Ready to order! -Djas Puhr, Labria, Nikto, Tessek, and Barada

[AceRimmer]

The solid/hollow thing did not change the price at all. If the prices are different it's due to size not volume. Once I jad changed them from solid to hollow the price was still the same.

 

[TaliBane]

The solid/hollow thing did not change the price at all. If the prices are different it's due to size not volume. Once I jad changed them from solid to hollow the price was still the same.

That's weird - I couldn't think of why else the price would be different. Just checked it again and it's about $10 less than what I paid (though that's almost 2 months ago.)

Anyway, good luck with the move - and careful using that mended hand!

 

[AceRimmer]

Yeah it is. Every now and then shapeways changes the way their prices are calculated. A while back it made a huge difference if items were hollow or not, then suddenly it didn't anymore and now...I can only guess.

As for the move: I'm making sure the other guys I share the studio with carry all the heavy stuff

 

[LOPIE]

Painted one up last night, sorry about the crappy pics.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

Wow. Nice!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

Great work everywhere but eyes look amazing.

 

[AceRimmer]

Cool, great job on the eyes! Thanks for sharing the pics with us.

 

[AceRimmer]

Can I use the pics for my blog and maybe shapeways pretty please?

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

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For months, I have been “hounding“ shapeways to give us a 15% discount. I was unsuccessful. However, I finally received a message from their customer support yesterday. He told me they will soon be offering 15% off on their website.

As mentioned before, once I know the 3D print size is good, I order the highest resolution printed possible. It cost a lot more but it is worth it to me.

However, As you can see in my Hound interest thread, I purchased a printer. The results are amazing. I am working with Ace, and if anyone wants to use my high resolution printer to print his sculptures please send me a message. This way, Ace will get more compensation for his efforts. As previously indicated, Ace is incredibly busy so I am trying to help him out as much as I can.

Also, a 1/6 scale Amanaman will be expensive. But please send me a message if you are interested. In June 2017, Shapeway’s estimate for a similar multi short figure project was over $1500 according to my emails with Ace. Ace had it printed elsewhere for about $930. But I don’t think Amanaman will be that expensive.

For more pictures and info please review my hound interest thread.

Thanks

 

[TaliBane]

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For months, I have been “hounding“ shapeways to give us a 15% discount. I was unsuccessful. However, I finally received a message from their customer support yesterday. He told me they will soon be offering 15% off on their website.

As mentioned before, once I know the 3D print size is good, I order the highest resolution printed possible. It cost a lot more but it is worth it to me.

However, As you can see in my Hound interest thread, I purchased a printer. The results are amazing. I am working with Ace, and if anyone wants to use my high resolution printer to print his sculptures please send me a message. This way, Ace will get more compensation for his efforts. As previously indicated, Ace is incredibly busy so I am trying to help him out as much as I can.

Also, a 1/6 scale Amanaman will be expensive. But please send me a message if you are interested. In June 2017, Shapeway’s estimate for a similar multi short figure project was over $1500 according to my emails with Ace. Ace had it printed elsewhere for about $930. But I don’t think Amanaman will be that expensive.

For more pictures and info please review my hound interest thread.

Thanks

Wow, there's a lot to process in this posting. I know Mati said that he's had issues with using resin casters, but it's really the only way that you could cut down that per-figure cost on Amanaman.

The key point is that the Amanaman arms and staff would be quite difficult to cast, so should remain as 3D printed parts, whereas the main body and legs, which is the bulk of the figure and is simpler to cast (the area around the tail/legs is slightly tricky, though the tail sculpt could be simplified without it being all that noticeable) should be resin cast.

My guess is that this would drop the overall figure down to a level that people would expect - maybe in the $450-500 range. If Sideshow did Amanaman it would be in the $350-400 range anyway (they'd pad it out with an accessory or two,) so $100 more for a custom version is pretty great.... especially given that Sideshow will never do Amanaman.

At $400, I think you'd have a decent amount of takers - at $930 it's an elite club of you and me.

This would mean it'd be a kit that would have two 3D printed arms and a 3D printed staff, then with a solid body/head/legs (leg articulation on Amanaman is pointless.) I think the skeleton floor accessory - which as far as I can see is basically just a headless human skeleton - would be pretty easily made by anyone.

And great news on that 15% discount on Shapeways, but even better news on your 3D printer purchase!

EDIT: the best caster I've ever encountered is Enaud - though I know he's way busier and here less than he used to be so may have no interest in being involved (though he may want a 1/6 Amanaman.) His casts are clean, bubble free and better than even higher end resin kits.

I have a list of his stuff I'm PM'ing Enaud about buying in the next week or two, so I could ask him about casting Amana.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

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Thank you so much.

