd blog about it but they just banned posterous in China (as well as every other blogging site and twitter). ugh. Can't have it all i guess.

[grassetti]

Yea man i can imagin! Take your time! Ill be ready!

Those prints are just amazing!! Your painting skills are just getting better and better!


Cheers

[spaceboy412]

i'm so glad to see all these updates.
some pieces look really great, i'd love if you would post the scale when you show pics.
that city of lost children piece though is bothering me, you lost all the fine details, mostly in the face, i guess because its so small?
great job on the hellboy, dr.root and dragon.

[Disco Stu]

zomfg! :D

[desmoda]

Yah you're right spaceboy.. it was an 5.5 (top of helmet to bottom of sculpt) inch print that started off as an 8 incher but because we were working around rob's budget.. i couldn't use the max resolution machine on it cause it runs at twice the normal rate and the face part is too big and couldn't really just cut the cheeks out and glue them back. So stuck between a rock and a hard place. Those age lines would have been nice to print out though I agree. The random noise on the face.. hmm.. im not sure I can print that out for a 1.5inch tall face... wouldn't rule it out but i dunno whether its just easier to put that back in post processing. Also.. I used a buffable metallic paint when painting it.. so im pretty sure that didn't help things by rubbing things flat. =/


hellboy was 8 inches from tip of horns to bottom of feet. dragon was 9 inches long nose to tail. throwing spear girl was 12 inches from top of hair to bottom of foot. root was 12 inches from top of hand to bottom of feet. dredd was 10 inches top of helmet to bottom of feet.

[Kravit]

Hey dude long time no chat, these are looking good man :) I can see your paint skills are constantly improving.

Are there any plans to do prints in more rubbery type material so you can kinda fake skin effect like hot toys figures ?

[YONA]

Hi desmoda! do you have any news for my print?

[desmoda]

I think I sent you an email yesterday? Dunno its weird.. everytime I email it just disappears into oblivion. :o send me an email at des AT ownage.com and I can get your print going.

oh heya mic =D long time~ yah slowly making some progress. mm.. i haven't really got plans to start casting stuff in silicone yet and then painting it for you guys for SSS. hot toys doesn't use silicone.. theirs is just opaque PVC. If you see it in person it doesn't have any SSS. Just a good amount of detail thats all. If you wanna see SSS then you gotta look at cinemaquettes.

[Gareee]

Are hot toys doing their sculpts in zbrush?

[desmoda]

No.. they do them by hand in wax. Their sculpting team is based in Korea. Yulli is one of the sculptors. JC Hong the paint artist. I can't remember the names of the rest of the sculptors. Only remember Yulli cause she's a girl and is pretty (http://www.afhub.com/an-interview-with-hot-toys-yulli/). Haha. Oh wait.. Kojun is another.

I live in Hong Kong so you can find me at the Hot Toys store in Mong Kok often doing "research"

Enterbay manual as well. YJ Park sculpts theirs. My friend owns the factory that does Enterbay production. So I've held all the original wax sculpts like Godfather in my hands before. They're REALLY detailed. The PVC version loses some of those skin pores and fine lines.

Although I think the bodies are done in CAD programs though. Not sure its zbrush.. but I've held the printed prototypes before~

The reason they do sculpting by hand is that you won't get the detail in a print that they can do by hand unless you do some postprocessing magic. Like recasting the print in urethane (and while it's still soft).. quickly press skin pores and sculpt wrinkles on. A lot of people do that for mods~

Sideshow does Zbrush though. As you can see here for their Avatar Neytiri.

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?p=8169

DUDE... someone send me a Navi Jake and Navi Neytiri to do... you won't be sorry ;D I will make it glow in the dark for you as well. But the sculpt better be spot on.. painting those gonna take me forever! =D

[Gareee]

Thanks for that info! Hot toy's quality has really impressed me, and I was wondering if using zbrush was thier solution. Its kind of suprising that they can get more detail in a wax sculpt though. I'm sure they sculpt larger, and then have it digitally reduced down.. couldn't that same technique be done with zbnrush prints, if minute detail can't be printed?

