Warboss and Grunt Printed - Delay with print

Shipping costs are just another added amount onto the price of getting my models printed, I therefore decided to get my Warboss and Grunt models ordered at the same time, so they could be shipped together, reducing the costs slightly. This was partially a financial decision but also down to convenience as I had almost finished my 3rd model by the time I had decided on a scale for the Warboss.

It did however create some problems as it meant I was going to have to wait longer for the models to be printed and was risking delays in the project. However, as long as the models turned up before I was done painting the first model I knew there wouldn't be any delay or problems.

I decided to get the Warboss printed at 5" inches and the Grunt printed at 3.5"
I always wanted to Warboss to be the biggest of the models, as he is the HQ unit and the most important of the 3 I've made. The scale did however mean the cost of getting him printed increased dramatically.
The Grunt on the other hand is the smallest of the 3 models. I made this choice consciously as he is a basic infantry unit and is by default the smallest and simplest.

I think the choices I've made in the scaling of all 3 models works out well as they are varied in size and complexity as you move down their scale of importance.

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Delay with print!

It generally doesn't take too long for the models to go through processing and production at shapeways once its been confirmed they have no issues that prevent them being printed. I was therefore surprised and concerned that a week after ordering the models they still hadn't moved past the processing stage.

I then received an email from shapeways stating they had a major backlog in orders and it was going to take longer to do my models. This was absolutely devastating news! I have no control over how long it takes shapeways to get my models done but there is obviously a set amount of time I need to get them painted and I was worried I wouldn't get them back with enough time to get them finished.

With the matter completely out of my hands there was nothing I could do but continue with the painting of my 1st model and hope the others would arrive on time. Almost a week later the models got through processing and production and were on their way, arriving very quickly after they'd been printed.

This delayed my project by just over a week, but I was able to move swiftly onto painting them once they arrived. Pics will follow in later posts as I continue to paint all the models.

Basic Unit

After completing the Warboss I was struggling to decide what size to get him printed at, but rather than waste time thinking about this issue I got straight into modelling my 3rd and last model.

There isn't much to say about this model, he is a basic infantry or 'grunt' unit, and is therefore pretty straightforward. I found I was able to build the model fairly quickly as by this point I was well practiced in how to use Zbrush to my desired effect. I have also become used to the 3D printing requirements and what impact these have on how the model must be built. I therefore didn't have to make any fixes or adjustments to the model once I was done building and decimating it.

I wanted to keep this unit fairly simple and not overloaded with detail, yet maintain the mix of Ork and Chaos that I'd acheived so far with my other models. The reason behind this is most basic units in Warhammer are mainly simple and numerous with only small variations between each model. I feel I managed to acheive this in my finished model.

WarBoss

I can happily say that my 2nd model, the Chaos WarBoss is finished! He has taken me a little longer than I was aiming for, as after completing the 1st model I struggled to get started again. This was mainly down to the overall shape and style of the WarBoss. He is less of an 'organic' looking model and is centered around his chunky armoured main body and legs, something which is more difficult to start in Zbrush for me personally. I spent a good few days fumbling around in 3dsMax and Zbrush trying to figure out what the best way to start the model was, restarting several times over.

I did eventually manage to get a basic mesh down in 3dsMax, which I then imported into Zbrush, where I was able to begin building it up and properly start sculpting the rest of the model. Once I got going the rest of the model came fairly easily and I was able to speed up dramatically.

Next followed the somewhat tedious, but important, decimating, which dropped my triangle count from the millions down to approximately 700,000. I had no problems in doing this and managed to keep all the details of the model despite the massive reduction in geometry. I purposefully built the arms, head and legs in a way that would be easily detachable so I can pull them apart and place them on a sprew just as I did on the 1st model.

I have, at this stage, already fixed the model and uploaded it to shapeways, where there were absolutely no problems with the model! This is great news for me as it means that I have been able to build the model, decimate and place parts on a sprew so well that there is nothing that needs altering or fixing before print. I feel this demonstrates that I have taken on board all the issues I have had since I started my very first test model and applied that knowledge to the point where I am building efficient, accurate and printable models.

I have not yet officially sent the model for print as I am still debating over how big it should be. He is the WarBoss, the main HQ unit, and as such they are normally larger than all the other units. With that being said all my models are going to be larger than they normally would be and making my WarBoss too big will cost a fortune.
One issue I have is the relative scaling of my model. I use the height measurement in order to automatically scale the rest of the model accordingly, but as you can see from the images the WarBoss has a banner, which adds a significant amount of height to him. If for example I scaled the whole model to 5inches (as I have), I estimate at least 1.5inches of that height is actually just the banner, meaning the WarBoss himself would only be 3.5inches, barely bigger than the tracker at all. I have been trying to imagine what the WarBoss would actually look like printed at 3.5inches, and I think he would look alright, but as I already know its very difficult to imagine what these models will look like printed compared to what I see on the screen and what I try imagine with a ruler!

