Shapeways

[tyrantqueen]

There's something that has confused me about Shapeways. I've not bought many models (about 4 or so, most of them in WSF, and one in FUD) but they seem to share the same problem: one side of the model is much smoother than the other. On the other side you can see the layers very clearly, and it's extremely rough. This doesn't sound like a big problem in theory, but the lack of consistency bothers me. I actually prefer the smoother side, it looks much nicer when I apply paint to it.

Is this something to worry about? Or is it a side effect of the printing process? I've been applying primer to my models to try and smooth them over, seems to be working ok so far.

[paleoferroequine]

There's something that has confused me about Shapeways. I've not bought many models (about 4 or so, most of them in WSF, and one in FUD) but they seem to share the same problem: one side of the model is much smoother than the other. On the other side you can see the layers very clearly, and it's extremely rough. This doesn't sound like a big problem in theory, but the lack of consistency bothers me. I actually prefer the smoother side, it looks much nicer when I apply paint to it.

Is this something to worry about? Or is it a side effect of the printing process? I've been applying primer to my models to try and smooth them over, seems to be working ok so far.

It's normal, although FUD is usually less noticeable. One thing that's odd is that if you get more than one of a subject the layering can be on different sides of each one. Something to do with how the computer arranges all the objects in a print run. Sometimes they are vertical and sometimes horizontal or diagonal.  You can also lightly sand them to remove the layers.

[mb-cg]

There's something that has confused me about Shapeways. I've not bought many models (about 4 or so, most of them in WSF, and one in FUD) but they seem to share the same problem: one side of the model is much smoother than the other. On the other side you can see the layers very clearly, and it's extremely rough. This doesn't sound like a big problem in theory, but the lack of consistency bothers me. I actually prefer the smoother side, it looks much nicer when I apply paint to it.

Is this something to worry about? Or is it a side effect of the printing process? I've been applying primer to my models to try and smooth them over, seems to be working ok so far.

This is an effect of the printing process, and it depends on the orientation of the model when it is printed. The parts that are in contact with the support material have a rough finish. It is explained in detail HERE

[tyrantqueen]

Thanks guys. It's a little worrying to be honest, and it might make me think twice about ordering from the site again   

Will these rough layers disappear if enough paint layers are applied?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Like paleoferroequine said, you can use a light sandpaper to smooth it down, or even a nail file works well for me.

[tyrantqueen]

Like paleoferroequine said, you can use a light sandpaper to smooth it down, or even a nail file works well for me.

I don't want to do that, it will probably remove detail.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Like paleoferroequine said, you can use a light sandpaper to smooth it down, or even a nail file works well for me.

I don't want to do that, it will probably remove detail.

If I had it in hand I could probably tell you more but if the problem areas are just above the detail it can done..just carefully.

[tyrantqueen]

Today I received the 1/40 Centrosaurus, by Manuel Bejarano.

If anyone is curious, it is almost indentical in size to the Battat Styracosaurus.

I tried to take some photos, but the pure white colour makes it very difficult to photograph well (along with my poor photography skills to confound things even more ) Luckily, a little bit of photoshop tweaking improves things greatly I had to fiddle around with the contrast a bit, so that's why the lighting is so weird.





I'll try to get some better photos done soon...I'm still figuring this thing out

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Nice ! I hope to get both of those myself. 

Maybe pics of them with grey primer would help ?  It tends to show detail pretty well..if you use it on all your models that is.

[gorgosaurus]

Thanks for posting images of the actual castings - helping me make my mind up to buy these.
White castings against a black background will confuse the contrast sensors/settings in a digital camera.
A soft grey or field-grey/green background will work better.
Blade of the Moon is right, a coat of grey primer will reduce stark contrast. Instead of a grey background you´ll need a darker green or brown tone; using directional lighting with the light source off to one side will help too.
You can use card or cloth as the backgrounds.
Spike.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Thanks for posting images of the actual castings - helping me make my mind up to buy these.
White castings against a black background will confuse the contrast sensors/settings in a digital camera.
A soft grey or field-grey/green background will work better.
Blade of the Moon is right, a coat of grey primer will reduce stark contrast. Instead of a grey background you´ll need a darker green or brown tone; using directional lighting with the light source off to one side will help too.
You can use card or cloth as the backgrounds.
Spike.

Good ideas Spike.  I was going to tell you about these on DA but hadn't got around to it..lol

You should share some pics of those kits your working on.