[squidinc]

amazing stuff, when I've made something good enough for this sort of thing I think I'll be getting in touch, quality is amazing!:D

[IcemanJ]

really great work with prints desmonda, I like this thread a lot, it's motivative for me. I've just finished my last sculpt, you can see it in my sketchbook, and I was thinking about printing it out, but I think that my first print should be better then this werewolf. Sooo I think I'll wait for my next sculpt and then I'll use your services. Again great work man :tu: :tu:

[doco]

This is just awesome stuff.

Sorry if this is a little off topic. Prototypes are one thing, but how do you go about producing / manufacturing a run of say 50 - 100?

Make a mould of the prototype? what process? can it be all done from the one digital file?

so many questions!

[Medicinehorse7]

I am really excited about this thread as I and my Brother have Bronze foundry experience. The small models are great, I was just wondering if anyone ran across a company that can scale a model up using the digital process.

I am aware of the Styrofoam process using layers and routing (such as the MGM grand lions) but is there any other companies that may have streamlined the process?

[desmoda]

Hihi... I'm back.

Gareee: It's cause the printers simply can't print certain details on a 1/6th head even if it came from a virtual 20 foot head with every conceivable detail zbrushed into it. So they hand do it in wax. But if you take a look at MacFarlane for instance.. they just got into rapid prototyping (esp for their sports figures) and what they do is get someone to dress up as a character... 3d scan them.. get a lousy base mesh.. and then do some 3d work.. print it out on objet or invision something.. cast it in wax.. then redo it manually (haha.. maybe cause they're not as good as us zbrush users).

Squidinc IcemanJ: sup =)

doco: Yup.. if you limited edition produce or mass produce. what we do is take your prototype, cut it up before printing to make it castable and hide seam lines. Then we cast two extra copies from the prototype. One to serve as the paint master and one to send to you for checkoff. When you give the thumbs up.. we just pound the figures out of the moulds and paint them individually. Resins, rotocast, PVC. Those are your basic three choices.. but I guess we can do Pewter too. Lemme tell you this.. Our turnaround times can be insane sometimes. In the industry.. the standard mass production time is like 10 months to a year. Since we have everything under one roof out here in china.. we can usually finish productions in a month to 3 months (unless you do a crazy amount like 10,000 or 50,000).

medicine horse: off the top of my head, if you want to do large scale foam.. you should look at http://www.additiveworkshop.com and http://maximus.emecstudios.com/



the Batman I did is public.. now that its kinda released.. I guess I can post a pic.

batsforjorge.jpg
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People talking about it here.. http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=97515

haha.. that photoshop paint over was what they gave me for reference.. so I jazzed up the style a little when painting it~ Shout out to Avinash Hedge for the 3d sculpt. How come we never get any credit man =D?

haha those statue guys.. they have no idea about rapid prototyping. If they only knew that for basically the same cost they're paying for a retail mass produced statue... I can make some crazy crazy stuff.. some of those dudes pay $1k a statue.. ridiculous!... its interesting to think what would happen if I made a little scan database on my site so people could start stocking scans or resin models for kit bashups. There would be no end to it~ Although I'm working on something better ;D

[grassetti]

Yea.. saw it a few months ago. Somehow I knew it was you..

Good work man! Not so fan of the sculpture..


Cheers!

[Disco Stu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ReTardist <img src="http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif"> (http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?p=3003981#post3003981)
What program?


theres this 3D laser program that u can sculpt out the statue with computer software and then this Laser cuts out the statue for a much more cleaner sculpt


funny comments in that forum ^^

[desmoda]

haha Raf, yeah.. although im working on another batman for another client that you're gonna think actually rocks. (pain to make though)

but yah.. its not gonna even compare to the stuff we're gonna make together man. bwaha. ok.. i gotta go the factory today for someone's production.. but when i get back.. im gonna sit down and put some serious thought into that project.

[Medicinehorse7]

Thank you Desmoda, Please contact me in a private about business opp.

[doco]

Thanks for the reply Desmoda, this is really helpful.

Cheers

[Gareee]

I've ben playing the game that version of batman is from.. that looks great!

