Just how cost effective is 3D printing terrain?

[@RoseKindred]

Great video. I know it is more effective, especially after considering the initial costs and disposables, but what I love is the opportunity it gives us. I can make and print my own terrain that the bigger companies would never consider. Too niche, too big, too complicated to tool, etc.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I couldn't agree more. That customisability is exactly what drew me to the hobby and I imagine a massive motivator for most people using 3D printers. Or the HUGE selection available.

[@andrewlongfellow8745]

Love your videos. Definitely keep sharing more 3d printing videos, I also love the design stuff as well.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much Andrew. Definetly will on both counts 😁

[@DP-ym8zf]

More vids like this too please! Interesting seeing 3d terrain options

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😁👍🏻 Thanks. Will do

[@Starflight_Miniatures]

100% agree, I'm working on terrain just now and what I want simply doesn't exist, plus it'll be designed and printed exactly as I want it

[@ArtisansofVaul]

👍🏻It's so good to be able to get it just how you want it.

[@keithmathews4605]

If the terrain has really small (fiddly bits) details, such as buildings and the like, then filament printing is definitely a win. Making the rocks, trees, and general scatter bits, may be more cost effective (and possibly more "fun"), to make them by hand with foam boards and various other art supplies. None the less, whatever works for the person who is making these items for their gaming table, or just for display... if it works for you, then THAT is the best option. Does time=money? Yes. But... this is a hobby. Well, unless it is your job :)

[@keithmathews4605]

As a quick follow-up. If the end user buys pieces from things like these kick-starters, or is able to find various parts/pieces they like online for free... then IF they are familiar with Blender, they can use those pieces as kind of a template for making their own. Which, if they need pointers on how to do that, is a promotion for YOUR videos :)

[@RoseKindred]

And in some instances I combine both. For trees, I like to print the trunk and possibly branches (depending on the style I am going for) and make the canopy by hand with foam and static grasses. Still better than 5-9 bucks each for railroad trees or the 3 tree pack from GDubs.

[@keithmathews4605]

@@RoseKindredSame here :)

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Totally agree on the DIY front for loads of projects. Also working that with the 3D printing makes some fantastic combination projects.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Totally, customising files (especially to add damage for more variations) is always a great use for Blender.

[@mind_of_a_darkhorse]

I have been planning on getting a 3D Printer. And this looks affordable. Your insight is invaluable! Thanks for sharing!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

My pleasure. I've been really impressed do far.

[@richardokeeffe8375]

Very good comparison! I reckon you could drop your infill a fair amount and make that filament go further

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Hmm.... That's something I haven't experimented with. This is at 15%. How low would you recommend?

[@GatitaLindaRawr]

I just printed some pieces similar to the ones you show on the video at 10% infill and they came out sturdy and look good.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@GatitaLindaRawr I've heard similar but haven't gotten around to trying it. It didn't seem to reduce the time/material that much but the estimates so I just played it safe 😅

[@GatitaLindaRawr]

@@ArtisansofVaul I guess that the amount of material/time it saves depends on the volume/surface ratio of the piece. The ones on the video are quite thin compared to their surface, so it won't be as effective as if you were printing thick castle walls for example.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@GatitaLindaRawr That's very true! It's probably because I looked on a wall instead of a larger building/structureml

[@B4MBI72]

You should check our War Layer, great modular building sets, very cheap too

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@B4MBI72 👌🏼👍🏻 Thanks for the tip.

[@tomusannonymous]

I generally use fdm for my terrain but I have used resin for some really highly detailed stone buildings from Gothic things. I used sunlu standard plus resin and its pretty solid. I have tried to break some of the walls and i needed pliers to actually snap it so it is quite strong when its thick (say 5-10mm thick), of course any sticky outy bits won't stand up to rough treatment but thats the same with fdm. I haven't dropped any yet but I assume bits may snap off or shatter because the resin gets a bit weighty.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I've tried sunlu and I was impressed by the price and as you say it's very rigid. I just couldn't get to the point the layer lines were as small as I could get with the Creality filament

[@BrotherCron]

Excellent stuff

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks Cron 😁👍🏻

[@alfredpotts6136]

I play in 15mm, and a lot of what I print is rescaled from files intended for 28-32mm figures. There isn’t such a range of scenery available for 15mm, so it works out very well. I’ve been printing lots of scatter scenery, figures and vehicles in resin, but FDM is definitely the way to go for buildings. I got a very basic Ender 3 Neo for just over £100 in November and have produced loads of stuff so far, enough for a full table and I still haven’t used 2 rolls of filament yet. What I’ve printed would probably have cost twice as much to buy elsewhere as the money I’ve invested in hardware and consumables.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I've found similar in terms of price. It's SO much cheaper than what you can buy.

[@darrennew8211]

Pro tip: Weigh the spool when you open it and have dried it, and write the weight on the spool. Then when you get down low, you can weigh it again and see how much filament is left, subtracting the difference in weights from 1000g to see how much is left. The slicer will tell you how many grams of filament the sliced part will take. Looking at "meters of plastic" is probably not the thing to look at, but the weight. "Should I save 4 hours and spend 0.1% of a spool of filament?" A lot of slicers will even let you put in the cost of the spool of filament and it will tell you the price of the filament used. You can also adjust the infill and see if that saves you much. You can also use "adaptive layer height" where the more detailed areas are printed with a lower layer height and the smooth parts are printed with a higher layer size. There are also a whole bunch of different places that sell models, which you can find with the obvious googling. There are also lots of places where you can upload the models and they'll mail you the printed part in a day or two.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Wouldn't just using the length be more likely to be just as accurate (maybe more accurate)?

