This is a thread to discuss 3D printing, what you have tried, what you know, and overall the neat things about the process itself. Anyone wanting to learn can also take a look here There are a multitude of services for this if you lack a printer of your own, and they provide many materials for your models. Some sites I've used and have tried out are Shapeways and i.Materialise Personally I have been using Shapeways for some time, but the recent price increase on their SLS material made it hard to keep printing things, so I eventually switched to i.Materialise for their lower prices. Modeling things is also part of the experience. You can make your own, use other creator's models, and see what the benefits of 3D printing are. I've been using Solidworks (self taught) since about 2009, and it's been a very fun process learning what I can do with 3D printing. Even the medical field has adopted these devices for use on patients with amazing results.
I would really like this Killzone chibi soldier 3d printed, but haven't found a decent place around here yet: http://www.killzone.com/en_CA/blog/news/2014-12-12_print-your-own-3d-helghast-trooper.html
Depends what material and size you're looking for. From Shapeways I can say their ultra detail will do perfect, as with their newest material with black acrylate assuming you need detail https://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted-detail-plastic https://www.shapeways.com/materials/high-definition-acrylate If you need size and strength (and you know the option to dye it which is a whole separate thing) you can use their SLS WSF material (which can be polished) https://www.shapeways.com/materials/strong-and-flexible-plastic Generally with shapeways you wanna watch that price. Depending on the model you can end with a really cheap or really expensive model. Usually the accuracy is quite good, but there are the occasional batches with some malformed spots for this material, hence why it may be better suited for the others at a smaller scale.
I used Solidworks back in high school, but now the GUI updated and not used the program for so long. I forgot how to use the darn thing... I'm getting a 3d printer from a KS campaign but not know how long till it ships and if it work as promise. But I want to get into printing, got a bunch of model to print with.
they made a 3d printed tray for the rhea device so no dust gets in. its very cool dont have link or rhea.
Be sure not to go the cheap route. You'll soon see the novelty wear off and realize how limited it will be. But it's more cost effective I guess? the UP! 3D printer was pretty nice if you ask me. Ag then I don't recall that one.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/101hero/101hero-the-world-first-us49-3d-printer/description It's this one, btw.
Software wise I can't say too much. That usually comes down to the person themselves. Makerbot has been getting better over time, so I can suggest one of these if you need a more simple and workable point to start https://store.makerbot.com/compare The alternative is the admittedly really crap ones that need tons of tweaking. Oh wait a friend of mine has this but under a different name. I recall it turning our pretty good.
I am not qualified to answer this. In the end it truly depends on how high quality you wanna go and what material you're going to need. That's essentially why there's services for this as it's hard to say what you need, so if theres a lot to offer to a buyer then they can narrow down what they need in their models.
Depends what you want to do. If you just want to play around less than $100. If you want to make usable but ugly stuff less than $1000. If you want to make usable good looking stuff $2000-$3000.