This is making it very difficult for me to decide on an appropriate size for the WarBoss. This model is going to be the most expensive of the lot, I knew that from the start. I am somewhat torn between making him larger and running the expensive risk of making him unnecessarily large, and the equally expensive risk of trying to be conservative and making him accidentally too small.

At least however, the model is finished. I know there are no issues with it and when I have decided on a scale he is ready for printing immediately. Given production and shipping of the models is so fast I don't have to worry about making an immediate rushed decision. I can therefore move on and continue with my next model, knowing the WarBoss is ready to go.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the Chaos Ork WarBoss!

Chaos Ork Tracker!

My first completed model arrived a few days ago. This model is the Chaos Ork Tracker.

He is 3inches tall and printed in the Ultra Fine Detail Acyclic material. I managed to get him built on schedule and didn't have any major problems that needed fixing for print so I got through that part pretty quickly. He has therefore arrived on track and I'm working well within my time plan.

Although he is complete in himself I am planning to model and print a Squig pet for him which will finish him off nicely, and make his pose a little more understandable (the pointing hand etc). So he does look a bit odd without his Squig at the moment.

As for the model itself I am really happy with how it turned out. Getting the arms, head and backpack extended out on sprews worked out really well. They were very easy to detach and cut off as I was hoping which means it should be much easier to paint the model when the times comes. I have already tried piecing him back together to ensure all the parts sit nicely when they will eventually be glued and they fit perfectly! I feel I may have done the feet and legs a little small however, I realise I am still having a bit of a problem with the fact the scale of the model looks different in zbrush compared to how it looks once printed. But this isn't a major problem as Orks are generally quite top heavy and their feet and legs are normally substantially smaller than the rest of their bodies. I will however try bear this in mind while progressing with my next model to ensure he doesn't look too imbalanced.

The material looks amazing, all the fine details I put into the model are there and showing up nicely. The sections of the model are also looking really good as the Ultra Fine Detail material is capable of getting much cleaner edges and definition into the model so its looking really good overall!

I have already sprayed the model with black undercoat paint as the pictures show. This is an important aspect of finishing the models as not only does it allow more of the details to show up but it prepares the model for later painting.

So here he is, my Chaos Ork Tracker! (Currently held together with copious amounts of white tack)

Displaying the Models

I've been putting some thought recently into how I might go about displaying my models once they are all done. Its a little early to be thinking about this given there are still several weeks left until the deadline but I feel its an important part of the project. After putting so much time and effort into my models I want to be able to show them off in the best way possible.

I'm also thinking about the Uni Degree Show at the end of this academic year. I'd like my project to be part of that degree show so people can see what I've accomplished over the last few months and what I'm capable of doing following my completion of the course. Unfortunately I think they may be some risks in being able to properly show off my work in the degree show, mainly down to how easy it might be for them to go 'walk abouts' as the show is open to the general public. I want to be able to have my models on show, along with some nice photographs of the progress and final product, but this means I need a secure way of showing off the models without them getting pinched!

So I've been looking into some lockable display cases. Most are massive, even the counter-top varieties tend to be on the large side and I don't want my relatively small models sitting in a huge case as it will make them seem even smaller.

Here is one that I think would suit nicely.

It seems to be a perfect size and isn't expensive, offering everything I need to safely display my models. It can be found HERE.

Putting my models into a display case does however mean people will have a limited view of the models, I therefore think it will be advantageous to have something like a rotating stand for each model to stand on. There are a variety of rotating bases available on the internet in various sizes, so I have plenty to choose from.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Its very basic and pretty self explanatory but I think it will a good edition to my display allowing the models to been from every angle.

In addition to my other ideas of displaying my work I was considering making a simple plaque to go within my display box. While uploading my latest model to print with Shapeways I noticed how cheap it was to get things printed in ceramics. Its amazingly cheap! So I was thinking about making a very basic model with the text "Chaos Orks by Luke Evans" or maybe just "Chaos Orks" or something like that and have it printed in ceramic. I could actually colour this in 3Ds Max and have it printed in colour or paint it myself later. I haven't decided if I'm going to do this yet but I think it might be a nice addition to the display which will help give the whole display a more complete, professional look and help grab people's attention without distracting from the main models.

