3D Printing OGRE vehicles

[Outlander]

Hey folks -

I know this is kind of a repost from the Car Wars forum, but has anyone made printable STL files?

And to the developers - I realize you had a kickstarter for miniatures for the game, but what about selling the files for those of us with printers?

Just a thought!

[dwalend]

Originally Posted by Outlander

And to the developers - I realize you had a kickstarter for miniatures for the game, but what about selling the files for those of us with printers?

Before the official SJGames people chime in with the exact line between their property and your creativity...

...you can buy the miniatures from the kickstarter. SJGames used the project to reduce the risk and gauge demand. You'll be able to buy the miniatures from the production run while supplies last.

They even did a retailer package in the kickstarter, so you might be able to get them from your FLGS without paying shipping. See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ref=nav_search , and watch for them to ship.

It'll be far cheaper, faster, and likely better quality to get them from SJGames' injection molds than printing and polishing your own.

[Mack_JB]

Originally Posted by Outlander

And to the developers - I realize you had a kickstarter for miniatures for the game, but what about selling the files for those of us with printers?

I pointed out in the KS forum that SJG sending out files for the CAD would be the epitome of stupid. SJG paid good money to develop the CAD, and once they are out there, they will be pirated endlessly. Plus, I suspect the file format used to create the die blocks (EDM machining) is not the same as the file format for 3D printers.

A side problem is that most 3D printers one would have access to are far too crude to replicate the finer details of the plastic molded parts.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Outlander

And to the developers - I realize you had a kickstarter for miniatures for the game, but what about selling the files for those of us with printers?

The plastic miniatures will be available later this year. We have no plans to release our CAD files to the world.

Anyone who wants Ogre miniatures can purchase the metal minis -- some of which are still available http://www.warehouse23.com/products?...D=558398555-sb -- or wait for the release of the plastic minis.

[Yenaldlooshi]

With CARnage and now CARnage 2, obviously there is a business model for selling STL files for these miniatures games.

Any chance SJ might consider SELLING these as STLs? (not just "releasing" CAD files)

Most of the miniatures have seemed to dried up.

[HeatDeath]

[Not an SJG employee, so take this with a grain of salt, but...]

As I understand it, the kinds of CAD files that can be used to create metal tooling for injection-molded plastic miniatures are quite different than the STL files home hobbyists can use to 3D print models. Simply having the one doesn't give you the other without a significant amount of extra work.

3D printing, a la Foes and Carnage, really was not on SJG's radar /at all/ when the Ogre miniatures project was initiated. It's something that's really only become a thing in the last few years.

Now that all of the main line of historic metal miniatures have been released in plastic, a significant amount of the market demand for Ogre minis has theoretically been satisfied. it may well be that, a few years from now, once unmet demad has accumulated again, a project to crowdfund the conversion of the existing CAD files to STLs may very well make economic sense. But it's not something that SJG can afford to do without a reasonable expectation of ROI, and the fronting of nontrivial amounts of money via crowdfunding. So it'll probably be quite a while.

[andrewbeasley]

It would be nice to see the lesser used items (eg missile crawlers, towers, CPs etc etc) available as 3D prints.

These STL files could be still owned by SJG and printing farmed (sic) out to other companies - not cheap but a possible way forward reducing the metal cutting cost.

I'm not sure if SJG would be classed as an 'indie company' for https://only-games.co/ but many 3D party / contract printers exist worldwide. Some 'traditional' contractors now provide both services eg https://www.emachineshop.com/ and host CAD to STL converters :-)

Note this would also be a possible way of cutting down the time / shipping cost for those of us not in the USA...

[CON_Troll]

I believe you have hit the nail on the head on all of your points, HeatDeath. I will just add that a friend of mine has gotten into 3D printing (he now has two resin machines and a filament machine) and has been teaching himself the 3D programs to render models to make the STL files that drive 3D printers. He's learned a lot and assures me that it is neither simple or easy compared to plastic mold injection. And, from an end-user point of view, definitely not cheaper.

The major advantage that STL files offer is that the end user (if they have their own machine) can make enough to satisfy their personal demand without worrying about stock availability. The disadvantages are rather numerous. You need a 3D printer. You need resin for it. You need to maintain it (they can be temperamental.) It takes a LOT of time to 3D print. Prints can (and do) fail. Etc, etc. I think this is why we haven't seen (yet) a lot of STL projects.

However, 3D printing is just getting out of it's teething period. The technology is getting mature, but there is a LOT of room for refinement. One thing I believe we can count on is that 3D printers will continue to become more capable and cheaper. Moore's law may have stalled a bit where PCs are concerned, but for 3D technology it has yet to hit it's stride.

The success of the FOES and Carnage campaigns certainly demonstrates that there is a possibility of future crowdfunding for STLs for OGRE/G.E.V., but I doubt we will see them anytime soon.

Of course, I could be wrong...