"Design Questions" Topic

Hey everyone, not sure if this is exactly the right place to post these questions, but I have a few in regards to a project I am working on! Any help is appreciated. I have always been good at drawing, and often sketch stuff I think is cool, and while playing a minis game yesterday I got the bright idea to try and make some of my own, I don't even think I am going to sell them, more like make a bunch for myself then idk, haven't gotten that far yet. Anyway!

Q1: If I submitted my sketches/drawings/plans to a 3d designer so he could make me a 3d design for use with 3d printing services (such as shapeways) are my sketches my property? Would I need to get them copyrighted before sending them? Could he possibly sell the finished design to someone else to produce minis?

Q2: Assuming all goes well, and I am happy with his rendered work of my designs, and I have a model printed from it, is it possible to make a mold of that model? My idea would be to mold in resin, since I doubt I have the skill/equipment to mold in plastic or metal.

Q3: Has anyone had experience with using 3d printers/services for producing miniatures? I've read stories of both misfortune and success. Do these models hold up well to the molding process?

Q4: What about would you estimate the cost of having a mold made of such a model, with the intent of using resin as the material to produce the models afterward?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is posted in the wrong area!

You and I are in the US, so my answers are based on that.

1- Copyright is automatic, so "getting them copyrighted" is not a thing that is done in the normal course of working. You own your sketches until you do something to make them not yours. I suppose the sculptor could sell the sculpt to someone else, but there is not much of a market for CAD work done on spec and the legality of the sale would be pretty suspect. Even if you did not pay him for the work and he sold it to someone else, you would probably have a pretty strong legal argument against him, depending on the wording of your contract with him.

2- It is possible to make a mold of the material 3d printers commonly use.

3- Something "holding up to the molding process" depends on what process you use. Generally, there is a way to make a mold from any object. There are thousands of options for materials and ways to apply them.

4- It depends a bit on some specifics of the model's shape and how many casts you want to get out of the mold. I would suggest you either make the mold and casts yourself or have someone else do both. There is little point in paying for a mold to home cast resin in if you are not highly experienced at casting resin, because It is very easy to destroy a mold while learning. You can expect to get some sub par casts when starting out.

Why 3D design / printing, you could just contract a classic sculptor and get your minis done that way?

Or better yet, get some sculpting putty and the right tools and try to sculpt some for yourself, it isn´t that hard if you´re patient enough and definitely less expensive then paying someone to do it for you :)

A1: Make sure that it is clear (get it in writing) that what you are contracting for is "work for hire" and that you retain all rights. Often, designers and artists will ask that you grant them the right to showcase the work as part of their portfolio when doing work for hire. This is good for you too as it's basically a little free advertising if you go on to sell copies of the work.

Expect to pay more for work for hire and even more if you don't allow them to include it in their portfolio.

Edit: I'm not a lawyer but I do work in a copyright based industry, so I'm not talking totally out of my rear end.

thanks guys, i appreciate it. I just don't see myself trying to start a business and so on, really just looking to see a creation from idea to mini. I was hoping to do 3d because it's less expensive than a traditional sculptor as far as I know, and I personally suck at using 3d software ( i am trying to teach myself to no real avail)In the end I'm just looking to produce a decent amount of things for personal use, maybe one day try to sell them? Hard to think about, I work 60 hours a week minimum, sometimes weekends, so I dont see myself having the time to pack orders and care that much. Thankyou for the advice guys

Ethanjt21
If you can give me some idea of what you have in mind might be able to help, just rough details will do.
L

Ethanjt21,

There's not necessarily going to be much difference in cost between getting a 3D CAD design and a traditional sculpt, especially when you factor in the printing cost and the possibility that a CAD sculpt won't necessarily be as well suited to molding / casting as a sculpt made with that in mind by someone with experience in the industry. Also you should be aware that many 3D printed items are not suitable for printing because either the material isn't well suited or the detail is simply too poor (for example, you probably wouldn't want to use the polymers you can get from Shapeways for any of the smaller scales, their surface is just too rough). I have a Shapeways shop myself and I use 3D technology for creating unique dice and other mechanically precise shapes, but for anything organic I think the best results are still from traditional sculpts (which I also do), though I know there are some high end 3D printers out there that can do some really nice stuff.

For the casting… it really depends how many copies of each item you want to produce which method is best for you. Injection molded plastic is really only for very large quantities, the molds are hugely expensive, but if you're producing on a massive scale it's cost effective compared to more labor intensive methods. For smaller batches, you're looking at metal or resin. There are a few services out there that will make molds and cast metal figures for you for I think reasonable prices. Not sure if there are any services for resin. I use polymer resins myself (different from the more brittle kinds more often seen on the market), you can get an entry level molding kit from Smooth-On Inc. inexpensively. It will take a lot of hours and experimentation, and probably some additional equipment (such as a pressure chamber), to produce anything high quality but if you enjoy a challenge it is possible to create some really nice pieces this way in smaller quantities.