I very quickly made this example plaque up in 3ds Max to visualize the type of thing I'm thinking about. Its really quite basic and should be very cheap to do in ceramic. The colours shown here aren't the ones I would use and depending on the printing requirements of ceramic the lettering might need to be much larger but for now its just an idea.

Tracker Model Completed

I finished the Tracker unit the other day and started the process of uploading and fixing any errors that came up with the website tool. Unsurprisingly I had several 'wall thickness' issues just like before, but thankfully they were minor issues rather than anything substantial. My attempts to model the character and smaller details with the minimum thickness requirements in mind had worked and there was nothing on the model that was too thin! Yay! 

I was really pleased about this, it meant I had effectively addressed all the problems I'd had previously meeting requirements and meant I didn't have to fumble around trying to rescale or alter parts of the model that could have caused problems or undesirable changes to the way it looked. I also didn't had to scale up the model at all (which I had to do last time) which increases the price of printing massively.

The majority of the issues I had was with sections of the shirt being too thin. Within 3DsMax I found this was because while building the model I had accidentally grabbed the mesh behind the shirt (the Ork's body) and pulled it forwards. This meant the wall was much thinner in those sections. This was easy to fix as I just moved the internal mesh backwards.

Another minor issue I had was with a band on the Ork's arm. The band itself was fine but in one section the Ork's arm dipped inwards following its musculature, resulting in the band not interesting the arm mesh at this specific point, making it too thin. Again this was very easy to fix by just raising the mesh at this point so it properly intersected.

The only other problem I had with the mesh was due to the way I had broken it up. Breaking the mesh is not really necessary but I have chosen to do it as it will make painting in all the details much easier. While building the model I was very careful to ensure the arms, head and backpack would be detachable and purposefully made the geometry easy and clean to break at these points. This meant that once I was done modelling I could pull these parts away from the main body and use a very simple sprew to connect them (ensuring there was no floating parts as is required to print).

This in itself didn't actually cause problems, but it was the sharpness of some of the angles caused by 'capping' the ends that became to thin. Thankfully this was relatively easy to fix. I was able to simply extrude some of the faces in these problem areas out slightly to reduce the sharpness of the angle. I am fully aware doing this will prevent the parts fitting back together perfectly but I don't think it will be difficult to shave the extruded parts down or cut them off entirely.

This shows the slight addition to the mesh I needed to make to prevent the wall being too thin around the break off point of the arm.

These images show the final model that I uploaded to Shapeways to print, including the very basic sprews holding the parts together that I will cut off when I'm ready to stick the model back together.

Overall I am extremely happy with this model. I think it looks really good and I was able to build it in the way I wanted, bearing in mind the need for chunky, thick details that are relatively simple. There were very few issues and non of them caused specifically by the way I had tried to design and make the model, just small accidents etc. I am also well on track with my time plan, actually I'm a little bit ahead, which is always good. This unit still needs his pet 'Squiggs', but these are of less importance than getting the other models done and are smaller, so I am leaving them till later once I have got the other 2 models done.

A few things to bear in mind for my next model:

• Be careful not to select parts of the mesh behind that which I am currently working on
• Make sure all smaller details  are fully interesting the main mesh, especially in parts where the model changes shape under the details
• Ensure sections of the model that are being broken off don't leave sharp angles/thin walls

I have uploaded the model to Shapeways and have an estimated delivery date of the 4th of March. So far I have been receiving the models on the expected shipping date, so with any luck I should have the model by some time next week.

Model 1 - Chaos Ork Tracker

My latest blogs have mainly been about the process of 3D printing and some of my evaluations of test sculpts, which although important in my project, are admittedly a little dull to read about. Hopefully this post will offer a bit more interesting stuff and a look at how my project is progressing in terms of actually making some stuff!

So my original plan was to make the main 'HQ' unit, theWarboss, first as he is sort of the most important. But while doing some concepts (still to come) I really got interested in the Tracker unit more. I thought it would be a good idea to start the project with something I'm excited about to really get the ball rolling and get me into it. So I started with the Tracker first. He has been sculpted in Zbrush and I made a simple column 1mm by 1mm by 3" (the height I wanted the model to be) in order to make sure all the little details where thick enough while I was modelling.

There are still a couple of little things I want to add / change about the model before its ready to print. I have decided to detach the arms and head before printing as this will make the model easier to paint later. The arms and head will be printed on a separate sprew and glued back on later.

This model is also going to have between 1 and 3 pet 'Squigs' which are basically chaos corrupted creatures which he will hold via a chain. These will be sculpted later and 3d printed separately before being painted and attached to the model.

For now though here are some 'almost finished' screen grabs of my Tracker Unit!