In need of a crash education on 3D printing action figures

I did some research and found that within the last year resin printers (SLA/DLP) have finally become affordable. I think this resin printer is probably the best you can get right now, the prints are mostly flawless and it's only about $500.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YrUQOYLoK0

It's a good review of the Photon printer, many different prints and shows exactly what expect from a resin printer.

This explains some of the problems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gar2jcRlGTo

I would get one, but first I need someone with a laser scanner to scan heads because I don't want to print a bunch of random trinkets.

dooooood, that's exactly what I need. my only reservations are on the resin, how well would it stand up to being played with. example, if I make my daughter an action figure, is she going to break it the first day or would it hold up like a production action figure?

Apparently there are different resins with different properties, so you'll have to investigate which one works. It has to be "405nm photosensitive resin" though to work with this Photon printer.

Looks like there's a big Facebook community around 3D printing where you can get help with specifics.

I swore off facebook more than 7 years ago, so not much for me there. but thank you for looking around, you really came through with the good advice. just posted a WIP of my Exosquad characters, would love your input. first time really going at it with paints and so on.

this video is basically what I want to be able to do at home. want to be able to scan a toy at it's production scale, then scale up to 1/12 from 1/18, then customize and deconstruct into printable parts for later assembly and finish work.

https://www.youtu.be/_jKEmt4r8Eg

And here is the matching scanner

https://www.techcrunch.com/2013/04/04/p ... e-objects/

I would disassemble the figure first, then scan the parts individually, it might save you a lot of time by not having to reconstruct joint areas

This vid shows the limitations of consumer-level 3d scanning (they use that scanner, skip ahead to like 12min since they're long-winded) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZXlwxAe9co

Oh of course. Grab a battered eframe of ebay, take it apart as far as it goes, scan/scale/augment/print/prime/assemble. that's the plan.

I've been asking around about how much it costs to scan a head, and the best quote I've gotten so far is almost $800 to scan 10 heads. You might as well just buy the scanner!

Yep. Could make some money there, too. Like you said, let the hobby pay for itself.

According to my wife who is familiar with digital modeling bu way of geologic mapping, there a plethora of base 3d wire frames out there that can be downloaded and file converted, then messed with until your happy. Lol she's the one tutoring me in using the software tools, so I'll get back to you on that. The resin point is well taken. I'll keep that in mind.

Absolutely, there are free models out there you can download and modify in Maya, 3DSMax, Blender, ZBrush etc., then export to a program that makes them suitable for printing. The problem is that you won't be able to make any unique stuff unless you know how to use those programs, and have the skill to make things look good. For example, there's no free Red Sonja head sculpt out there, you'll have to use a generic head and resculpt the head and hair to make it look right.

On a more positive note, there are programs that let you take multiple photographs of an object and it will automatically create a 3D model of the object (you just have to do minor cleanup if needed). 3DF Zephyr is one of them: https://www.3dflow.net/3df-zephyr-free/

I'm glad you have someone to teach you this stuff first-hand, that gives you a huge leg up. Just keep in mind that while editing 3D topology maps and sculpting digitally are similar processes (you're moving around a bunch of vertices, or "points" ), they require different skill sets. Almost like the difference between painting with watercolors or oil paints. But if you get good at it, and you get a good 3D printer, there's nothing you won't be able to make (and sell to us at reasonable prices haha).

Dude! That's exactly what I need. I can scale up and go from there. Thank you! See, I knew we could boil some things down.

I found an old comment I made on a youtube video, where the guy gave an honest review of a popular 3D printer and caught a bunch of sh*t for it. This sums up my experience while researching 3D printers:

"The fact that you blow hundreds of dollars on a machine and are then supposed to blow even more money fixing factory and design defects should have everyone saying "Hey! What the f*ck is wrong with these 3D printer manufacturers? Get your sh*t together!", not have everyone come after the reviewer for giving an honest review.

Is the part where your machine is going to be junk unless you modify it part of the "charm" of the DIY hobby? Because if I spend $500 on a belt sander, and the f*cking thing keeps lacerating me with shredded belts, you'd better believe I'm not going to go on youtube and tell everyone how amazing it is because "all you have to do" is replace 30% of the components to make it functional.

You peeps want to talk about dishonest? I recently started researching 3D printers to get into the hobby and I see all these popular people printing things that look like stacked noodles, showing how "you just have to" print this and that extra thing and solder and weld that extra thing to make the printer work, and then at the end the reviewer goes, "Oh yeah! This printer is fantastic! Definitely spend $500 on this piece of sh*t you're going to have to practically rebuild!" As someone who used to write a ton of product reviews, both honestly and as a shill, the 3D printer review videos I'm seeing make me cringe something fierce."

From the print samples I've seen, it's not worth getting a 3D printer unless it uses resin, and it will most likely cost $1000+. The printers that use plastic filaments are okay, but they always leave those annoying ridges on the surface that you have to manually fix somehow. The fixes are easy on large flat surfaces, but it's a pain to fix intricate stuff like heads, clothes, etc.

I would suggest reviews, but when I was doing research all I saw were a bunch of apologists for how young the technology still is. (Or maybe they just want you to buy the thing so they can keep getting a cut and free stuff from the manufacturer.)

You order a 3D printer and it doesn't work right out of the box. You have to monkey with it a while to calibrate it for the setting you're using it in (level it, get the temps right, adjust axis, eliminate vibration, etc.). And sometimes the stupid things are simply unfinished, requiring you to print additional parts to improve the printer, parts which should have been included in the first place to address the issues the manufacturer was too lazy/cheap to fix.

It's just my opinion, but if I'm gonna drop $1000 on ANYTHING, it better work right out of the box and I shouldn't have to do tons of post-process work to get a decent result.

Okay, but lets say you get a 3D printer that works great and produces great prints. Where are you going to get the 3D models for the unique, never-released toys you want to print? Are you going to make them yourself? If not, you're going to have to pay someone to sculpt models for you, and that's hella expensive.

If I could sculpt digitally, I would be pumping out heads and accessories to sell the files for like $1 or something, to let people print them at home.