Tobold's Blog
Sunday, June 03, 2018
 
True Tiles progress

As I mentioned recently, I decided to go for the True Tiles system for my 3D printed dungeon tiles.
Above you can see examples at three different print settings, from left to right: high (0.09 mm layer height), medium (0.14 mm layer height), and low (0.34 mm layer height). The high version needs 180 minutes to print, and is only slightly better than the medium version, which prints 40 minutes faster at 140 minutes total. The low version prints even faster, just 80 minutes, but looks quite ugly; you can clearly see the layers in the brick wall part, and the detail of the floor is lost. I will print out the rest of the tiles in medium setting. My Zortrax M200 Plus can print 9 of these tiles at once, and printing a batch in 21 hours (basically one per day) is far more convenient than printing it in 27 hours.

While I can't really sculpt tiles myself, I am able to modify the True Tiles .STL files I bought. I guess they don't mind as long as I don't redistribute my own creations. I already modified the stone bridge they offered to a shorter version, and I created a water tile with walls left and right. Speaking of water tiles, I bought water soluble acrylic blue paint and painted my water tiles blue. This will appear trivial to you, but it is the first time I paint anything I printed. I didn't even own a paint brush, and had to buy one with the paint. A simple uniform color coating is as far as my painting skill gets me, don't expect me to color the rest of the tiles. I bought this grey filament especially so that I didn't need to paint it.

As I won't be able to print much next week, I will still need a week or so before my first dungeon room will be finished. I'll post photos of the diorama then.

Labels:


Comments:
I sometimes think that making or finding a multiplayer game where you can be the GM may be easier. A golographic display coupled with a software suite full of all kinds of NPCs and your room will become a true dungeon!

Or in 30 years there will be 3D printers able to convert common dirt into works of art at the wave of a hand. Or there will be brain implants and an impressive VR net for everyone to go bat crazy about what they can create there.

Anyway, good job revealing intricacies of 3D printing. 3D printers are a nice toy. I sometimes want to get one but then I don't know what I will print with it except some small stuff like a door handle I've broken. Or possibly car parts.
 
Thanks for all the 3D info. It is especially useful to read real-world as opposed to press release descriptions of the capabilities.

Just curious if, however fleetingly, the thought crossed your mind that it would be twice as fast with two printers.
 
While I do like my new printer, it is a rather expensive one. So buying a second one would be rather unreasonably expensive. On the plus side, the expensive printer is very reliable, which makes launching a 20-hour print a relatively sure bet.
 
An easy trick to get better looking tiles without much "painting" is to apply a wash. It is basicly a very thinned paint or ink that then settles into the recessed areas and thus highlights the details.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home
Newer›  ‹Older

  Powered by Blogger   Free Page Rank Tool