New Material From Shapeways At The Rebel Minis Digital Direct Store
Quick And Dirty Review: Frosted Extreme Detail is good stuff. Not great, but good. Order with confidence, even the little fiddly bits, for unique tabletop parts.
For those of you who don't know, I went into a joint venture with Rebel Minis to offer custom, one-off, and as-yet unreleased parts through Shapeways. It's called Rebel Minis Digital Direct.
Here's the link http://www.shapeways.com/shops/rebelminisdigitaldirect
The parts cost more than mass-produced stuff, to be sure, but if you need to have a certain part before anyone else, it's the right thing for you.
The initial offerings weren't that great. The material selections were not high resolution, so anything you ordered was grainy and steppy.
Shapeways has now introduced a new material, called Frosted Extreme Detail, that reminds me of what we were doing, professionally, before the advent of widespread Perfactory prints.
They are akin to high-resolution Objet 3d prints. A tiny bit grainy and steppy in spots, but overall, not bad. You can see what I mean in the photos below....
This is the RUMV Turret with Jackhammer Cannon, one of the mainstay weapons in the Earth Defense Forces armored corps. Link Here.
Voodoo, my ancient black cat, even gave it a sniff. Apparently, it passes the sniff test.
As you might be able to see, the print is made hollow. It was like digitally scooping out the innards of a pumpkin, trying to lose mass in order to bring the price down.
Here is the RUMV Jackhammer turret next to the 15mm scale Rifle Squad weapons sprue. A pair of Titan Marines are shown for reference, as well as an older 15mm scale M1 turret.
The sprue consists of six standard rifles, three squad automatic weapons, and three rifles with under-barrel grenade launchers.
Sorry for the sideways pics. Contact Google/Blogspot if you have chiropractor bills. ;)
Overall, I like the new Frosted Extreme Detail material. It's consumer grade, not professional, but the quality is a strong. The cost is more, but these are more of a premium offering. If you want unique tabletop pieces, order with confidence.
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/rebelminisdigitaldirect
Best,
JBR
Edit to add: While Shapeways is making progress on offering mass-market detailed 3d printing, if you are looking for mold-worthy prints, I would still recommend my friends at Moddler.com or VisionProto.com
Yes, they will cost more, but it's worth it for professional-quality prints from the same guys that do Hollyword SFX prototypes and medical devices, yet will still rent time on their machines to small fries like myself.
Make sure you pay extra for post-production clean-up, too. ;)
Edit to add (again): Roman, our first customer from the Shapeways store, graciously gave us permission to reblog two custom hovertanks that he made using parts from Rebel Minis Digital Direct.
Look at those beauties.
Best,
JBR
For those of you who don't know, I went into a joint venture with Rebel Minis to offer custom, one-off, and as-yet unreleased parts through Shapeways. It's called Rebel Minis Digital Direct.
Here's the link http://www.shapeways.com/shops/rebelminisdigitaldirect
The parts cost more than mass-produced stuff, to be sure, but if you need to have a certain part before anyone else, it's the right thing for you.
The initial offerings weren't that great. The material selections were not high resolution, so anything you ordered was grainy and steppy.
Shapeways has now introduced a new material, called Frosted Extreme Detail, that reminds me of what we were doing, professionally, before the advent of widespread Perfactory prints.
They are akin to high-resolution Objet 3d prints. A tiny bit grainy and steppy in spots, but overall, not bad. You can see what I mean in the photos below....
Overall, I like the new Frosted Extreme Detail material. It's consumer grade, not professional, but the quality is a strong. The cost is more, but these are more of a premium offering. If you want unique tabletop pieces, order with confidence.
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/rebelminisdigitaldirect
Best,
JBR
Edit to add: While Shapeways is making progress on offering mass-market detailed 3d printing, if you are looking for mold-worthy prints, I would still recommend my friends at Moddler.com or VisionProto.com
Yes, they will cost more, but it's worth it for professional-quality prints from the same guys that do Hollyword SFX prototypes and medical devices, yet will still rent time on their machines to small fries like myself.
Make sure you pay extra for post-production clean-up, too. ;)
Edit to add (again): Roman, our first customer from the Shapeways store, graciously gave us permission to reblog two custom hovertanks that he made using parts from Rebel Minis Digital Direct.
Best,
JBR
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