3D printing

casey42_2f850f0fa3

Does anyone know anything about printing daz figures in a 2d printer? wWWhat format would you save the figure in? Would it be legal? What texture3s would atually print out? ETC.

Sylvan

I believe you mistyped "2D" and mean " 3D" :)
A few months ago I remember DAZ made a terms and faq change because the uprising of 3D printers and I believe you need a licence. I'll look it up~

I found this:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20525/

And indeed, you need a licence.

Lissa_xyz

Yes, you'd need a license. The downfall is that the license doesn't even exist yet.

Sylvan

Vaskania said:

Yes, you'd need a license. The downfall is that the license doesn't even exist yet.

I guess they are getting some advice on law and stuff like that since 3D prints are physical products, something DAZ hasn't been working with before so it's a new territory for them which requires some looking into first :)

Ghosty12

Estroyer said:

Vaskania said:

Yes, you'd need a license. The downfall is that the license doesn't even exist yet.

I guess they are getting some advice on law and stuff like that since 3D prints are physical products, something DAZ hasn't been working with before so it's a new territory for them which requires some looking into first :)

Trying to find prices but found a site that had a link to 3D printers and they are not cheap especially if you want to go to figure printing with any sort of quality..

http://www.intorobotics.com/3d-printers-for-sale-custom-robots/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001052821

As you can see the better quality printers are not cheap and this is probably why they didn't think there was a need for it yet so to speak..

Chohole

And of course 3D printing can go wrong. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23727229

Sylvan

Even though I really feel for these artists (I know the pain, the real pain of a project going wrong after you spend hours upon hours on it) The spagetti and meatballs made me laugh out loud!

Ghosty12

Dang spending seven hours on a print only for it to go wrong part way through.. Can only imagine ow much you would lose in material costs..

casey42_2f850f0fa3

Yes, I did accidently type a 2 instead of a 3, thanls to all for being so forgiving.
The price of 3d printers keep dropping almost daily, some kits are now available as low asw $199. Ready to print out of the box printers can be had for $399. I can't afford even these right now so I am thinking of using a 3d printer service like Staples to try a few of my ideas.
Not sure if a one off for personal use would be a vio;ation of TOS, but it might not be allowed by the servive.
I have several of my own creations in Wings3d that I know would be safe, but they need a human figure ro complete the scene.

Thanks to all for the answers

Lissa_xyz

You cannot use a service as I believe 3D printing requires handing off the geometry in some way of what you want printed, and distributing the geometry in any fashion is a no-no.

If you're looking for human figures which you can use for 3d printing, take a look at http://www.makehuman.org/

Korvis Black

Hobby level 3D printers would be great at printing horrible figure models. Unfortunately, people don't realize that the models are horrible until you compare the models to those printed on a $80,000 + 3D printer.

I've had close to 4 years experience operating a commercial 3D print bureau. We also sell 3D printing equipment, ranging from the sub $1000 hobby printers to the $450,000 mid-range commercial systems. Yes, $450,000 is mid-range.

DAZ D|S models are not suited for 3D printing. That is to say, when converting the models into a 3D printer usable form, there are many errors created. These errors generally cause the print to fail. Correcting these errors - provided that you know how - can be time consuming.

The resultant 3D print file will not be the same as the original file; correcting errors causes changes in the geometry. The end result may not be what was originally desired.

Of course, if you are looking for roughly humanoid posed figures, you can always use a combination of MakeHuman and Blender to create models for 3D printing. I also believe that there is a World of Warcraft model viewer that can export 3D models that could be translated to 3D printable figures. If you only need rough figures, these free resources may be all you need.

As far as DAZ D|S models are concerned, they are really not very good for 3D printing - unless you want nude, hairless figures - due to the 30.000 + errors that typically are created when you try to translate a clothed model to the format used by 3D printers.

pwiecek

I know a few people who have the hobby style printers. All in all, the unfinished roughness that needs to be sanded off is LARGER than the level of detail I'd like to achieve.

Shire

there is an artist who used a 3d printer and made a neat diroama using some daz models. http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2410038

John Sims

I haven't tried it but I would anticipate trying to print a DAZ model would require significant preparatory work.

Printable 3D models have to be dirived from water tight solid models with no crossing vertices; so an unmodified figure, and particularly a clothed figure, would require significant reworking. You would have to remove all the hidden vertices and then weld all the remaining to form a solid.

Because of the level of work involved I don't think copyright is a issue as the base printable file, while it might look like a DAZ model, would be completely different in structure.

Those with the skill to carry out the conversion would probably opt for doing the model from scratch or, at most, use a naked posed model as a base and then sculpt the clothing and hair.

The new DAZ figures are much too dense to work on for all the reasons above. If I were considering using a base I would probably look at a LoRez character or using a low poly Victoria 3. Even then I might consider only using a star pose model to skin a biped so what would I be stealing?

You also have to consider that hobby machines don't like undercuts or you have to introduce sacrificial support structures. The support structure can snap off fine detail; so individual fingers on an out stretched hand would be a issue, as an example.

Hobby machines don't really have the resolution compared to bed size that would make a figure of sufficient detail to say what it was derived from.

Noting all of the above what is there to copyright? Its a figure wearing clothes. I've already noted that the printable model will be different to the DAZ model.

AndyS

Hi shire,

how did the artist create the necessary ressource files for the 3D printer?
When will DAZ be able to create these files? Think the data must be a result out of the rendering. (?)
Or did I miss something?