[Morpheus Prototypes]

I must ask what method of printing you are offering with this price, what do the parts look like when they come out of the machine? why the long turnaround time? and where are the parts being built?

[poboyross]

Gareee: It's cause the printers simply can't print certain details on a 1/6th head even if it came from a virtual 20 foot head with every conceivable detail zbrushed into it. So they hand do it in wax. But if you take a look at MacFarlane for instance.. they just got into rapid prototyping (esp for their sports figures) and what they do is get someone to dress up as a character... 3d scan them.. get a lousy base mesh.. and then do some 3d work.. print it out on objet or invision something.. cast it in wax.. then redo it manually (haha.. maybe cause they're not as good as us zbrush users).

SSometimes there is a difference between capabilities/vision of the artist and permissiveness of the management. I know this first hand. McFarlane's venture into ZBrush and RP has been around since about 2006, but was limited at best. That envelope was glued down, but outwardly I can understand the perception of artist limitations that you have.

One thing I try and reinforce to everyone (both traditional and digital artists) is that ZBrush and rapid prototyping are nothing but tools in the toolbox, just like traditional sculpture. These two have expansive possibilities, and advantages that traditional sculpting does not (and vice versa, in all honesty). However, in any large scale production pipeline, they are only one component and have their limitations. Those limitations (print resolution, post-print cleanup, and cost) are all being mitigated over time, and as those areas improve, the trend towards digital will continue. It behooves any artist who uses ZBrush and has a long term interest in RP to also familiarize themselves with what other aspects are involved in mastering a piece that is RP'd towards the end of mass production. Learning how to correctly cut/key/fit your pieces is ultimately important, as are what over compensations have to be made to address printer limitations.

Lately, I've seen postings and resumes of folks who learn how to make a model water tight, have it printed, then go on a lecture circuit about their understanding of the process. It's only a limited understanding, which will more than suffice for one-off's or design maquettes, but there's a lot more involved if the intent is production on a larger scale. I encourage anyone who has more than a lingering interest in this application of Z to expand their toolbox to include knowledge of *all* aspects of the process. That's one relatively new area of expansion of job prospects for those who master it.

[Scrybe]

also.. i printed transparent diamonds for the helmet so I'm gonna finish it with a transparent effect so you guys can see some cool stuff.

can also print flexible stuff too~Wow! Serious?! I can't believe you're still doing this stuff. When I first checked out this thread last year I assumed you'd only do it for a month or so and then jack your prices up a grand or two. :lol:

Have you made any clear pieces larger than little jewels? Like a piece of water or crystal monster or something?

[squidinc]

why the long turnaround time?awesomeness takes time :D

[Morpheus Prototypes]

Really?! I printed and this in 12 hours and painted it in 24, awesomeness doesn't take time. comic con figs 022.JPG

[squidinc]

I cant see any shading/texture detail at all from the close up in your other thread. It also looks like you've accidently painted part of his face with the luminous yellow.

[Morpheus Prototypes]

I don't see it
comic con figs 023.JPG

[MFleuret]

hi Des, again great job.
and i've got a question for you or anyone who already printed something lately, have you an idea of the FocalAngle in zbrush to use while sculpting, to have the best preview of the real one ?
thanks.

[Disco Stu]

lol Morpheus Prototypes what a sad way to hijack a thread buisness not doing to good?
The print isnt bad but that paint job is pretty ugly lifeless and sloppy.
Compare them to desmondas. Maybe you should raise your turnaround times eh ;)
Awesomeness takes time :D

[poboyross]

hi Des, again great job.
and i've got a question for you or anyone who already printed something lately, have you an idea of the FocalAngle in zbrush to use while sculpting, to have the best preview of the real one ?
thanks.It all depends on the scale of the piece you're working on. A lot of guys don't concern themselves with the scale until they export the piece and have the service bureau do it. I tend to have my base meshes already scaled before hand....not that it matters in Z....there's *currently* no measuring tool. *wink wink nudge nudge*.

