Need Help 3D Printing Figurine, Images Needed

[HMS Invincible]

My GM has promised us a 3D figurine printed of our party*, and he wants images based on our described PC members. Unfortunately, I can't find any appropriate images of quarterstaff wielding guys in light armor. I may have to make do with spearmen or Lancer of FSN fame. Please help me google. =)

Description
Irish highlander ex-soldier who now uses a quarterstaff instead of a spear. The weapon is covered in Irish runes for flavor. He dresses in leather clothes with a mail shirt over it along with a cloak/cape that flutters dramatically. Alternately, he will have a staff in 1 hand and a pistol in the other. Last configuration is wielding 2 staffs at once.

I suppose I could go full on joke, and make him Lancer, but it doesn't feel right just yet. Maybe when the campaign nears the end.
*He kick-started a $300 3d printer for a 66% discount.

Spoiler: Defective Images

Show

Too obviously a spear, probably my best choice.

Not full picture, and has a shield which I don't have.

Nice cloak, but has a shield. Probably a bit too heavily armored.

[Mutazoia]

My GM has promised us a 3D figurine printed of our party*, and he wants images based on our described PC members. Unfortunately, I can't find any appropriate images of quarterstaff wielding guys in light armor. I may have to make do with spearmen or Lancer of FSN fame. Please help me google. =)

Description
Irish highlander ex-soldier who now uses a quarterstaff instead of a spear. The weapon is covered in Irish runes for flavor. He dresses in leather clothes with a mail shirt over it along with a cloak/cape that flutters dramatically. Alternately, he will have a staff in 1 hand and a pistol in the other. Last configuration is wielding 2 staffs at once.

I suppose I could go full on joke, and make him Lancer, but it doesn't feel right just yet. Maybe when the campaign nears the end.
*He kick-started a $300 3d printer for a 66% discount.

Spoiler: Defective Images

Show

Too obviously a spear, probably my best choice.

Not full picture, and has a shield which I don't have.

Nice cloak, but has a shield. Probably a bit too heavily armored.

Well the problem is, you don't need an image of a staff wielding guy in light armor, you need a 3d model of a staff wielding guy in light armor.

Thus, you'll need to search sights like this one

Also, don't get your hopes up in regards to the quality/detail of said mini once it's printed. The lower end/cheaper 3D printers (basically anything under $1,000) are typically very low "resolution" printers. They are mostly meant to rough print a 3D model that you then have to smooth (either acetone rubbing or bondo and sanding) and then use that to make a mold for resin/plaster casting or injection molding. In a nut shell, don't expect to see any facial features once the figure is printed. At that size you'll be lucky to tell if it has a nose.

[snowblizz]

I'd try and muck around with this (a custom character creator/3D printing site):
https://www.heroforge.com/


which I bet is where the GM might go if they are serious about making something good.

[HMS Invincible]

Thanks for the tips. Do you know the resolution that a cheap vs good printer has? He mentioned his resolution, just wanted a comparison so I know how good his is.

[Mutazoia]

Thanks for the tips. Do you know the resolution that a cheap vs good printer has? He mentioned his resolution, just wanted a comparison so I know how good his is.

"Resolution" for a 3D printer is generally measured by 2 metrics:

Vertical Resolution: The layer thickness
Horizontal Resolution: The X/Y axis

Vertical resolution is the minimum thickness of a layer that the printer produces in one pass. The smaller the layer thickness, the smoother the printed surface will be. However, printing will last longer as the printer has to produce more layers.

Typical consumer FDM printers have a layer thickness of 0.2 or 0.3mm; one of the top desktop models at the moment, the Ultimaker 2, even boasts a vertical resolution of 0.02mm. SLA printers such as the Form 2 print layers as thin as 0.025mm.

Horizontal resolution is the minimum movement the printer’s extruder can make within a layer on the X and Y axis. The lower the value, the higher the detail the printer produces.

Depending on the type of 3D printer your friend has, the difference between a FDM and an SLA printer can be telling, even if both are printing at the same resolution.

Spoiler: Side by Side

Show

The piece on the left was printed with an SLA printer, the one on the right with a DMA printer, both printing at 0.1mm



These are the same objects at about 27x magnification...

[HMS Invincible]

Thanks, he just got back to me and said the resolution was 20 microns vertical, so that's .02 mm. Should get some decent details on the faces.

[Blackhawk748]

Since you need 3d models im sure you could find one of Killik in one of his many costumes.

[Knaight]

A few model sites have already been suggested, but I would suggest Thingiverse as well. It's got a lot there, and they're explicitly made for 3D printing.

[Mutazoia]

Thanks, he just got back to me and said the resolution was 20 microns vertical, so that's .02 mm. Should get some decent details on the faces.

For $300, I doubt it's .02mm....more like .2mm

The Ultimaker 2 (with the .02mm resolution) sells for about $2500. Now if he managed to get an Ultimaker 2 for only $300...good on him.

[Knaight]

The TAZ printers have a tolerance of 0.2 mm (and won't even try to print things with a dimension less than 0.4 mm), and represent the cheap end pretty well.

[halfeye]

Thanks, he just got back to me and said the resolution was 20 microns vertical, so that's .02 mm. Should get some decent details on the faces.

AIUI, which is not well, microns are an inch based measure, thousandths of an inch to be exact. They're smaller than millimetres, but much bigger than micrometres.

<edit>

Wikipedia disagrees with me, carry on as before.