New 3D Printing Technology for N scale trains, need opinions

[orionfield]

For me, the problem I envision is that of semi-translucency. To my eye, colored plastics always look like colored plastics, and not painted metal/wood/whatever. I always avoid using anything made from colored plastic because of this; I'll always apply paint or some other finishing effect to kill the colored-plastic look.

Which leads me to wonder what these colored-3D-printed products will look like. I feel as though 3D-printing has become the darling of the model railroad world, in some way, and while I do see plenty of advantages, I also see as many issues.

I completely understand where you're coming from. This is a brand new technology and from what I've gotten from both my vendor and the manufacturer of the 3D printer, its pretty much uncharted territory. We had a meeting yesterday to figure out the best software to use to add color to our CAD models, and at the end of an exhausting session, we were given a suggestion from the manufacturer, and we're going to test it out, but as a backup. They may help us develop some custom software based on our use case.

This.  Colored resins aren't going to replace tradition painting and lettering, at least not in my life time.

And one of the issues is that we have to piggyback off of other uses be it jewelry making or dental implants or whatever.  It would be interesting to see what sort of printer could be made with just model trains in mind.

Jason

I agree, that's why we have the flexibility to make everything on a per customer basis, so everyone gets what they want. If you want it clear or gray, no problem, and if someone else whats something that's printed in full color, the option exists for them too.

I know these aren't trains, but this was a plate of Sushi that was 3D scanned, then printed on the same printer we're going to use, provided by my vendor.:





I hope to have two railroad examples printed by next week

[orionfield]

Sorry the images didn't work, here they are:

[wcfn100]

Sorry the images didn't work, here they are:

But that's not necessarily going to transfer over to model trains (and I don't expect it to).  Organic shapes with slight color variation and shading fool the eye and brain into telling you it looks real.  It's the same approach video game designers use.  Strip the color away and you may have a much different view.

That's not to say the machine you're using won't create excellent results for model railroad use (I sure hope it does), but you can't use sushi or bananas as examples for what model trains might look like.

Jason

[C855B]

Yes - that they key their marketing images around organic objects raises all sorts of red flags for me. Shapeways is no better - jewelry and gaming figures seem to play heavily into their promotion, as well.

BTW, take a look at the veggies in the rice roll at the bottom of the lower image (or whatever it is... not a sushi fan). A lot of aliasing going on there.

[orionfield]

Yes - that they key their marketing images around organic objects raises all sorts of red flags for me. Shapeways is no better - jewelry and gaming figures seem to play heavily into their promotion, as well.

BTW, take a look at the veggies in the rice roll at the bottom of the lower image (or whatever it is... not a sushi fan). A lot of aliasing going on there.

Yeah, thats why I wanted to make it clear that these were from 3D Scans, not CAD Models, best not to focus on the shapes of the objects. I'll keep you all posted about the railroad prints. 

[Mark W]

Product Marketing 210:  Low Resolution and Selective Blur.

I can see every pore and wrinkle in that hand, but in the same photo the stuff we actually want to see that same level of detail on, well it looks like it was photographed with a potato. 

Never mind attempting to zoom in for detail, the world of Super Ultra HD and unlimited bandwidth; best they can do is 600 pixles. 

No, they expertly give you just enough detail to get you interested and thinking, but suspiciously not enough to show a definitive level of detail. 

[peteski]

Well, we know at least one thing: if someone wants to make a "sushi train" in N scale with slightly scaled down sushi on flat cars, that printer would be perfect for the task!

Those photos remind me of what I saw on my visit to Japan: many restaurants there has a window display showing a range of dishes they serve. The food on those dishes looked very real but they were all resin cast. Nowadays this is done on a color 3D printer. I have a feeling that is why those sample photos show food items, especially sushi. It is probably some marketing literature geared towards the makers of fake food dishes for Japanese restaurants. 

[DKS]

That rice looks more like cottage cheese. Given the quality of the rest, I'd have expected better.

If you want a test, make one of these that looks as good:

[peteski]

That rice looks more like cottage cheese. Given the quality of the rest, I'd have expected better.

In their defense, if this was a printout of a 3D scan I would not expect any fine and sharp details (especially of a lumpy substance like rice).  But liek it has been pointed about, sushi is not a good example of what model train items will look like.

[MK]

All this Sushi talk is making my hungry!!! 

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  You're right on the 3D scan resolution.  No way we're going to get a decent N scale model from the usual scanners.

But, since the picture was originally part of a post on adding color, looking at it just for the colors, those look excellent.  The only issue I can see is that they seem to be glossy, which is good for most food, but not for a freight car.  That salmon looks at least as good as the last piece I ate.

[JMaurer1]

Salmon looked good, but tasted like plastic

[MK]

You needed to add wasabi to hide the taste.

[orionfield]

Peteski:  You're right on the 3D scan resolution.  No way we're going to get a decent N scale model from the usual scanners.

But, since the picture was originally part of a post on adding color, looking at it just for the colors, those look excellent.  The only issue I can see is that they seem to be glossy, which is good for most food, but not for a freight car.  That salmon looks at least as good as the last piece I ate.

Good eye on that, the printer is capable of both gloss and flat colors, and completely crystal clear as well, for windows.

[Lemosteam]

Good eye on that, the printer is capable of both gloss and flat colors, and completely crystal clear as well, for windows.

Or clear light pipes.

Cant wait to see your printed models in macro photography.