{"id":21087,"date":"2021-03-04T22:21:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=21087"},"modified":"2021-03-04T22:21:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:21:59","slug":"unplugged-terrain-tinker-3d-printed-terrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/04\/unplugged-terrain-tinker-3d-printed-terrain\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplugged: Terrain Tinker & 3D Printed Terrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As a fan of cool technology and a gamer, I was quick to embrace 3D printing to trick out my gaming habits.\u00a0 In the past, I\u2019ve dumped a fair bit of money on cool 3D terrain to add splash to my role playing games.\u00a0 Not long after that, 3D printing really came into its own and it was feasible to print your own 3D terrain tiles. One of the newest 3D terrain-related kickstarters (ending soon) is Terrain Tinker<\/a>. It\u2019s basically an interface for designing one\u2019s 3D adventure setup on a computer, which can then output all the model STL files one would need to print them out in 3D.\u00a0 It interfaces with the folks over at Printable Scenery who sell STL files for all sorts of cool terrain and features.\u00a0 The Kickstarter is ending soon, so I thought I\u2019d send a shout-out about the project before it closes on March 6th.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The idea of Terrain Tinker is pretty simple.\u00a0 There\u2019s a difference between owning lots of possible terrain to print (which isn\u2019t too hard as the files are relatively inexpensive) and figuring out what is needed to create a cool setting.\u00a0 Terrain Tinker simply provides a drag and drop interface for players to layout a virtual (3D) set on the computer and then simply create a package of files ready for output to a printer.\u00a0 Sure, one could pull the whole thing off using a sketch program, or even pencil and paper to plan out what is needed, but being able to drag and drop something onto the screen and see how it fits with other terrain is a major timesaver.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some of the pieces of the town set combined into a building…<\/p><\/div>\n

The two features Terrain Tinker offers that can\u2019t be replicated by a DIY sort of planning are the ability to combine several pieces into a larger one to be printed all at once, and the ability to combine a piece with unique bits and flavor to create a totally individual piece.\u00a0 After setting up something in the program, one can download a mega-file that would print everything on screen in one go, or things can be divided up into subsections.\u00a0 WIthout this feature, one would need to be printing out all the pieces individually.\u00a0 Larger pieces are less time-intensive to set up to print and allow quicker setup and tear-down times at the table.\u00a0 What may be more unique is the ability to combine several 3D files together into one single piece that is entirely unique.\u00a0 Check out the piece below that takes several bits from Printable Scenery\u2019s \u201cGoblin Grotto\u201d line and combines them into a unique piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Of course, this handy tool will only be useful if it can be used with a large number of tile options.\u00a0 An OpenLOCK format has been established to attempt to unify the many different companies and artists who are creating 3D terrain.\u00a0 It is set up in such a way that gamers can print out bits and pieces from any designer and know it will be able to be combined with the stuff they already have.\u00a0 The OpenLOCK format relies on holes in the base of each piece which are then latched onto the holes of another piece using a (3D printed, of course) little linking clip.\u00a0 In that way they are held together well enough to move around connected, but with a little bit of wiggling they can be separated out again for storage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Currently, the Terrain Tinker project only interfaces with the Printable Scenery folks (there\u2019s a free demo <\/a><\/span>\u00a0of some of the pieces) but the plan is to connect up lines of scenery from other designers as the program moves forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some examples of the “Goblin Grotto”<\/p><\/div>\n

As for costs, the lowest level is still about $44 for the program.\u00a0 A bit steep, but not too bad for someone who has a lot of different 3D terrain options to track.\u00a0 However, for a bigger wad of cash one can buy into some of the big chunks of terrain files over at Printable Scenery.\u00a0 About $100 or so and Printable Scenery will throw in all manner of bits and pieces needed to build a medieval town, streets, and buildings.\u00a0 If you have cash to spare you can upgrade to include parts to make a castle ($160), and a dungeon ($250), and a set of goblin-caves ($340.)\u00a0 Those high end things are a bit rich for my blood, one would need to be printing a LOT of terrain to get real use of all that, but the program itself is very promising, especially since they met a stretch goal to allow people to load their own STL files into the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As a fan of cool technology and a gamer, I was quick to embrace 3D printing to trick out my gaming habits.\u00a0 In the past, I\u2019ve dumped a fair bit of money on cool 3D terrain to add splash to my role playing games.\u00a0 Not long after that, 3D printing really came into its own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews","category-unplugged-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21094,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21087\/revisions\/21094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}