The best way that I've found to best preview your proportions are to turn off your perspective view, then lock to a default camera position. Since it's an orthographic view, while you may lose the sense of perspective, you will be able to see the relative proportion. You can use the perspective view to get a *general* idea of it in the round...but you must keep your distance with the camera. The problem with using *any* digital perspective view is the fish-eye effect and it's resulting distortion. You can play around with it all day, but you'll continue to have to do so if you're going between medium shots and close-ups....which is fine if that's your goal. However, if your goal is to quickly know what you're looking at and get it printed, the other method has never done us wrong.

One other issue to consider, somewhat related to your question, is making sure you're using a material that accurately shows what your detail looks like. The nature of ZBrush is to show you smoothed normals, which can easily trick you into thinking your model is high enough res to print.....you end up printing it and it looks like it's made of Legos! I use a copper material that I tweaked out to show the true res of the surface, along with accurate portrayal of depth of my detail....it's easy to do, and can be done with most any material...especially metallic ones or those that show your detail in a more harsh light. *Overemphasize* your details' depth, no matter how high the advertised printer resolution is, you're either going to end up with build lines (polyjet based systems, like the ProJet from 3DSystems, or SLA based ones, like the Xede from EnvisionTec) or the "powdered" look off of printers similar to those made by ZCorp. For now, sanding is a part of life, no matter how minor it may be.....so mod your detail depth accordingly. :)

Hopefully that helps..... :)

[desmoda]

Sorry.. I've been sick! Got massive food poisoning. Explosive diarrhea and puking into bucket at the same time. Don't worry.. I washed my hands before going back to work :lol:

Poboyross: Wow.. you're the lead of Digital at Sideshow? That's awesomely crazy. Sorry, I didn't mean to come out as bashing on Macfarlane or any of the big guns. My nose would have to grow a few inches if I didn't admit that MacFarlane, Hot Toys, and Sideshow are daily inspirations for me and that I really am a big fan. I know how senior management can be. A lot of the time they inherit legacy looks or styles that they have to adhere to.. not just because they want to.. but because their customers have come to expect it. And then there's so much money at stake that it's not worth toying with something that isn't broken.

At the same time.. just want to let you Zbrushers know that the work you guys do rivals some of the output coming out of the big studios.. so there's a lot to be happy about.

The watertight, keying thing. We have 3 fulltime ZBrushers/CAD guys here at ownage that just sit here and do nothing but make things watertight and make perfect keys and putty-less joints. We do this for free b/c this is not a skill that you'll need to worry about. Besides... from my experience.. the worst casting happens when people make their own joints and we can't touch the sculpt cause its already split =(. Even then.. I feel bad.. so I actually manually redo your joints using Polyester Resin or Avez Fixit Sculpt. It's cause I know some of those are going straight into production and I wanna save you guys money on reprints or something silly that a few minutes with resin can fix.

Lol.. if you want to ask some people (it was on the front page of autodesk something the other day).. I've literally spent 2 months displacement mapping and keying 100+ of armor pieces. For a 9" painted print that was only $500. I dunno how that works out financially.. but it just doesn't cross my mind when we're working on it.

Max: Hey Man! Long time =D Yeah.. the FOV thing is a tough nut. I remember when Grassetti and I were working on a headsculpt for a Korean Client that had to be dead-on. It was so hard trying to figure out our FOV issues. This just doesn't come up in traditional sculpting. Some tips?

1) Working with detail thats roughly on the same plane? Then what Poboyross suggests... going into ortho mode and holding shift to lock the object into top, right, bottom, etc mode is a good way to size up things.

2) An okay way to make FOV work for prints in any program.. zbrush, maya, etc? Make a cube.. then play with FOV till it looks "right." There's no math behind this.. but in Zbrush.. 50-54? The reason this works is cause you know if you 3d printed cube.. it better come out a cube. haha. Plus I kinda eyeballed this with the figure prints I've done in the last year and it looks about right. The worst FOV issues are with faces.. definitely. Then after this, if you zoom/pan your camera in zbrush so that the zbrush model is approximately the size that you want to print it (assuming this is a scale toy). You should have a good idea what its gonna look like for a print.

