Experiments with 3D scanning - Oldschool methods with newschool tech.

[fred]

While those scanners are hardly cheap, they are a lot less than I was expecting.

Are there companies that rent time on them, eg you provide an object, the company scans it for you, and charges you for the time taken?

[Mammoth miniatures]

While those scanners are hardly cheap, they are a lot less than I was expecting.

Are there companies that rent time on them, eg you provide an object, the company scans it for you, and charges you for the time taken?

I'm sure there are but I don't know of any. The actual process is quick, about 5 minutes to do multiple scans, composite them together, generate a mesh and export.

I printed the dragon last night at roughly one half scale - with added digital details such as scales the result is a highly detailed mini that still feels hand made.

[zemjw]

Yeah, these are definitely keeping the "hand made" look Most of the pure digital stuff looks too cold and "perfect". This looks much more natural, and much better for it.

The scanner is less than I was expecting, but still a bit too much. You could almost get three boxes of GW figures for that price 

How clean is the mesh the scanner produces? Is it watertight, or do you have to fill in holes sometimes? Zbrush is remarkably good with dense meshes, so that must help a bit, but modelling on a heavy mesh isn't always fun.

[Mammoth miniatures]

Yeah, these are definitely keeping the "hand made" look Most of the pure digital stuff looks too cold and "perfect". This looks much more natural, and much better for it.

The scanner is less than I was expecting, but still a bit too much. You could almost get three boxes of GW figures for that price 

How clean is the mesh the scanner produces? Is it watertight, or do you have to fill in holes sometimes? Zbrush is remarkably good with dense meshes, so that must help a bit, but modelling on a heavy mesh isn't always fun.

Yes I must admit I am considering saving up for one of my own.

you actually get the option of watertight or non watertight mesh when you export the scan - the software of the scanner also has some basic editing/cutting functions and some hole filling options as well, so you can export a perfect mesh ready to edit.
So far I haven't had to do any editing prior to exporting the mesh, with the sole exception of the dragons tail, which bent slightly when i was moving it to scan from a different angle and caused a bit of artifacting - but fixing it was as easing as outlining the bit to be removed and pressing delete.

[Mammoth miniatures]

A new sculpt -

I'm working on a new game, and since it hs its own setting and aesthetic, I want it to have its own miniatures. I figured this was a good time to start experimenting in earnest.





(original concept sketch)


The master sculpt is built over a poseable armature and measures about 110mm to the eye. The idea, in the long run, Is that this way I can create a single figure and take scans of multiple poses with a quick bit of resculpting, thus making whole ranges of uniquely poses warriors from a single hand made master.

The scan, like the others, was edited in Zbrush to add texture, smooth any defects etc.

This STL is also up on the patreon (Patreon.com/planet28)

[Mammoth miniatures]

Painted up a 28mm print of the spearman - As you can see, using this method of sculpting allows for very slight, realistically proportioned figures. I think this chap would still be castable in resin, But I'm going to do some more complex poses this week and see how it goes.