[mmfrankford]

Thanks for posting images of the actual castings - helping me make my mind up to buy these.
White castings against a black background will confuse the contrast sensors/settings in a digital camera.
A soft grey or field-grey/green background will work better.
Blade of the Moon is right, a coat of grey primer will reduce stark contrast. Instead of a grey background you´ll need a darker green or brown tone; using directional lighting with the light source off to one side will help too.
You can use card or cloth as the backgrounds.
Spike.

That is a great idea. Thanks. And glad to see you on the forum! 

[tyrantqueen]

Thanks for posting images of the actual castings - helping me make my mind up to buy these.
White castings against a black background will confuse the contrast sensors/settings in a digital camera.
A soft grey or field-grey/green background will work better.
Blade of the Moon is right, a coat of grey primer will reduce stark contrast. Instead of a grey background you´ll need a darker green or brown tone; using directional lighting with the light source off to one side will help too.
You can use card or cloth as the backgrounds.
Spike.

That is a great idea. Thanks. And glad to see you on the forum! 

I'll try to take some better photos of my Bejarano ceratopsians using this advice.
Oh, btw, my Chasmosaurus is arriving tomorrow For some reason, Shapeways took over 2 weeks to prepare this one :/

[tyrantqueen]

Shapeways 1/40 Chasmosaurus by mb-cg finally arrived today.

Here are the pics:







My only regret is that I can't do these beautiful models justice with my lame photography skills
I could not find a pure grey backdrop for these photos, so I used a greyish-brown one instead

[gorgosaurus]

Nice effort, tyrantqueen.
White surfaces will always present contrast challenges.
Good to see the figures together for a size comparison.
The details appear softer than I was expecting (look at the eyes) but the sculpts are very good and I will place an order to see what can be done with these.
Spike.

[gorgosaurus]

Six mb-cg castings from Shapeways NL arrived today - well ahead of schedule. Good service.
Coronosaurus x 2, Chasmosaurus x 2, Pentaceratops and Olorotitan, all in 1/40.
I am quite pleased with them.
Very nice sculpts. The 3D print-outs in White Strong and Flexible are softer in detail than I expected.
Wondering how much better quality would be in Frosted Detail - which makes them pretty expensive.
That said, I´ll repeat - I do like these and, with a little work, can use them.
Photos will follow once I´ve primer has been applied, but I´ll be busy elsewhere for a while.
Spike.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Six mb-cg castings from Shapeways NL arrived today - well ahead of schedule. Good service.
Coronosaurus x 2, Chasmosaurus x 2, Pentaceratops and Olorotitan, all in 1/40.
I am quite pleased with them.
Very nice sculpts. The 3D print-outs in White Strong and Flexible are softer in detail than I expected.
Wondering how much better quality would be in Frosted Detail - which makes them pretty expensive.
That said, I´ll repeat - I do like these and, with a little work, can use them.
Photos will follow once I´ve primer has been applied, but I´ll be busy elsewhere for a while.
Spike.

I'm pretty new to the Shapeways pieces..waiting to receive my first one though.  I'm not too up on the material types but I do know there was a lot of discussion about them, maybe in Krentz's thread ?  They did discuss which types of material looked better and posted examples.  It might have been on the V.1 of the forum here : http://dinotoyforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=toys&action=display&thread=3701

There is a lot to go through but I'm sure it will answer your questions.

How did I miss the Oloro in 1/40 !? Oh well yet another one to add eventually.   

[Bokisaurus]

Ah, the first shipment of ShapeWay arrived today! These are the ones by Manuel Bejarano.
First up, the 1/72 scale hadrosaurs
Male Para

Female

The pair of Para (did not get the nest)

Olorotitan

Iguanodon

Ouranosaurus

Shantungosaurus ( the largest of the herd)

The entire herd. As you can see, the smallest is the Ouranosaurus and the largest one is Shuntungosaurus. Its nice to have a set that are all the same scale.


Next up, the 1/40 scale
Lirainosaurus

with isisaurus

Arsinoitherium

Troodon (feathered )

Just so you can tell how small this figure really is. Despite the small size, this little one is full of details!


The entire shipment

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

That's cool the Isis can hold a penny..lol  Would be great to have all the hadrosaurs in 1/40.

[tyrantqueen]

1/40 Megalosaurus by Manuel Bejarano.









My photos do not do justice to this beautiful model <3 I hope to see more retrosaurs from Mr Bejarano, perhaps some good ol' tail draggers? I think they could be a series- the next in the series could be this one:



Then leading up to a modern, fully bipedal reconstruction (which would be even more awesome since there are no real good depictions of modern Meggy anyway)
This is just a suggestion of course. I will continue to support mb-cg productions if he keeps making awesome models like these