[@darrennew8211]

@@ArtisansofVaul Sure, but how long is the filament on the spool? Different filaments have different weights per meter, and they're sold by weight. I think it's easier to say "10 grams cost 18 cents from a $18/roll filament" than it is to figure out what 4 meters of filament costs.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@darrennew8211 The ones I have looked at all have an approximate length. As seems to work just as well as using weight and guessing the weight of the spool.

[@darrennew8211]

@@ArtisansofVaul But you don't have to guess the weight of the spool if you weigh it first. If out of the box it's 1432g on the scale, you know the spool weighs 432g. If after you get down near the end and the spool weighs 550g, you know you have 118g of filament left on the spool, so you should probably not print anything taking more than about 110 grams of filament without expecting to have to change filament spools. There's no way to check how many meters of filament are left on a half-full spool.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@darrennew8211 But that's assuming that weight is correct. As you have mentioned then you have moisture, how accurate is the sold weight to what they claim, etc. I think I'll be sticking to the length as its worked very well so far.

[@Karlmakesstuff]

Good observations! I'm still not sold on printing terrain yet, but in my case the comparison is between trash bashing and printing - buying those walls for 30 quid isn't on the table as a matter of principle XD I can totally see the value of printing for details, statues, and other greeble though I suspect resin would work better for things like that.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I think you're right. I'd probably fdm print the majority and maybe add fine resin details on top.

[@TorchOnTarget]

My biggest thing is that I could never buy the urban GW terrain as a kid. Now that I can afford to buy a bunch it’s not made anymore , lol. Always wanted to get those sector box sets… but now I just print them on my Saturn. As close as I’ll get because ain’t no way am I going to go on eBay and pay 6x the price lol

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Haha. I totally know that feeling, some of the larger box deals in the past were amazing, just generic panels where you got enough detail but it could be used to make a huge variety of buildings. I think they have gone a bit far now with so much being designed for a specific purpose. The plastic zone .ortalos stuff was great (though still pretty pricey) but again a nice bundle you can no longer get.

[@Strixx23]

T(asks for the video. It would be interesting to see what the results of printing some of the free stuff on Thingiverse etc looks like

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@Strixx23 Anything in particular? The issue with things on Thingiverse is they often aren't well designed with the printing in mind.

[@k4x4map46]

interesting!!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers

[@jeancouscous]

It's cheaper but it definitely doesn't look as good as the original designs. There are some great STL for ruined buildings medieval tho

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I'm not sure I totally agree as I think the GW designs have started to go to a point of negative returns in the detailing. Some of it is really specific meaning its easier to spot repetition. But even without that I don't think that warrants such a huge cost.

[@ericdavis4964]

@@ArtisansofVaul People often forget that most wargames are played from the distance of 2-3 feet away. At that distance you don't see all the details (unless you have the eyes of a bird of prey like a hawk). After all the stars of the table is not the terrain, it is the miniatures themselves. Once a game gets started, terrain kind of all blends into the background as you concentrate on what you will do and what your opponent does.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@ericdavis4964 Totally. As long as it doesn't mess up a quick paint job.

[@TheZahnputz]

hi, i think youre just using the wrong kind of resin! eg. anycubics uv tough resin is quite cheap an would be perfectly suitable for terrain

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I've never experienced a resin that can deal with the wear and tear needed for terrain when it's stored/stacked. Also it works out much more expensive than the plastic. Tenacious resin maybe comes close but did be curious to see just how tough this anycubic resin it. If I can drop a building down a flight if stairs and it not break I would accept that. Is it that tough?

[@TheZahnputz]

@@ArtisansofVaulno, that resin wont survive actual landslides :D and yes, the cost of filament is lower since its usually easier to get prints hollowed but rigidly infilled and therefore lighter and therefore not falling as hard etc. etc. - hard to compare the actual material specs with so many variables!

[@FelipeAsprillaO]

Your printer is really fast. My ender 3 Neo Max is slow at 100mm sec only

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I've been impressed by the speed. I don't have it set as fast as it can go but the speed compared to quality is great as far as I can see. 👍🏻

[@eitantal726]

These models are expensive. Must be a lucrative job to design them

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I think you're probably overestimating that. Also I doubt they sell many at that price, it's more likely something that gets people onto the kickstarters to buy the bundles (which I would say are very cheap for the amount of time gone into the designing) and even then a good chunk gets taken by the site hosting it. I'm not saying you're going to go poor doing it but I doubt it's as lucrative as you think

[@eitantal726]

@@ArtisansofVaul Maybe it's a volume issue. 30 pounds is the cost of several CDs or a game. These cost millions to make, and take years. Whereas this STL takes a day, tops

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@eitantal726 As you say volume becomes a factor then so looking at the cost to make it is pretty irrelevant, they will sell millions of copies of the game so can afford to do that. I also doubt those buildings only takes a day to design having seen the files. There's a lot of details and then they need to be sliced and checked, modified, etc. And then there is the sculpted in damage. I dont think I model particularly slowly fast and I couldn't have gotten any of those done in a day. Maybe one of the landing pads, but even then I think the cleanup would have taken longer.

[@eitantal726]

@@ArtisansofVaul Didn't realize there's much more to it, once 3D printing is involved. I'm a CNC milling guy, I don't need to worry about this kind of stuff

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

$330. You needed to buy the printer, too. So unless you speak about amortizing the cost over time, you're not making an honest comparison.

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

Sorry. Pounds, not dollars. And now you're covering the other costs! Thank you!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@LakeVermilionDreams I was about to say I thought I gave a pretty fair and valid comparison. Thankyou for coming back and adding to your comment 👍🏻 I don't try to miss sell and do try to give both sides as I see them whenever I review something or make a video of this style. If I'm not going to be honest with people what's the point of making videos like this (at least that's my opinion).