Hi There - I'm new to shapeways and I have a quick question about pricing. I uploaded a model and it came out at .8in high and the price for full color was around $9.00. I need the model to be more like 3 to 4 inches high but when I scaled the model to 2.8in high the price jumped to $160.00... Seems to be quite a big price difference for an extra two inches, right? Is this normal or am I missing something? Thanks.
Well the price is by the cube. A quick example is a 1cm square cube is one cubic cm. A 2cm cube is now 8 cubic cm. So 8 times the cost for twice the size. If you want to bring the cost down, is hollowing an option for you model?
Thanks for the quick reply. Hollowing is probably an option for the larger section of the model although I do worry about it being too brittle if it's hollow. Also, somewhat off-topic, if my model has a multi-sub material applied to it with standard materials assigned to polygon material IDs will the diffuse colors be "printed" if I select full color sandstone? None of the materials are bitmaps or anything. They are all just standard materials with the different diffuse colors. (I'm using 3ds Max).
For the hollow parts, the walls should be at least 3mm. Sandstone is brittle, and even solid won't take every day wear and tear. It's better for a display only item. Also hollow parts have to have an escape hole for the build material. I have no idea about your other question
With the recent improvements to sandstone.. the limit was lowered.. you can now make walls down to 2mm. During the testing phase, they actually printed a model for me with only 1mm walls and it was quite durable, but the new 2mm is easier for them to clean without breaking.