3D Printing & Model Making Resources

[factor40]

In light of Zac creating this new section of Resin Addict, I have decided to start a thread that acts as a growing resource for other people interested in 3D printing. I will update this thread with new companies and services that deal with various aspects of the 3D printing process and the process of having the prints cast into figures.

Hopefully, others will add to this information and I will continue to keep this first post updated as a master list of resources.

I also encourage people to post articles,opinions, and questions about the 3D printing process, as it relates to model making.

*NOTE*: The listing of companies or individuals here does not imply any guarantee on their work. Any and all people posting here are offering opinions & information ONLY. Actual experiences may differ from what is described here.


3D Printing Services

-Scott works with super-detailed Perfactory® technology, liquid resins and very accurate lenses.
-High quality finished product with almost no surface issues, higher priced.

-Paul also uses the Perfactory® systems and liquid resins.
-High quality, higher priced. Very customer friendly.

-Almost considered the standard, in terms of balance between cost and quality
-Very popular for printing hard surface models like vehicles and robots

-Uses Solidscape prototyping technology.
-Todd also does investment casting from 3D prints, results in a metal master, usually brass.

-Great place to explore the 3D printing process and test prints.
-Wide variety of materials and print qualities, also wide range of prices.

-Offers a decent range of materials and prices.
-Uses a few different printing technologies to offer variety.

-Owned and operated by Deadmeat30 here on the forums



3D Software
3ds Max -
Maya -
Mudbox -
Zbrush -
Sculptris -
Rhinoceros -
Blender (FREE) -
Hexagon (FREE for now) -
Google Sketchup -

[paulson games]

Ninja Magic - http://www.ninjamagic.com/

Shapeways - www.shapeways.com

[factor40]

Thanks Jon!

To everyone: Feel free to offer up any other people or companies you'd like to recommend, sculptors, casters, etc. I'll organize them in the OP as they come in.

[Magnetic Duckling]

3D Software :
-Maya
-3D studio max
-Mud Box

And please put that in the right section of the forum

[mangozac]

[Magnetic Duckling]

[mangozac]

[Seb]

Heres a new and Very Interesting 3D tool by Pixologic..

http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/

A fellow blogger has a play; with results shown :
http://spikyratpack.blogspot.com.au/201 ... w-era.html

[factor40]

Added links for Hexagon.

[Fleafa]

[factor40]

I'll post an experience I recently had with a company called Maxmini3d. It's a 3d printing service run by a bits company called Maxmini. While their bits and products may be nice, their printing service leaves a lot to be desired.

I'll start by saying that they have a website, advertising the services and inviting people to send them files for a quote. In other words, they are putting themselves out there as a printing business. I was interested in trying them because they use a certain kind of printing technology and I was keen to see the results.

After the typical few days of waiting for email responses, I got my quote and assumed everything would proceed smoothly. Well...I was wrong. I heard nothing for weeks and only after repeated email inquiries did I finally get a response that things were going forward and it would be "a few more days".

After a few more days...nothing. As I am prone to huge fits of impatience, it took all my strength to wait and see how long it would take to see this process come to a conclusion. After more than a month of waiting and almost no communication, I was finally contacted for a mailing address. 3 weeks after that, I never heard anything and my emails continued to be ignored. I then sent one final email that the deal was cancelled. I will add that I never received an invoice for the prints, even though I did finally get a picture of the resin master that was created form the print. As of writing this, I still haven't received anything...I don't expect I will.

The only thing I ask of people reading this is that you use services like these with caution. Be sure to get all your expectations on the table ahead of time so you know the standard that both parties should be held to. Don't be afraid to ask questions and be sure you are comfortable with the whole thing BEFORE you commit to moving forward on a project. Use resources like this forum to ask about a company and their reputation.

[mangozac]

Man that sucks to hear. Of course one also has to worry about seeing copies of those parts that they printed popping up around the place

[Deadmeat30]

Yeah thats true, maxmini could just output a similar design themselfs

[factor40]

I thought about that and I posted a preview of the model on my blog and a few popular forums, as well as Facebook. If Maxmini wants to test that, I certainly won't let it go unchallenged.

[Fleafa]

Ugh, this makes me sad.