Trying to determine if 3D printing is for me.

[Garrett53]

I completely new to this. I bought some mini figures, 3D printed, for an art project I'm working on and got fascinated. I been wondering if some of the things I would be interested in are possible.

I have many original sculptures. Mostly small 6" to 10". How can I or can I, turn these sculptures into files that I can print replicas on a 3D printer?

I like to make O scale old west buildings, with cowboys, dance hall girls, liquor bottles etc. I've bought quite a bit of this on Etsy and Amazon from 3D print dealers. I can't find everything I'd like, such as seated cowboys, horses in the correct stance etc. I've found very nice options, on (SLI files?) on the internet but not exactly what I want. Can I buy one of these, (SLI files?) and change it in a CAD program or slicer program? Change the size, arm angles? Do things like this and is it very difficult?

Lastly what would be a good starting printer?

I've fairly tech literate, being a retired computer programmer (retired 16 year ago though) so I can handle things a little complicated.

Thanks for any help!!

Garrett

[OG56]

Short simple answer is yes, you can do everything you asked about. Longer more complicated answer is there are multiple ways to accomplish the tasks using different technologies. First you can convert existing objects into 3d models for 3d print. You can use digital scanners, photogrammetry, manually building the models in 3d software, AI generators, Gaussian splatting and many other technologies. Changing existing 3d models has a learning curve in your favorite 3d modeling software but very doable. For organic models you want to learn a 3d art focused software. CAD is wonderful at hard surface technical objects but for people modeling you really want to use something more focused on organic. I recommend downloading and playing with Blender. It is a free open source incredibly powerful software. To start ignore everything except box modeling and digital sculpting. There is a pretty good and steep learning curve but a whole new world will open up if you can make and modify models that you want or need. For a starter printer, I love my Bambu but it is middle of the road in cost but super easy to use. A little bit of drama going on right now due to its closed ecosystem which some folks don't like but personally don't care about that. It's a tool for me that gives me great prints if I make good models for it to produce. Finally good luck and hopefully welcome to the 3d addiction.

[Garrett53]

Thanks for the assistance! It was very helpful. I've been playing with photogrammetry software with a little bit of success. I'm going to check out Blender today. Thanks again!