Please keep in mind that $930 was for a different but similar project. . That other project was three 1/6 figures but short guys. We will have a better idea of price whenever Amanaman shows up in the priority list.

Another bit of information I’ll share with you guys... including commission and all the parts so that I could make one figure... actually cost me over $2000. All of the parts were cast in resin. I had to pay for all of the molds, parts, etc. When I asked to buy more copies or even the molds, no one ever replied to me. I justified the expense at the time I paid because I thought I would be able to sell kits to customizers. Obviously, that did not work but at least I got my one custom figure that I bashed myself.

 

[TaliBane]

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Thank you so much.

Please keep in mind that $930 was for a different but similar project. . That other project was three 1/6 figures but short guys. We will have a better idea of price whenever Amanaman shows up in the priority list.

Another bit of information I’ll share with you guys... including commission and all the parts so that I could make one figure... actually cost me over $2000. All of the parts were cast in resin. I had to pay for all of the molds, parts, etc. When I asked to buy more copies or even the molds, no one ever replied to me. I justified the expense at the time I paid because I thought I would be able to sell kits to customizers. Obviously, that did not work but at least I got my one custom figure that I bashed myself.

Wow, and here I have traditionally set a $150-200 threshold for custom figures. What figure was the $2k one - was it a big or complex figure?

I've found that steadily hand-making/casting/resculpting things I can get most of what I need, but Mati has been like a lightning bolt from the sky, just the way Enaud was when I first started on this board (his accessories such as staffs etc are like bread and butter staples for cutsomizers.) I still laugh at how I created my own Ree Yees when Enaud had pieces available. I have his list pinned to my wall (still curious how his A-Wing set is coming.)

Re: Amanaman, I wonder how much the print costs for the arms and staff would be? I really can't figure out what makes the cost of a 3D print beyond qulaity/detail choice - like the amount of material, the complexity of sculpt? Seems kind of arbitrary at times.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

Yep, Enaud and Ace are awesome.

The figure that I had commissioned a few years ago had several resin pieces and different head and hand options. I try real hard to stay positive and think at least I have one of my grail figures. I definitely skipped a lot of meals and worked a lot of hours to pay for that.

Speaking of 3-D printing… Here is another 1/6 scale example from shapeways:

 

[Cagoda]

Woahhh I had no idea prices for stuff were that high! So with the printer you have we could feasibly make what we want at an affordable price? I guess the more people on board the cheaper something could be. I’m still down with an Amanaman. I’m slowly but surely sculpting my own Ephant Mon, hopefully I’ll be able to finish it so I can share one day.

 

[LOPIE]

Can I use the pics for my blog and maybe shapeways pretty please?

Yes absolutely, and thank you all for the positive feedback.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

Lopie,
Again great work.




As you guys know, Ace does not get much from Shapeways orders but every little bit helps. After his time spent, few people actually ordered.

I really want to see the artist compensated for his time, so here is a deal. Also I want other new sculpts from him.

For anyone who orders and pays Ace’s PayPal invoice, we will provide 15% off the next order. To help him, you can message me and I will forward the PayPal info to him.

For example:
If someone orders a Quarren high resolution head, shapeways price is about $145. So we say $123 plus shipping direct from the artist.





Thanks

 

[LOPIE]

I'm going to order 2 more this next coming week. And I'll have another one painted this coming weekend.

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

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That sounds great. Your work is always inspirational.

 

[AceRimmer]

Re: Amanaman, I wonder how much the print costs for the arms and staff would be? I really can't figure out what makes the cost of a 3D print beyond qulaity/detail choice - like the amount of material, the complexity of sculpt? Seems kind of arbitrary at times.

It's also the runtime of the machine and how much space is occupied by your model, if a model takes up the whole build platform just with your model and takes 30+ hours to print, in that time the machine can not "generate income" with other prints for other clients at the same time, that's why it gets exponentially more expensive when scaling items up. I assume that's also the reason why the price did not change when items were hollow/solid lately, the amount of material is probably not worth mentioning compared to the space/time the parts take up, however that's just what I think and I can't confirm any of that. How much time they calculate for the post processing might even play into it, they got to get rid of supports, wash the parts in alcohol, cure them under special lamps etc. all that costs time, electricity, chemicals and some manpower, so might also well play into their pricing depending on size, but again, I can't confirm that.


@LOPIE: Cheers! Thank you so much!

 

[The_Darkness_Predator]

^
As always, thanks for the great information.

To make sure everyone knows, I thought I would share these tips again.

Unlike the lower resolution 3-D prints, I am able to use my rotary tool to do the modifications below. I have used the cheaper options previously, and the plastic melts which causes me a lot of problems. I do something similar on many of my custom characters, Including characters from Enaud.