John Sims

smftrsd72 said:

Hi shire,

how did the artist create the necessary ressource files for the 3D printer?
When will DAZ be able to create these files? Think the data must be a result out of the rendering. (?)
Or did I miss something?

Rendering is a 2D function so would not produce a 3d file.

My guess is the guy producing the diorama exported the tiger and figure asset into another 3D editing program to manipulate the models at a polygon level.

The cleaned models would then be run through slicing software to create the printing file.

While I'm not aware of it, if there were software which sliced on the same basis as a renderer then it would be possible to produce an stl file which a printer slicer could use.

While this still might be inappropriate for hobby extrusion based machines it could work in a commercial powder or resin based system.

3DMD

I built a RepRap 3D printer (Mendel Prusa i2) about a year ago. I have used Carrara in several prints to divide objects into easily printed parts and assemble them later. Of course this printer can't duplicate the detail of 3D DAZ content, but it turns out as good as any other 3D print available on Thingiverse, for instance. All of the methods I describe uses free software under public licenses. You just have to be careful about the licensing by creators of the 3D objects themselves.

For the most part, 3D printers use STL files (Stereolithography). Carrara can't read those, but there is a conversion trick that works like this:

1) Create an object in Carrara
2) Export it as an OBJ file
3) Open the object file in MeshLab
4) Save the mesh as an STL file
5) it's a good idea to upload the mesh to NetFabb cloud services, which does a magnificent job of closing holes in the mesh - the STL mesh has to be water tight - Don't even try to fix it in Carrara.
6) You're likely going to have to scale your 3D object, which can be done beforehand in Carrara or or later in your slicer.
6) Now you have a usable mesh for 3D printing.

So far I've printed the Skull from DAZ skeleton in two pieces, and have sliced a number of things after cutting them in Carrara using boolean operations.

If people are interested, I can do a tutorial along with links to sources

nightkin

krausemd said:

I built a RepRap 3D printer (Mendel Prusa i2) about a year ago. I have used Carrara in several prints to divide objects into easily printed parts and assemble them later. Of course this printer can't duplicate the detail of 3D DAZ content, but it turns out as good as any other 3D print available on Thingiverse, for instance. All of the methods I describe uses free software under public licenses. You just have to be careful about the licensing by creators of the 3D objects themselves.

For the most part, 3D printers use STL files (Stereolithography). Carrara can't read those, but there is a conversion trick that works like this:

1) Create an object in Carrara
2) Export it as an OBJ file
3) Open the object file in MeshLab
4) Save the mesh as an STL file
5) it's a good idea to upload the mesh to NetFabb cloud services, which does a magnificent job of closing holes in the mesh - the STL mesh has to be water tight - Don't even try to fix it in Carrara.
6) You're likely going to have to scale your 3D object, which can be done beforehand in Carrara or or later in your slicer.
6) Now you have a usable mesh for 3D printing.

So far I've printed the Skull from DAZ skeleton in two pieces, and have sliced a number of things after cutting them in Carrara using boolean operations.

If people are interested, I can do a tutorial along with links to sources

A tutorial is a great idea. i've just bought a 3D printer and i'm full of ideas, but not sure of the limitations yet. obviously printing out models based on my favourite renders would be waste of time. apart from the fact that domestic 3D printers cant handle a high level of detail, we tend to overlook just how much we rely on textures and bump maps. a 3D printer will not paint our models for us (looking forward to when that technology reaches us), so all those lovely DAZ models would be pretty disappointing.

i would love to see just what is possible though - maybe there could be a new thread for members to post photos of their results?

ncamp

nightkin said:

krausemd said:

I built a RepRap 3D printer (Mendel Prusa i2) about a year ago. I have used Carrara in several prints to divide objects into easily printed parts and assemble them later. Of course this printer can't duplicate the detail of 3D DAZ content, but it turns out as good as any other 3D print available on Thingiverse, for instance. All of the methods I describe uses free software under public licenses. You just have to be careful about the licensing by creators of the 3D objects themselves.

For the most part, 3D printers use STL files (Stereolithography). Carrara can't read those, but there is a conversion trick that works like this:

1) Create an object in Carrara
2) Export it as an OBJ file
3) Open the object file in MeshLab
4) Save the mesh as an STL file
5) it's a good idea to upload the mesh to NetFabb cloud services, which does a magnificent job of closing holes in the mesh - the STL mesh has to be water tight - Don't even try to fix it in Carrara.
6) You're likely going to have to scale your 3D object, which can be done beforehand in Carrara or or later in your slicer.
6) Now you have a usable mesh for 3D printing.

So far I've printed the Skull from DAZ skeleton in two pieces, and have sliced a number of things after cutting them in Carrara using boolean operations.

If people are interested, I can do a tutorial along with links to sources

A tutorial is a great idea. i've just bought a 3D printer and i'm full of ideas, but not sure of the limitations yet. obviously printing out models based on my favourite renders would be waste of time. apart from the fact that domestic 3D printers cant handle a high level of detail, we tend to overlook just how much we rely on textures and bump maps. a 3D printer will not paint our models for us (looking forward to when that technology reaches us), so all those lovely DAZ models would be pretty disappointing.

i would love to see just what is possible though - maybe there could be a new thread for members to post photos of their results?

I got this link in an email the other day. This one will paint your stuff. Looks like it costs more than my house though.

http://www.moderntechmech.com/?option=com_wordpress&Itemid=360&lang=en&p=960

ncamp

3DMD

OK, I'll post a tutorial on Carrara and 3D printing this weekend. You might be surprised at how detailed prints can come out - my nozzle is 0.35mm diameter and I can print at 0.1mm resolution in the Z axis.