What is the state of the art in production?

[renarts]

Digital sculpting has shown great advances in the image in 3d rendering, but what is the state of the art in the finished product. Many of the pieces I have seen that have been printed have a great deal of granulation or striation. Has this improved?

Mike

 

[Nap]

Mike ,

As you said 3D has made great advances , I have reviewed many using 3D and IMO the effect you mention has improved such a lot for example look at the latest from Pathos and Domlman Miniatures and RP Models .

Can it improve more ? I have no doubt it will as technology gets better .

Will it replace traditional sculptors not in my opinion but be used alongside IMO

Nap

 

[Mark S]

You guys should take time out to have a good damn long hard look at yourselves.... all this moderate attitude toward 3D will potentially unsettle the livestock and ruin the crops.
Surely you could come up with an argument that 3D sculpted and printed figures will cause hernias, cretinism and goiters at the very least...........you're just not trying hard enough.

 

[Rich Sculpts]

I have no doubt that 3D sculpting will improve in quality and will be used by many artists in the future, however it will only be as good as the artist who using this medium. Will sculptors remain using the old techniques? - Most certainly and it a lot of circumstances I can see the potential to mixing the old with the new.

Its great to think that you can keep a stock of anatomical figure armatures and head blanks to work with on file and print off as you go. Even in my area of sculpting I could produce a basic relief sculpt on the computer and then refine it on the bench to add that hand-made feel. Saves time, saves mess and improves productivity without losing the quality in the process. When the price of all this technology gets down to a realistic level I will very be tempted to add this process to the tool box.

-Rich

 

[Funky50]

Well Mark this might be what your looking for....3d printing will need to improve substantially for it to coax the pound notes out of my wallet I can't put my finger on what for me is missing but there is definately something not quite there yet for me Or even close and maybe never will be They all seem a bit souless ,I don't know what that something or things are but would be interested to know if other modellers feel the same or is it just me ? Don't want to be provocative or start a bun fight just interested ........Kevin

 

[Rich Sculpts]

I can't put my finger on what for me is missing but there is definately something not quite there yet for me

I know what you mean, a lot of the work I have seen is a little soulless and far too perfect to be true, but every so often you get an artist that produces work like this and it makes you re-think the future with this medium



3D Print of Amy Winehouse portrait

 

[renarts]

Excellent point Rich. And I think in the near future, if not currently, is a valuable complement to figure sculpting and accessories. I think where its success will be found in the near future is in its ability to progress work flow maybe more efficiently or expediently as you suggest.
I had seen a piece in the Atlanta show two years ago that was 3d printed and the finish on it was primer ready with no visible striation or granulation and it was very well done. A far cry from some of the earlier stuff I had seen that looked like it was sand molded out of sand box sand. (yeah, I've thrown enough molten bronze and brass crucibles to have a worthy contempt of sand molds)
My main interest is to see what the current state of the art is. For now, I see a huge benefit of 3d printing a master, working out the bugs and details and then resin casting copies. The original is safe guarded and if something catastrophic happens there is little or no loss and the work is simply reprinted with no clean up or modification and can be done in a day as opposed to what might take weeks.

 

[renarts]

And thanks Nap for the insight.

 

[tomifune]

I had seen a piece in the Atlanta show two years ago that was 3d printed and the finish on it was primer ready with no visible striation or granulation and it was very well done. A far cry from some of the earlier stuff I had seen that looked like it was sand molded out of sand box sand. (yeah, I've thrown enough molten bronze and brass crucibles to have a worthy contempt of sand molds)
My main interest is to see what the current state of the art is. For now, I see a huge benefit of 3d printing a master, working out the bugs and details and then resin casting copies. The original is safe guarded and if something catastrophic happens there is little or no loss and the work is simply reprinted with no clean up or modification and can be done in a day as opposed to what might take weeks.

I believe you're referring to Mike Meehans Brock Lesnar piece which was discussed on this site at the time. That piece was cleaned up after it was printed as most 3-d printed masters are. If you think 54mm figures are expensive, then you don't want to know what he paid for that.
Chuck had plenty of companies on his table in Atlanta that were originally 3-d printed. As I said, originally 3-d, as they are using the 3-d for a master and molding copies the same way as the conventional method.

Bob

 

[vince wai]

"but every so often you get an artist that produces work like this and it makes you re-think the future with this medium"



The bust was digitally sculpted by Bogi Piroth and her ( if I am not mistaken ) works are amazing. Here's a few more from the same artist.

 

[Funky50]

Would

"but every so often you get an artist that produces work like this and it makes you re-think the future with this medium"

View attachment 186232

The bust was digitally sculpted by Bogi Piroth and her ( if I am not mistaken ) works are amazing. Here's a few more from the same artist.