3) If you've already sculpted a mesh and you need to fix it before print.. you can do a lattice deformation in maya or 3dsmax to warp the model to counteract perspective problems.

disco.. squid: thx =D

Scrybe: I know man.. in all honesty.. our prices have got higher maybe 30% (due to machine upgrades). But we really didn't want to do it... but then our competitors started calling us to complain prices were too low. Okay.. we can live with this. Then customer's started telling us the prices were too low.. so we were like.. something wrong here.. they started adding tips on top of their invoiced balances LOL!

Hmm.. fully printed crystal prints.. mm.. I try to avoid it cause crystal prints are really hard to examine for detail (it's like examining detail on an ice sculpture). But sometimes people do request it. Like the one attached (which was not painted by me.. it was painted by one of my painting idols.. Danno.. who is the lead painter for Bowen Designs). I casted this in acrylic from the original prints. It turned out really cool! Sculpted by Jason Smith of Overwatch fame (you can buy this figure on sideshow i think). Lol.. i had to handmake those transparent antennae on the 2inch tall version.. nothing can 3d print or cast those (.3mm in diameter).

painted ant man.jpg

Okay.. before whoever took over Morpheus's Account jumps on me here. I assume its not Will. Morpheus did try to help me print one version of these. I guess the irony here is that I wanted Morpheus to make some money and do part of the prints.. but the resolution was kinda missing.. so i had to redo them on our own machines. Just wanted people to get fast perfect prints and sent almost all my customers your contact info (also so i wouldn't have to do prints anymore.. cause that wasn't my initial focus).. then I had to feel bad when the prints came out kinda icky, and apologize, and pay for it myself and toss them and redo them myself. What more do I owe you guys? You guys do some great work and are extremely professional about shipdates and timelines.

[Morpheus Prototypes]

This is Will over at Morpheus, At no time have a said the work from Ownage.com was sloppy or bad. I simply asked intitially what machines are you using and why is the turnaround time so long. I do not want ownage and Jay out of business. I get plenty of business without a thread on Zbrush Central. I do think that there are major differences between Ownage and Morpheus's clients. Morpheus Caters to the client that want a high resolution output of a model that can be used for master patterns for Mold, working prototypes etc. Our turnaround times are typically 3 business days on a normal job. Having this much in a job, will not be a $200 flat rate or whatever Jay is charging.
On the flipside, Ownage's clients might not care if they wait 2-3 weeks for their model. In that case I would say that if my clients wanted to wait 2-3 weeks for their model, i would lower my prices.
Now if someone wants to bash a paintjob that was done in 24 hours, I would like to see their capabilities of painting. Our prints of sculptures will be on Display at WonderCon and Comic-Con this year as they were last year. If you would like to stop by and see what we are capable of first hand, then stop by.
All I asked was a question, I am done with this silly arguing. Jay nice work keep it up. I have parts to print!!

(And by the way: I print Adam's pieces and yes he is one damn good Modeler!)

[Morpheus Prototypes]

Oh, and Jay, give me a call. Our EnvisionTEC can print those Antennas for you, it can get down to 15 microns.

[poboyross]

Poboyross: Wow.. you're the lead of Digital at Sideshow? That's awesomely crazy. Sorry, I didn't mean to come out as bashing on Macfarlane or any of the big guns. My nose would have to grow a few inches if I didn't admit that MacFarlane, Hot Toys, and Sideshow are daily inspirations for me and that I really am a big fan. I know how senior management can be. A lot of the time they inherit legacy looks or styles that they have to adhere to.. not just because they want to.. but because their customers have come to expect it. And then there's so much money at stake that it's not worth toying with something that isn't broken.

At the same time.. just want to let you Zbrushers know that the work you guys do rivals some of the output coming out of the big studios.. so there's a lot to be happy about.

