Assistance Required

[animotion]

The watermark is a good idea but any modeller who knows what they are doing could erase the watermark by remeshing the topology of the model or simply load the stl file into the watermark software and give it a new watermark. The software doesn't recognize that it alraedy has a watermark. I would forget about offering the large scale stl files because no modeller is going to have a printer big enough to print them.

[eldavo]

The majority of STL files are shipped as plain text so the watermark can simply be edited out with a simple text editor. Even if you store in binary form unless you are very smart and include a watermark that is printed as part of the model there is nothing to stop someone printing any number of models from the STL file and selling them.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

[cornishmad]

2 hours ago, eldavo said:

The majority of STL files are shipped as plain text so the watermark can simply be edited out with a simple text editor. Even if you store in binary form unless you are very smart and include a watermark that is printed as part of the model there is nothing to stop someone printing any number of models from the STL file and selling them.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

There are two methods, one like you said which is Binary but if you remesh will loose the second is integrated within Nettfabb which will leave a slice watermark. Which can not be remeshed to change. 

[cornishmad]

19 hours ago, jonhall said:

I'm a bit confused how you have the CAD skills to produce the images you have, and a 3d print farm, but can't do the Cad to get from one to the other?

 

Jon

Hi Jon, I have the skill the main thing is the time. The whole point was to try to bring someone else on board our team that could speed up this process. 

[njee20]

But you don’t have any products at all out? Why wait? You have time for 1. Test the market with it. Don’t try and get all 3000 items ready.

[animotion]

2 hours ago, njee20 said:

Agree, test the market with a 2mm or 4mm item first of all and see what response you get. I would only concentrate on these gauges first of all as modellers are more likely to have a printer to print them. You also have to realise that you are aiming at scratch builders unless they can fit onto a proprietary chassis. I would not even bother offering what is already out there on the market because you wont be able to compete with injection moulding. Also your kickstarter should be removed as it doesn't do any justice to what you are trying to achieve judging by the quality of the image on it.

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by animotion

[cornishmad]

20 hours ago, njee20 said:

But you don’t have any products at all out? Why wait? You have time for 1. Test the market with it. Don’t try and get all 3000 items ready.

That’s what we are now working on, any suggestion for class? I will then upload to this feed  

[njee20]

I’m biased, the 88 would be good, the 68 chassis is close enough and readily available. But I’m sure steam era modellers would have their preference.
 

Don’t duplicate anything that already exists RTR. To that end I’m not sure what other loco gaps there really are. 

 

That said, a wagon or coach would be easier for people to try, it doesn’t involve needing expensive chassis as you can print as one piece (or two for a coach to factor interior/glazing access). They also have the advantage you can provide bogies CADs for printing too, although it obviously needs further consideration for dimensions etc. 

 

I’d just choose something and see if there’s a market. Don’t overthink it. I’m still not convinced there isn’t a yawning chasm between what you have and what you want to do. 

[cornishmad]

31 minutes ago, njee20 said:

I’m biased, the 88 would be good, the 68 chassis is close enough and readily available. But I’m sure steam era modellers would have their preference.
 

Don’t duplicate anything that already exists RTR. To that end I’m not sure what other loco gaps there really are. 

 

That said, a wagon or coach would be easier for people to try, it doesn’t involve needing expensive chassis as you can print as one piece (or two for a coach to factor interior/glazing access). They also have the advantage you can provide bogies CADs for printing too, although it obviously needs further consideration for dimensions etc. 

 

I’d just choose something and see if there’s a market. Don’t overthink it. I’m still not convinced there isn’t a yawning chasm between what you have and what you want to do. 

Here is our K4 first time uploading to this site. 

3D Printable LNER K4 Steam Locomotive by 3D Rail Works (myminifactory.com) 

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/card/lner-k4-steam-locomotive-149820

Edited January 15, 2021 by cornishmad

[njee20]

We're sort of going in circles here. That's a beautiful render, but it's not a printable model in a usable form. You said you have bodyshells ready to go onto an existing chassis. That's the market.

 

If you want to do renders then great, they look superb, but I reckon it's as much work to get from what you have to something printable as it would be to just start from scratch with a printable CAD.

 

If you want to go down the rendering route, then perhaps look at developing for something like Train Simulator or Train Sim World.

[cornishmad]

20 minutes ago, njee20 said:

We're sort of going in circles here. That's a beautiful render, but it's not a printable model in a usable form. You said you have bodyshells ready to go onto an existing chassis. That's the market.

 

If you want to do renders then great, they look superb, but I reckon it's as much work to get from what you have to something printable as it would be to just start from scratch with a printable CAD.

 

If you want to go down the rendering route, then perhaps look at developing for something like Train Simulator or Train Sim World.

Its not a render, the download is a full STL model 

[njee20]

Yes. But the CAD is more suited to a render than being printed. From what I can see there’s no concessions whatsoever to wall thicknesses, detail printability etc. You’ve just sought to create a very high detail replica of the real thing. That’s great, but that won’t print in N gauge without a load of work. I’d guess even OO would be a struggle. 
 

You have stunning CADs. They’re not printable. They need more than just a few bits chopping off IMO. 

