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Modeling a Vinyl Toy Tutorial

polycounter lvl 18
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Wetterschneider polycounter lvl 18
I wrote this tutorial for Computer Arts Projects:

Vinyl Toy Modeling Tutorial

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  • Josh_Singh
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    Josh_Singh polycounter lvl 18
    NICE! Hope to get into this someday.
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Cool, nice one! smile.gif
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    Thats really cool. I think I'd really enjoy doing a little toy creation for a living at some point. Probably a hard field to break into though.
  • Wetterschneider
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    Wetterschneider polycounter lvl 18
    I don't know that it is tough to break into. We use a lot of contractors, we even have an ad up in the job section for riggers and animators. It's funny how much carry over there is from the game industry in terms of skill sets.

    If you want to do your own small run of figures, look into resin casting and silicon molds. Cheap and not to hard to do in your garage.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    Really? Well thats interesting. I might put together a small set of models then and see if I can get a contract. Im not sure I'd want to mold them myself, but I'd love to do some 3d designs.
  • Jesse Moody
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    Jesse Moody polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    I don't know that it is tough to break into. We use a lot of contractors, we even have an ad up in the job section for riggers and animators. It's funny how much carry over there is from the game industry in terms of skill sets.

    If you want to do your own small run of figures, look into resin casting and silicon molds. Cheap and not to hard to do in your garage.

    [/ QUOTE ]


    Actually I am working on some resin casts and silicone molds currently for some mini busts and prop type stuff.

    Very easy to use.
  • Jay Evans
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    Jay Evans polycounter lvl 18
    cool stuff, and a neat tutorial I haven't had a chance to read it all yet. I have a couple questions for you.

    -any recommendations on rapid prototyping places that do good work for this sort of thing?

    -there are many different types of rapid prototyping machines, STL, 3D printers etc. Do you have a certain type that you would recommend, for price\resolution\cleanup involved?
  • Wetterschneider
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    Wetterschneider polycounter lvl 18
    Jay, we have a couple factories in the far far east that do the production work for us. Depending on the purpose of the output, we either use a CNC device (which is a multi-axis router) or a printer. The piece of equipment that we are most excited about using is the Eden 330, a printer with an extremely fine resolution.

    Some model shops will print/output and finish the model for you, and cast it. Some will only print it. I don't know what or who is available around Vancouver though.
  • Jay Evans
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    Jay Evans polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks for the info. Ya I was mainly just enquiring as a hobbyist. It doesn't seem like there really is anywhere that caters to small run art pieces of a high enough quality. Obviously this is probably because of the crazy prices of the high end RP machines, but none the less its a market waiting to be catered to. No reason why it couldn't all be done online as well. Upload your files and receive your print. Some day soon I guess:P
  • Wetterschneider
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    Wetterschneider polycounter lvl 18
    There are some inexpensive online services, but you will definitely need to sand, prime etc yourself.
  • Cheshire
    [ QUOTE ]
    There are some inexpensive online services, but you will definitely need to sand, prime etc yourself.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    So if I want to sculpt a character out with Max or ZB and get say 4 copies for color options to paint what is the best way to do it, and what is the cheapest way to do that?
  • Wetterschneider
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    Wetterschneider polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    [ QUOTE ]
    There are some inexpensive online services, but you will definitely need to sand, prime etc yourself.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    So if I want to sculpt a character out with Max or ZB and get say 4 copies for color options to paint what is the best way to do it, and what is the cheapest way to do that?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    You'll have to consider the size and complexity. If it is small and simple it might be cheaper to just output 4 copies. If it is any bigger and relatively complex, it may be cheaper to split up your model (main mass, arms, head) and recast 4 copies of each part. How expensive is your time? For physical gifts, or a limited run for a gallery, this is a good way to go. For color options, we do our options simply by overpainting a rendering in Photoshop.
  • Cheshire
    I mostly want to do it hobbyish. It'd be great to have a figure made by yourself. Most likely if i did this it'd be something more comples that i was pretty proud of.

    Can Zbrush models be printed out in 3d?
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Cheshire: yes they can, check out this thread at zbrush central.
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    So say I've got a model all ready to go.

    Can anyone post links and recommendations to a place that will bust one out? Preferably milled, though if the printing is high enough resolution would be acceptable.
  • Cheshire
    this is so cool, now all i need is time and money frown.gif
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