2) An okay way to make FOV work for prints in any program.. zbrush, maya, etc? Make a cube.. then play with FOV till it looks "right." There's no math behind this.. but in Zbrush.. 50-54? The reason this works is cause you know if you 3d printed cube.. it better come out a cube. haha. Plus I kinda eyeballed this with the XXX figure prints I've done in the last year and it looks about right. The worst FOV issues are with faces.. definitely. Then after this, if you zoom/pan your camera in zbrush so that the zbrush model is approximately the size that you want to print it (assuming this is a scale toy). You should have a good idea what its gonna look like for a print.

3) If you've already sculpted a mesh and you need to fix it before print.. you can do a lattice deformation in maya or 3dsmax to warp the model to counteract perspective problems.


I truncated your post, hope you don't mind ;)

Don't worry about slighting McFarlane. That's the reason I left, they weren't allowing me to push the digital envelope of what the software was capable of doing. It's ironic, because that was what I was originally hired to do.....*build* a cutting edge digital department. It didn't have anything to do with sticking to a sculpting style, but a perception that digital wasn't capable of achieving amazing results that were indiscernible from traditionally sculpted pieces. As they say, "I shook the dust from my shoes" and left for greener pastures. My old "Sweet Mary Jane" piece was a quick "proof of concept" piece that I did on personal time in attempts to push that envelope. It fell on deaf ears.

The FOV numbers you gave are correct, best of my recollection. I believe that both Max and Maya have those as their defaults now....or somewhere around that. Those are the settings that they found copied photography the most, but not the human eye. Using those numbers will get you something more familiar, but try and zoom in too much and it'll most likely go fish-eye on you. Good call, though.....I couldn't remember those numbers until you mentioned them. Just checked (gosh it's been so long since I rendered in Maya) the Angle of View is 54.43....

[AYsculpture]

as far as price ,quality and end result paint job goes ...i have had the best experience with Ownage. also i got high quality casts from them. my clients have tried other companies but till now ownage quality is the best! Des rocks!

[MFleuret]

Thank you very much both of you, that was reeeaaaaly helpful.:tu:

[Medicinehorse7]

I guys I made a survey for business and personal interests, Do you have any suggestions or questions that you feel are needed. The Survey is 10 questions and is for marketing and job networking.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A6TW4YK7C

[poboyross]

I guys I made a survey for business and personal interests, Do you have any suggestions or questions that you feel are needed. The Survey is 10 questions and is for marketing and job networking.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A6TW4YK7CHi Medicinehorse,

I saw one of your other posts regarding rapid prototyping towards the end of monumental size pieces, is that correct? It looks like you may be interested in branching out, too.

I would add questions in there asking what tech is readily available (i.e. large scale foam mills....or any scale CNC mill for that fact, software, manpower, etc) as you want to make sure that you're not contracting with someone who just farms the work out and gets a kickback for not having any real culpability or skin in the game.

I also wouldn't pose questions regarding someone's willingness to work on Native American subject matters, I would just state that up front. That way they don't waste your time by getting to that question, convince themselves that they *are* interested in the subject matter, but really aren't. The worst thing I have to deal with are people who only pretend to be into a subject matter to get a job, they almost *always* end up fouling up the project, missing deadlines, etc. Not to mention the dreaded arguments about not meeting expectations, deadlines, etc and still expecting full compensation, or beyond.

Perhaps it would help if you started up another thread, laying out what the full spectrum of products that you're wanting to roll out, then we could better help direct your efforts and share our knowledge.

Either way, if you are planning on doing monumental sculpts, it's a blast! One technique that has taken hold over the past several years is having a sculptor do the piece about 2-3 feet tall, have it 3d scanned in ultra high def, then having it cut out of high density foam on a CNC foam mill (think blocks of foam that are 8ft x 8ft! They then spray a coating of liquified chavant over it, where the artist then sharpens the detail. It's all then molded for lost wax process and cast in bronze or whatever. Killer stuff!

Best of luck!

[Medicinehorse7]

Proboyross,

Thank you for the response, I appreciate the insights, you have covered areas of consideration that are some things I haven't thought of - the best of a good thoughtful person.

I will take your suggestions and make some improvements to my efforts, thank you.

[Vancross]

Awesome, now I have a good idea of where I want to go to get things printed up when I am ready!

