Direct 3D print of a ZBrush model

Awesome model by Tay Allen

When I first saw this amazing design from Tay Allen on artstation, I knew it would be that nice printed and painted on my table !

So let's try to print the 175 MB .obj raw model, right out a basic export from ZBrush.

Prepare to print it !

Orientation

Model was imported lying on ground, so I just applied a -90° X rotation to get a standing model.

Scaling

Target scale was decided to be 54mm scale. So saying this guy should be 1,60m tall in real life, he should be 50mm tall guy as a miniature. Screenshot from homemade scaling tool:

This resulted a 450% scale change regarding the way Simplify3D imported raw model.

So first easy part done, let's try to slice !

Slicing

Holes issue

First optimistic trial pressing "Prepare to Print!" resulted a situation where model presents holes issue:

I tried some Simplify3D "identify & repair" tools. The identify tools said some problems in model, but the repair tools just failed working on such a big file running in endless processing.

I also tried Autodesk Meshmixer free software but it was also painful trying to solve issues on a such a raw model.

But a few days later the solution appeared. It was about just double-clicking model so it opens with Microsoft 3D Builder free tool. 3D Builder auto-detected some issues to repair. So I just clicked "Repair":

After 1 minute, operation was completed and I exported repaired model. It was a very pleasant surprise to see model was now perfect for slicing in Simplify3D !

But wait, you can see a raft issue creation just below the guy foots.

Raft issue

I already encountered this issue on some 3D print models (even commercial ones) so I knew it can be solved without modifying the model (flatten bottom of the foots). A simple solution is a trick just applying a small Z negative offset:

So now result is fully correct:

Print it !

About the print

  • Printer is Kodama Trinus printer (the $250 kickstarter edition)
    • Vertical resolution is 0,1mm
    • Horizontal resolution is 0,2mm
  • Material is Polymaker Polysmooth
  • Total printing time was about 8 hours

Raw print result

No major issue on printed model, but I noticed:

  • Holes appearing on printed piece but only appearing on supports. So not a problem
  • A printed lance's blade quality issue (due to high print speed).
  • Difficulties to remove supports that is too tight (was 1 mm resolution). So should try another software to generate supports or print with larger supports.

Cleaned print result

Photo to be inserted

Polyshed result

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Painted result

White prime coated and then printed with acrylic paints.

Photo to be inserted