FAQ
Q: What are these?
A:
Some people buy mass produced, pre-painted figures from the companies like Kotobukiya or Alter,
deeper in the rabbit hole you have those who buy resin Garage Kits (GKs).
GKs are usually resin-cast figures that come in parts and require manual assembly and painting made by hobbyists or dedicated companies.
At the end of this chain there's me who after going through with first two steps decided that sculpting something on my own would be fun!
And that's where we are now, I'm creating 3D models which are later split into parts, prepared for 3D printing (sliced), printed using 3D Resin printer and finally assembled and painted.
GKs are usually resin-cast figures that come in parts and require manual assembly and painting made by hobbyists or dedicated companies.
At the end of this chain there's me who after going through with first two steps decided that sculpting something on my own would be fun!
And that's where we are now, I'm creating 3D models which are later split into parts, prepared for 3D printing (sliced), printed using 3D Resin printer and finally assembled and painted.
Q: What can I do with these?
A:
The main purpose of these is to print them, paint and display just like you'd with pre-painted figure with the added
flavour of doing it yourself.
Standard FDM 3D printing (the one that first comes to mind) is sadly not something I can recommend. 4K resolution SLA printer is necessary to achieve satisfactory results.
From other use cases I've seen people laser engraving the models in crystal for example.
Standard FDM 3D printing (the one that first comes to mind) is sadly not something I can recommend. 4K resolution SLA printer is necessary to achieve satisfactory results.
From other use cases I've seen people laser engraving the models in crystal for example.
Q: What's the deal with NFTs?
A:
There's a lot of bad fame around NFTs. Their main use of being just some images stored somewhere is pretty pointless indeed in my opinion.
However I believe that they do have a reason, you can treat an NFT as a license, be it for movie, book, audio... or in my case a license to download a figure.
You can have all of these digital goods in your wallet and precisely speaking immortalized in blockchain. No pesky payment providers and their royalties, other 3rd parties etc.
You can learn more here: GameStop NFT
However I believe that they do have a reason, you can treat an NFT as a license, be it for movie, book, audio... or in my case a license to download a figure.
You can have all of these digital goods in your wallet and precisely speaking immortalized in blockchain. No pesky payment providers and their royalties, other 3rd parties etc.
You can learn more here: GameStop NFT
Q: Is it difficult to paint and assembly?
A:
It is.
But at the same time it's incredibly satisfying to build something on your own. Lots of skills to obtain and the path will be thorny, it's certainly doable though.
I myself started basically from creative black hole (I'm a programmer professionally and no, I'm not doing websites ^^) not having done anything creative at all and while I'm far from mastering anything I have a lot of fun while the results are satisfactory.
It also requires some major investments as it's not cheap hobby by any means.
But at the same time it's incredibly satisfying to build something on your own. Lots of skills to obtain and the path will be thorny, it's certainly doable though.
I myself started basically from creative black hole (I'm a programmer professionally and no, I'm not doing websites ^^) not having done anything creative at all and while I'm far from mastering anything I have a lot of fun while the results are satisfactory.
It also requires some major investments as it's not cheap hobby by any means.
Q: How do I print?
A:
Assuming you own resin 3D printer, you are provided with Lychee slicer scenes with pre-supported parts.
In theory you just adjust them to use your resin and printer profile, export, load onto the printer and done.
In reality you most likely will have to rearrange them based on your printer's print volume and other conditions that you know best about your printer and resin.
If you are entirely new to it you will have to research from scratch, buy printer and necessary equipment. Thankfully there's plenty of resources online. I can recommend getting at least 4K resolution printer with decently sized build plate, I'm using Elegoo Saturn as of writing this and I'm very happy with it.
In theory you just adjust them to use your resin and printer profile, export, load onto the printer and done.
In reality you most likely will have to rearrange them based on your printer's print volume and other conditions that you know best about your printer and resin.
If you are entirely new to it you will have to research from scratch, buy printer and necessary equipment. Thankfully there's plenty of resources online. I can recommend getting at least 4K resolution printer with decently sized build plate, I'm using Elegoo Saturn as of writing this and I'm very happy with it.
Q: How do I paint?
A:
You can either paint with airbrush or standard brushes, any kind of paint will suffice (Acrylics, Laquers, Enamels).
Get ready for a lot of sanding too.
It's quite complex topic as you may imagine and it's not my goal to cover it here entirely. I will recommend this site as a good starting point: https://www.plumworkshop.com/guides
It's quite complex topic as you may imagine and it's not my goal to cover it here entirely. I will recommend this site as a good starting point: https://www.plumworkshop.com/guides
Q: Do you sell physicals?
A:
Nope.
Q: Are there solid models not split into parts?
A:
During my workflow I destructively divide the model at the end stages and while there will be little further overall changes,
there will be some tweaks and improvements before final release. Thus the answer is no.
You can join the parts manually in Blender though as you are given the entire scene.
You can join the parts manually in Blender though as you are given the entire scene.
Q: How can I download?
A:
If you bought via CGTrader they are handling the download, if you bought an NFT you will find a download button
on figure details page. You will have to have your wallet extension installed and connected to this website, after that a prompt will pop-up asking to sign a message.
This signed message will allow me to verify ownership of given wallet address, if everything checks out I'll generate your custom download links.
More info
More info
Q: What about the eyes?
A:
Eyes are tough, both to sculpt and paint. They are the soul of the figure after all.
As of now I've settled on sculpting the eyebrows, lashes and the overall eye outline, with them serving as guides you can easily add basic colours.
For the actual inner eye you are either comfortable with painting manually with brush or you can print decals with laser printer. I do provide decals for you to print.
For the actual inner eye you are either comfortable with painting manually with brush or you can print decals with laser printer. I do provide decals for you to print.
Q: What's the difference between buying NFT and on CGTrader?
A:
CGTrader is entirely conventional 3rd party marketplace, because of royalties the prices there will be higher compared to buying directly from me.
Aside from that you are getting the same figure with the same files without the need of playing with Blockchain.
Q: What is Lychee Slicer?
A:
Lychee Slicer is my slicer of choice. Slicer is a software which converts 3D models to something that your printer can work with.
In case of resin printing it's simply a series of images (horizontal slices) indicating as to where the resin should be exposed to the UV light.
Q: At what scale is the model? Can I adjust it?
A:
You can export all the parts as you desire with provided Blender scene. Press A then S and adjust as needed with mouse or by inputting precise scale value on keyboard.
Q: Why GameStop wallet is recommended?
A:
It is designed with NFTs in mind and will provide you much smoother experience compared to MetaMask.
Q: Where else can I access my NFTs?
A:
These NFTs are initially minted on the Loopring platform. You can access all data via their web app to which you will connect with the same wallet. https://loopring.io