[Intervain]

this is a really informative thread - thanks desmoda and poboyross for sharing your experiences! I'm working on a little project of mine I want to print soon and the tips are very useful :) :tu:

[m0delista]

Any wip's for Show more ????

[almozayaf]

300$ is not cheap
:confused:

[Gareee]

$300 IS cheap for the service offered here. Go look around at other places offering this type of service, and then come back and say that.

[desmoda]

Yah.. running 3d printing machines are a pain. If I could get the machines for free.. then I'd charge like $100. But a typical objet machine will cost $120k. After the vendor financing and interest, paying about $150k USD over 2 years. So thats like $6250 a month just for the machine. Lucky to get out 20 models a month. So base cost... just to pay the lease on the machine.. on those 20 models, not including material.. you're already looking at $312 + material. For a $300 model.. I'm guessing material will run like $30-50. Plus labour, your salary (I don't actually pay myself), rent.. the price of 3d printing.

Hehe.. thx everyone for getting my back lately. Just been SOOoooOoo busy. Opening factories in China. Buying more machines. Managing people~ The hardest part about running a business is the people part. Getting the right people doing the right things~

You can check out statueforum.com, do a lot of the digital prints over there~ but been meaning to update this thread for awhile. I'm gonna get back into the habit! Have a personal policy not to talk about prints until they're released. These things are your babies~

But will make a habit of posting one new thing a week~

Here's one a did for Sony awhile back~ Recently did a colored version for them. Hehe.. its a sony exclusive.. so you have to work for sony to actually get one. Katon Callaway is the zbrusher! I don't paint all the pieces for ownage lately, but I did this one~ Thanks for the opportunity katonc! :)

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[Gareee]

Did they tell you what that character is from?

[almozayaf]

sorry :o

it just to mach for me

---

in few yers evry one here will have cheeper beter one at home :D

there was days USB 16MB cost over 200$

[Gareee]

I've been reading people say that now for about 5 years now, and I'm sure 5 years FROM now I'll be reading it again.

Too expensive for me as well, but that does not mean that for the price that value is outstanding.

Keep in mind, many companies are using this (and this vendor specifically) to produce masters for statues, and for toys as well.

[AYsculpture]

I understand when you say the price is expensive , But belive me guys its really worth it ! the joy of touching your zbrush sculpt in reality with your hands!

And Ownage does a fantastice job of 3d printing and painting the print!
you cant got wrong with ownage.

[Kupo]

can't wait to try one for myself...i said it again:lol:
great prints really

[desmoda]

Should update since it's been a week.

That last one was from God of War 3 I think~

Although.. I should really come clean~ The whole $300 print thing that everyone dances around is really a marketing gimmick. It's cause organics like hellboy are super cheap to print. No one sane would print an 8 inch armored character or Dr Root with base for $300. With a base would be closer to $400-500~ Painted $550? That's a more realistic price for an 8 incher with base, painted, and with all the options~ Although I cut deals the first few times for people I admire and indie artists~ You know who you are!!! But yeah.. I wake up every day to like 50+ emails so its getting out of hand lately~ really need to tweak this supply and demand curve~

:D I'm gonna get away lame this week's update and post an oldie but a goodie. Here's one of a bajillion from this series.. actually this was like.. wut.. a year ago. Painted by one of my employees~ She did a decent job on it too! But the actual production version is even better (also attached)! In particular, the gun and bag is a lot better on the production version. More weathering fx~

TF2_Heavy.jpg
face1.jpg
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Get 'em while its hot at gamingheads.com! PS.. no I can't talk about these pieces. esp for these big company things~ it would be like leaking movie details for harry potter 12. someone would hunt me down and murder me during sleep~ then they would burn my body. and out of spite.. collect the ash to 3d print me out again. so they can make fun of how undetailed i look. not the coolest way to go~ :eek:

[grassetti]

YEA! Thats so awesome man!

Great paint job!


Cheers!

[Disco Stu]

Yeah this one is incredible :D

[magicmodel]

Desmoda, you and you're team have brought this character to life in a way that just oozes perfection. The 3D Print and paint job have been executed with tremendous precision. You should pat yourself on the back more often for the work you do for the ZBrush and 3dprinting communities.