[monkeysarefun]

I can't be bothered personally because I'm not into UK stuff but maybe someone can download the STL and open it in chitubox or the anycubic slicer and see if it slices and if so what the validator or chitubox previewer makes of it. That' should show if it's got reversed faces, internal edges, insufficient wall thicknesses, holes in the mesh and so on that'll make it unprintable. From there it'll be more obvious how hard the road ahead might be.

Edited January 15, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Quarryscapes]

I've downloaded the STL. It's not great, in fact actually it's awful. Polygon count far too low, smokebox door is all angular, not remotely curved. None of the round features will actually print round. Random geometry in there, geometry that is clearly not to scale and a random mix of far too thin to be printable to far too fat to be prototypical. So many errors in the geometry, I gave up trying to get a watertight model.

 

Frankly, go back to the drawing board, concentrate on getting one loco right first rather than 3000 useless ones. 

 

 

[cornishmad]

11 minutes ago, Quarryscapes said:

I've downloaded the STL. It's not great, in fact actually it's awful. Polygon count far too low, smokebox door is all angular, not remotely curved. None of the round features will actually print round. Random geometry in there, geometry that is clearly not to scale and a random mix of far too thin to be printable to far too fat to be prototypical. So many errors in the geometry, I gave up trying to get a watertight model.

 

Frankly, go back to the drawing board, concentrate on getting one loco right first rather than 3000 useless ones. 

 

 

Bear with me, the HQ file is over 440mb!! Which is the the body shell.

[cornishmad]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

Yes. But the CAD is more suited to a render than being printed. From what I can see there’s no concessions whatsoever to wall thicknesses, detail printability etc. You’ve just sought to create a very high detail replica of the real thing. That’s great, but that won’t print in N gauge without a load of work. I’d guess even OO would be a struggle. 
 

You have stunning CADs. They’re not printable. They need more than just a few bits chopping off IMO. 

Thanks, As we have not used MMF before we wanted to any upload. We our trying to upload the HQ shell for print in 00 scale but its on a go slow as its 440mb 

[cornishmad]

1 hour ago, Quarryscapes said:

I've downloaded the STL. It's not great, in fact actually it's awful. Polygon count far too low, smokebox door is all angular, not remotely curved. None of the round features will actually print round. Random geometry in there, geometry that is clearly not to scale and a random mix of far too thin to be printable to far too fat to be prototypical. So many errors in the geometry, I gave up trying to get a watertight model.

 

Frankly, go back to the drawing board, concentrate on getting one loco right first rather than 3000 useless ones. 

 

 

As you can see the HQ finished models are of a very high detail and spec 

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, cornishmad said:

As you can see the HQ finished models are of a very high detail and spec 

 

Mate, the main issue isn't the quality of your CADmanship. But a model intended for 3D printing needs to be designed with that aim in mind right from the start. Meshes need to be watertight, hidden surfaces that'll cause reversed faces, floating geometry and so on need to be fixed. These things  will always occur as you create a file and must be tackled during the CAD process inside the 3D drawing package otherwise the slicer software will not be able to process the file properly or at the very least you'll get weird membranes, missing bits and so on in the sliced file.

 

Even when I create something as simple as a fancy  door and frame I'll invariably have to remove hidden surfaces and fix  holes in the mesh before I can export the stl. Trying to diagnose problems and patch them  up afterwards in another package such as meshmixer is a mind bending task that no one here would spend their time on unless they had infinite time or were a fruit bat.

 

Your renders look great, your aim is laudable but perhaps the train simulator community might be a more appropriate audience for your hard work?

 

Edited because I subsequently had the  thought that "Nutty as a fruit bat" might be an exclusively Australian saying, since we have fruit bats and you don't. 

 

FYI they are very large bats and their kids are cute.

Edited January 15, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[njee20]

[tangent]we had an advert on TV years ago for Fruit Gums featuring a fruit bat called Kevin.[/tangent] 

[cornishmad]

Works absolutely fine, hollowed out to fit a 00 gauge chassis. Re uploaded on MMF and TV

[monkeysarefun]

Mate, I'm a bit confused - this is a fairly low poly file, with very little detail and flats instead of cylinders? I got it off of TV - and it sure wasnt 440MB.

 

What are you asking us to do with it for you again?

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[eldavo]

3 hours ago, cornishmad said:

Works absolutely fine, hollowed out to fit a 00 gauge chassis. Re uploaded on MMF and TV

 

If you run that through a reasonable printer you will see all the flats on the curved surfaces!

 

 

[cornishmad]

Z scale chassis 

[cornishmad]

On 16/01/2021 at 15:21, monkeysarefun said:

Mate, I'm a bit confused - this is a fairly low poly file, with very little detail and flats instead of cylinders? I got it off of TV - and it sure wasnt 440MB.

 

What are you asking us to do with it for you again?

 

The max upload would allow me to upload the HD file which is why we have our own server up and running. The files are like 2.6gb huge sizes. To upload to TV I had to Meshmix and Reduce which as you defeats the object. 
 

All we needed was some to package the full models chassis, wheels, body, cab, extra details lamps etc... that’s all we was asking for someone to do lol

Edited January 20, 2021 by cornishmad

[monkeysarefun]

Well, good luck.