January 30, 2017
Description
This autumn I went to the New York World's Maker Faire. I stopped at a booth where people were showing off how to transfer printed images to rocks and wood. This sparked an idea that I finally got a chance to try out this week: Toner Transfer of images to 3d prints. So far as I can find, no one else has stumbled onto this technique for adding graphics to 3d prints and made it really work.
This technique means that anyone, with little or no painting skill can transfer brilliant images to flat surfaces on 3d prints!
My first experiment with this was to make mosaic tiles for OpenForge, the results of which you can see above.
This technique does take some practice, and you can expect to ruin a few tiles in the process, but the wow factor of the results are worth it!
All the images I use here come from old books outside of copyright. You can take really any image you want and apply it. Imagine being able to pull images from the PDF of a module to give your players rooms with the exact graphics inside the module!
I am working on a video of this process, and I am also working on instructions on how to use the GIMP to take an image and turn it into a mosaic.
For instructions on how to get started with OpenForge, we have a set of tutorials. Want to sell OpenForge prints? Want to use OpenForge designs in your product, check out the license FAQ.
OpenForge is now a patron supported project. I use the resources that my patrons give me in order to get the resources to let me create more sophisticated tiles with a greater level of detail. Please, support me, and I’ll deliver an ongoing stream of awesome gaming terrain. You can find more about OpenForge and Masterwork Tools at our:
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution - Share Alike
devonjones