Do you know how far away is high resolution colour Objet 3D Printing ?

[desmoda]

Thanks! But you gotta remember that the majority of the work is done by the amazing artists at Valve, Gamingheads for putting it all together, and of course the ZBrushers who really make the source material come to life. I feel ashamed taking any type of credit for this kind of stuff, the best we can do is faithfully reproduce the original digital artwork and maybe add a tiny bit of flair.

Full color objet prints? I dunno what's holding them back. They have minimum 600 DPI in XYZ. Multimaterial printing with the connex series. What's stopping them making a CMYK+WB mode that can simulate a 3d offset printing press. I'm sure they're working on it, maybe just a few more years? Fingers crossed? There are quite a few issues.. material transparency+lightfastness, not sure how polyjet matrix works in practice.. but maybe its hard multiplexing 6 materials into that matrix (7 if you count support material). Or maybe its hard dithering 6 drops of material within a 16 micron diameter voxel. So yah.. dunno! It sounds non-trivial~

(and expensive)

And if you wanna look at it from a realistic standpoint. It's going to cost your left nut to make that model. So if you wanted to make 5 of them, it would probably be cheaper to mould 5 of those copies and paint them. So we're still back at square one~ Hoping for that miracle machine.. high detail, full color, and cheap.. thats a long time out. 15-40 years. In the meanwhile, yah.. you gotta use the tools we have at hand.

It would also increase how much time you'll have to model in order to take advantage of the new possibilities of coloring. In painting, we already do this. But you'll have to layer your textures like a compositing in photoshop/pixel shader so that the machine will print your flesh mottle underneath, veining layer, and then final skin layer built up in transparent colored materials so get that nice effect SSS that everyone will want. So be careful what you wish for~

[Kupo]

this is so cooooooooooool!!!

[magicmodel]

Desmoda,

I agree with you about the highly skillfulll sculptors that create these masterpeices, but without ownage they are just voxels in hyperspace.

You seem very humble and I respect that.

The reason for the question about the highres colour printing is that I am considering purchasing a 2nd hand Zprint 510 for £15000 and wondered whether I'd be able to make any money on it before it became obsolete.

From some web browsing I see that you have 'bought the ZCorp T-Shirt' and metaphorically speaking worn it out and thrown it in the bin.

Interesting technical points about the future of high-res colour 3dprinting. You should consider working for Objet as it seems you know you're stuff.

Anyways, fast forward 15 - 40 years and you'll never get paint on you're hands again :)

[Morph Division]

unbelieveable detail, taggin this thread so I know who to go to for my printing needs.

:tu::tu::tu:

[squidinc]

have.. no.. words.. awesomeness.. causing.. brain hemorrhage
:eek::D

[desmoda]

Oops.. update time again. I'm trying to remember to post once a week. But I don't want people thinking I'm wasting time posting stuff online when I should be working on getting stuff out on time.

Here's one we did for ARH Studios. ZBrushed by Alex Pereira. Cleopatra is about 18" tall. One of a bunch. I'll post about the others later You can see more of the awesome statues and paints by Arahom on his website http://www.arhstatues.com/

The crazy thing about Arahom is that he exemplifies the essence of indie producer. He art directs, concepts, sculpts, moulds, casts, paints, and distributes many of his initial batch of pieces all by himself. This is one of the hardest if not hardest things to do in the industry because it requires selfless dedication and massive amounts of personal time and talent. Amazing! If you appreciate statues, you should really look at ARH and admire the fact that one person really can make a difference.

zbrush.jpg
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4sm.jpg
5sm.jpg

[Gareee]

I think I prefer the final product to the original ZB sculpt. Was that a wip, or the final version? (It looks like her lips had changed shape, slightly.)

[CurtB]

Hey desmoda saw that print of the creature for Sony at the gallery show next to my school (Gnomon). Was awesome to see it in person, the quality is really amazing.

I'm hoping one day when I'm a professional I'll be able to get one of my sculpts printed out by you :D