3d Printed Terrain

[Myzyrael]

Hello Folks,

I just purchased a 3D printer which finally arrived this week My goal is to print terrain instead of making it. Mostly because I think I'm definitely better with software than with tools like sharp knifes and paint brushes  The printer can create pieces up to 22.5cm x 14.5 cm so a reasonable large structure can be created with one print run.

Has anyone of you ever tried to create terrain pieces with CAD software? My first (and maybe ambitious) goal is to create a fortress to use in our games. So I'm thinking of creating thin wall pieces that can "snap" together, one side of them being flat and the other having the wall texture. Four of these will create a hollow structure, placing a topper on them will make them a wall which will then get the breastwork on top and - so far my plan - a wall section is finished. Add some corner pieces and I'd be able to print any amount of wall sections that can form a long wall, rectangular fortress etc. Later I'm planning to add towers, gates, etc. Smaller pieces like spikes, skulls, whatever can be added to make it more interesting.

What do you think about this? Has anyone tried something comparable and is willing to share some insights? Working with CAD is extremely intimidating as my experience is limited to 2D vector graphics

Maybe someone with experience in CAD is willing to help? I'd even offer printed pieces in exchange as the hardware is here now ;-) 

[Tzaangor Management]

I've seen things on Kickstarter where people are trying to get some terrain sets off the ground and they'll send you the plans if you back them and then you can print out their designs with no legwork. Might not be what you're after, but here is MC1Gamer doing just that with some fairly awesome results.

My only experience has been remembering him talking about having bought a 3d Printer and then finding this video just now. It's pretty good stuff, but that's all I've got.

Got to be the future looking at the detail, so good luck and I will watch with interest 

[Drofnum]

These guys make some nice terrain.  https://www.printablescenery.com/

I've backed 2 of their kickstarters and have more models than i know what to do with now.  I've printed maybe half of what i have available and can fill a table pretty easily(all unpainted so far:( ).  You can also find a few random things on thingiverse that fits decently in to a game.

 

Edit:  A couple pics i have, a realm gate and a small game I had with my brother in law.

 

 

[Myzyrael]

Wow those are beautiful models at a reasonable price tag. Thank you both for this, will definetly try them out.

I love the picture of your gaming table with all those large terrain pieces and can imagine how they will look painted

[Myzyrael]

Time for a little update.

While I haven't yet started painting the models I started printing, I got the winterdale fortress parts (including the ruins) from the site you suggested and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. With a layer thickness of 0.03mm (which is quite high) the models still come out quite nice. The printing time is relatively huge, so I got to adjust my normal schedule a bit.

For anyone thinking about getting into 3D printing, AoS is quite a nice excuse to get yourself one of those printers. You will want to get a decent sized one. Mine is able to print 22.5cm x 14.5cm x 14.5cm so I can print one of those wall sections in one go, then the top section in another go. Both take about 8h on my printer. So when you are taking the risk and print while at work and have the chance to print over night (the noise is quite a problem still) you can dish out one wall section in a "day" or a tower in two "days". The printer was sold used on eBay and I got it for 300€, so you don't need to invest too much of a fortune.

The printing cost is moderate, one wall section comes out at about 3€. We've split the cost for the models in our group, so that was less than 7€ per head. 

The possibilities the 3D printer offers me for tabletop terrain are extreme and our gaming table will massively benefit. I'm also printing some scatter terrain from Thingiverse and my assumption is that within the next three or four weeks, our table might look like one in those nice Youtube videos  We still need a nice playmat but that's a different story. In the end, we will have a half destroyed city / fortress leftover from the world that was, a mere shatter of the old glory but still filled with magical energies and vast amounts of treasures to be found... I'm losing focus  

I will keep you updated with pictures, once some pieces are assembled. 

[Myzyrael]

As promised, a small update for those interested.

The printing time is killing me  but hey even little progress is progress  

 

 

[Lysandestolpe]

Wow! That is awesome dude. How much is the material cost for producing something like what is in that picture?

[Myzyrael]

On 28.10.2017 at 6:10 PM, Lysandestolpe said:

Wow! That is awesome dude. How much is the material cost for producing something like what is in that picture?

I didn't track it completely, but I'm in my 2nd spool of filament, each coming in at 21,90€. There was some waste as I was new to 3d printing and didn't knew some important tricks and stuff... I think it's safe to say that it is around 20-25€. Printing time however was something around 60-70 hours oO 

[someone2040]

That looks really cool. Pity it takes so long to print some of those pieces

Do you think that 3d printing is at a level where you could do cool small things? Like custom shields and the like? I've heard that they're not at a level of printing your own miniatures, but shields tend to be flatish with some embossed icon on them.

Might be something I look into in a year or two when I've got a bigger place where I could keep one setup.

[Myzyrael]

6 hours ago, someone2040 said:

That looks really cool. Pity it takes so long to print some of those pieces

Do you think that 3d printing is at a level where you could do cool small things? Like custom shields and the like? I've heard that they're not at a level of printing your own miniatures, but shields tend to be flatish with some embossed icon on them.

Might be something I look into in a year or two when I've got a bigger place where I could keep one setup.

This is actually the next step I’m planning to do.

Too small details are only possible with extremely high priced printers and I don’t think we will see the level of detail GW is doing with their minis anytime soon. But custom weapons, shields and the like shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The minimal height of a layer that my printer can do is 0.1mm and the width of one line is currently 0.4mm (you can use a smaller nozzle). 

The fortress pieces in the picture are printed with 0.3mm layer height. The unicorn in the picture here is printed with 0.2mm. It needed some cleanup work but now awaits painting  So there is a niche for 3D printing  it to be useful for our models, just think about stuff that looks more mechanical. And while I don’t think that it is a good idea to undermine the business model based on actual design effort GW put into creating the models, people have already created 3D models of tanks and stuff (read: you can get land raiders, titans, those Space Marine flying ships and stuff for free on thingiverse) to print for yourself. As those models are assembled like a box and the printer is good if he can work Layer by layer without overhangs (so lying something flat on the build plate and putting up the layers) these models seem to come out quite nice.