View attachment 186228View attachment 186229View attachment 186230View attachment 186231

I Would love To see something by this person with a military theme I might be swung over if it was of similar quality as I say I'm still to be convinced that 3D rendering of A Military Persausion can really compare to a Carl Ried Bust for instance and just looking in my cabinet there is a definate absence of anything 3D not a conscious desision just the way it is.... if I feel they are good enough I would Buy I just don't get that feeling at the moment nothing 3D is making me feel I just gotta have it.....Kevin

 

[pokrad]

And there is a probably reason for that:

If you have a digital sculptor that can produce pieces of art as Carl do (and there is more than one - believe me), then he is probably doing animation, designing DC or Marvell collectibles, CG effects for movies for a lot bigger money than printing historical miniatures...
There is just one Carl in miniature world, and he could easy earn big money with his talent in another fields...I guess I want to say that talent and knowledge are not enough-there is "love" for historical miniature that has to be combined with the rest to get another Carl

It will happen, no doubt, but stars should align and make it happen, or you have to wait one of us low quality amateurs to grow up

I try to stay open-minded as I love digital and manual sculpting, and I am equally bad at both... The only difference is that in "manual" I have problems with my eyes and digital solves that problem.
What I'm tray to say here ? Let's say Carl spend two weeks to learn digital - he could easy produce another piece of art in digital in another week, and my sculpt will still look rubbish no matter how I try to do it.
It's time to stop looking at "digital" as another story, look at it as different medium...and I will prove my point as soon as one of great "manual" sculptors goes digital

I respect your point of view, I can even agree with most of it, but I hope you will change it soon enough

Regards !

 

[mash3d]

I think Renarts is referring to the state of 3d Printing not the sculpture itself.
The prints have improved quite a bit depending on the 3d printer used and the type.
Keep in mind there are two types of 3d printers when your looking at 3d prints.
FDM (Fused Deposited Material) Makerbot, Ultimaker etc, most of the sub $2,000 printers are this type.
They are basically melting plastic and laying it down in layers like a hot glue gun
These types of printers will always have some level of layers visible.
A layer size of .01 is common and that’s the thickness of a piece of paper.
You can get smaller layers down to is .05 millimeters or more but is harder to get it to work.

The other type of printer is SLA (Stereo lithography)
These use a vat of liquid resin that is cured by a UV light.
It's still printing in layers but the layers can be much thinner.
They can get down to 0.001 inches (0.003 cm).
These types of printers are more expensive to own and operate.
These cheapest home version, B9 Creator, I think is around $3,500 as a kit.
And the Resin is $150 a liter.
But they are being used to create jewelery pieces so the quality is there.
They are usually limited by the build size, or printing area.

As far as Sculptors go. Lets be brutally honest. Historical miniatures are not a huge market.
At the moment I really can make more money making superheros fly through the air in their underwear than I can making miniatures.
But making miniatures is more interesting and not as stressful, plus I could take naps.
But I am working toward the point where I can just make miniatures or paintings for a living.
Oddly enough neither one has any benefits or retirements plan

Traditional vs. Digital : lets say a digital sculptor does not have his own printer.
When you factor in printing time, shipping, mastering etc. a traditional sculptor can probably make a single figure faster.

But a digital sculptor can make more variations of a figure with more details.
Plus once made a figure can be printed out at any Scale.
Once done a 54 mm Figure can be saved out as 1/9 scale bust with a few alterations.

But the start up cost for a traditional sculptor are much less.
Some wire, some putty, a few tools and they are up and running.
Investment casting is the big cost factor though.

For digital your are talking about a $2,000 computer with 16 GB or more of memory,
A $250 Wacom tablet. $1,000 or so for the software. Another $4,000 if you buy your own printer.
It might take a while to return your investment in going digital.


Overall it's always going to be a Oil vs. Acyclic, Synthetic Oil vs natural oil, Coke vs Pepsi thing.
As long as your happy painting whatever it is your painting that's all that matters.

 

[vince wai]

But I am working toward the point where I can just make miniatures or paintings for a living.
Oddly enough neither one has any benefits or retirements plan

Share the same feeling, have been doing it all my life and it 's never been easy.


vince

 

[fmargem]

Check this one out.
http://www.prototypezstudio.com/

Eric Soza. He doesn't sculpt military stuff, but his 3D sculpts are something else. Lots of emotion and movement.
The last two sculpts on the page are traditional wax sculptures.
The printer they use is one of the top printers in USA.

Just choose the right sculptor and you'll have an emotional and perfect sculpture.

 

[garyhiggins]

This really is very worrying, I can barely cope with a computer as it is, I have no idea how to use E-mail, connecting a camera to a computer to put up an image, let alone manipulate that image, is a mystery far beyond me. Dammit, some of the letters on the keyboard even disappear while I'm looking at them. I am having a really hard time getting from the 19th century to the 21st, and this stuff seems to be the 22nd century LOOMING very large!!!!!!!
HEEEeeeeelllllppppppp

 

[Blue Thunder]

Maybe in a nearby future competition regulations will have to state:

"No scanned & printed humans are allowed. All models have to be assembled and painted by the modeler himself"

 

[mcsnead17]

I guess this means I am completely old fashion because next month I am restarting my sculpting lessons and maybe do my own bust of something which I have no idea what so far ?

 

[marrakech]

i wish i could do this. https://grassetti.wordpress.com/blog/ (first post is a video)
i newer had the chance to sculpt the traditional way.

the tmnt sculpts on his blog are awesome aswel

 

[mcsnead17]

thank you for the video but I do have one question and that what did you use for basis of the figure which artist or was your own idea ?