Tips for Creating Your Own Toys With 3-D Printing
Why not make your own toys? Dream up a character and make it real.
With 3-D printing, you can be a toymaker.
Here are some hints that I learned from making my toys.
Shapeways is a very reliable and user friendly site. You can upload your own models or order 3-D prints of models uploaded by other users.
Blender is a brilliant, free program that makes 3-D modeling accessible to anyone with a computer.
Tools: Blender, Shapeways
There are a multitude of tutorials and guides available that teach how to use Blender, including the comprehensive
Blender Wiki (there is a wiki for everything).
Every sculpt starts with an image. Generally, I sketch out my idea then photograph the sketch and upload it to my computer. A scanner might be better but my scanner is more trouble than it's worth.
For sculptures, like my little Batman, I'll start the sculpt by roughing out the biggest parts (like the head and torso). After the biggest shapes are in place, I add further details.
Then I delete one half of the sculpt and create a mirror modifier. The mirror modifier reflects the image over a chosen axis.
As I work on the sculpture, I save iterations of the file (ex. LittleBat1, LittleBat2). This allows me to go back if I make a big mistake.
I find it simplest to sculpt in parts. The head, the neck, the belt, the legs, the arms, and the torso are all separate pieces. When I import the final .stl file to Shapeways, a solid object is printed from the intersecting parts.
To create the symbol on his chest, I drew a quick bat symbol and traced it in Blender. Then I used the knife projection tool to project it onto his torso. Before using the knife projection tool, I subdivided the faces on the torso (This improves the result of the projection). Then I selected the faces of the bat symbol and extruded the image.
It takes time to learn to use Blender and to learn how to design for 3-D printing. I learned by doing it.
Come up with a project for yourself (ex. Sculpt Yakko, Wakko and Dot). Then complete the project from concept to print.
Chances are the first few sculpts will not be as good as you hope. But each project is a learning experience and a chance to develop a valuable skill.
Above all else, have fun. You're making toys!
