I'm in a D&D game with a bunch of creative types. I got the DM to request full-body character drawings from everyone and I want to make custom minis for Christmas gifts. I was just wondering if White Strong and Flexible would be good for this type of thing or if I should go with one of the Details (especially if you can mix detail materials. A few of these could really benefit from transparent materials!). Has anyone who plays D&D gotten a model done? I'd be happy to just use whatever the real minis use, or as close as possible. They'll probably end up getting painted by their players.
If you plan on designing small highly detailed D&D miniatures then go for the White Detail or Transparent Detail materials.
Detail materials faces parallel to XY printing plane are very smooth. The other walls are less (printing layers). The very fine features are better in the detail material. For instance, I made a scale test part with 0.5mm diameter rivet heads that has been printed in wsf and detail , and the rivets are much better in detail material. WSF is quite rough (think of very very fine sandpaper, but which doesn't scratch), but the overal surface aspect is more balanced. The layers are less visible because of the overall roughness. WSF is much less prone to deformation than the detail material. Both materials can easily be painted with acrylic paints (I've tested Tamiya Acrylic, Humbrol acrylic and Humbrol enamel), wsf is porous and needs a little bit more training because it tends to suck paint. I would say the best material to choose depends a lot of the size of the minis and how detailed they are.
There are a few 28mm miniatures on sale here. You can order one in different materials to see the effect. I'd also go for detail material at that size. You will likely have staircasing with organic figures though. Design tip: look at your own miniatures to see what proportions and detail exageration is done (to make them paintable). Bye, Ming-Hua
Hi, I've made some pics of the latest part I ordered in transparent detail. As you can see, at the planes parallel to the ground plate of the machine is smooth but the more you go to perpendicular the more pronounced the lines of the printing layers are going to be. The fourth pic is a converted 28mm Hasslefree figure posed against the part to give you an idea of the size. Right now I'd say that at our scale for rough mechanical shapes tranparent detail is ok, but for finely detailed organic stuff (i.e. creatures including people) it's still too crude and irregular. The lines will destroy details and are pronounced enough to be seen through a layer of paint. For this we'll have to wait for the jewellery quality to be offered. Hope this helps. Bye, Ming-Hua