Designing dice for dice snobs

I was planning on getting one at some point....

Brian

I am kind of curious what you think of my puzzle. I can't print it on my 3D printer so I ordered one from Shapeways to see how it works. Both a puzzle and a working Die. https://www.shapeways.com/model/153397/puzzle_die.html

Looks very cool, and it's a really nice idea. I am curious how it works, though; it looks as though each side has nine complete tiles in it, so how do they slide? And what's the thinking behind the containing cage? It looks like it might get in the way a bit. I'm also no expert in sliding puzzles, though, so maybe it makes perfect sense.

Now you've done that, I find myself thinking that a Rubik's Cube-style die would work really well, and I'd be surprised if no-one's thought of it before...

Andy

The pieces can slide around due to the fact there is 1 missing in the cube arangement. the cages center bar is 1.5mm wide and thick to try to minimize how much it would get in the way. Even with trying to minimize that some with bigger fingers will probably find it easier to do the puzzle with a tooth pick or stylus. The pieces are 9.8mm on all sides with a 0.2mm gap between them so they can be printed with white strong or aluminide.

I can definitely design a rubicks cube die and it was next on my to do list. It is a bit of a balancing act to make small so it is cheap and more usable as a die but big enough to use.

Thank you! That's encouraging. (And I've got an order for one now too .)

It does seem that novelty dice are pretty much guaranteed sellers; my first die design is the first model I've sold, and it did so within a couple of days of my submitting it. I need to get my thinking cap on for more...

Andy

That's the spirit !

Hey Dice Collectors,

Few more dices added to my page - Enjoy !

Hollow D6 Dice (With balancing inner ball)

Spherical Helix D6 Dice


Helix D3 Dice


The latest : Twisted Bars D6 Dice





Cheers,
Dizingof

i have 2 more also https://shapeways.com/shops/propmodule

Hello Shapers & Dice collectors,

As promised.. here are few more.. unique Dices added to my page - Enjoy !


Mirrored D12 Dice


Truncated Rhombicosidodecahedron



This one is an Organic version of the Truncated Rhombicosidodecahedron D12 Dice




According to Google this could be a first.



Cheers,
Dizingof

Forgot this one, Rotary D12 Dice (2 parts swivel using a hinge)






Cheers

Somebody stop me !


Yet another batch of cool dices added to my page.
- Enjoy


A Menger Sponge fractal D6 Dice - this cool D6 dice uses math to create a level 3 fractal (creating copies of itself inward) up to 1mm thick walls - cant go beyond that for 3D printing at this size.

Stacked balls D6 Dice

Wizard's D7 Dice
Pick a day of the week when face lands towards you.

Odd shaped D8 Dice

Kepler-Poinsot polyhedron D12 Dice - A star-like dice.



Last one , one of my favorites...

An Oloid D4 Dice

Awesome shape !
Again, according to Google nothing like it was made yet as dice - so you saw it first on Shapeways!








Cheers,
Dizingof

Check it out .

Extruded Pipe D6



2.3 cm sides, made with a single 1mm pipe/wire making up the whole construction.

Now that I like.

Andy

The Extruded pipe die is awesome and I'll probably get one as soon as I make another order.


Dizingof:
You've put a bunch of interesting dice up lately, however... Your gear dice just don't work for me, maybe for someone else it will work but my group wouldn't allow those at the table.

Ignoring the fact that I'd have a hard time buying a die over $20 (I'm a spendthrift and a cheap-ass, go figure), the gear dice aren't symmetrical and my group would dismiss them as "unfair". No having had one in my hands, I would also expect them to land more on the concave portions then the convex ones.

P.S. if someone orders a Swirl Die (yeah, I know it's over $20, shut up, I like it!) and an Octahedral Die in the next week or so, you know it's me!

Thanks Gumball.

If you want to hang fire for a few weeks, I'll be ordering one myself in SS to see if it turns out ok (+ i've another design on the go that i'd like to get in too)

[edit] Cheers Andy :thumbsup:

Hey gumball

First, i'm told i started a designers dice frenzy on shapeways... well i'm happy about it, mainly thanks to your thread.

The latest Gear D10 Dice is actually symmetrical (minus 1 mm on one side)





The Gear D6 isnt - making it symmetrical makes it over $40 for metal printing.. so i leave it as "novelty" and avoid "non fair" sized in the future.

About dies cost - i personally use the most efficient method to hollow my models , as you can see on this post :
https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&S=d25c6bf 773e35783765ba888cfaa5a13&th=1169&goto=17654#msg_176 54

Any other method suggested at that thread will not come close , meaning i cut printing cost to the bare minimum WITH the recommended wall thickness - so in fact i put cost & affordability as main factor when designing a new dice.

After all 3D printing dice isnt a mass production dice.

I also hate to say it by markup is ridiculously low
I do enjoy the design process and the feedback from dice collectors community.


Enjoy
Dizingof

Sorry, it was having some numbers on the ends that I was referring to. In my perfect dice world all the sides are the same shape and size.

I never meant to imply that your designs weren't optimized to the max, or that you were gouging on your markup.

The fact is that I work 3/4 time for a private non-profit and without my own online sales ( lulu.com , cafepress.com , tijuana-bible.com , luridfridge.com ) I couldn't afford my fun purchases. Rachel (my SO) has agreed that those are so variable and unreliable, that I don't have to count them in the monthly budget and I can do what I please with that money! In return, I promised not to look too closely at the column marked "shoes" in the monthly budget.

Here is a new one

A Wizard's D6 Dice

It has an inner copy of itself balancing the dice by landing between 2 bars (see cross section pic).




cross section:




Cheers,
Dizingof

that is a cool die. I think I will order one with my next order.