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Re: Partnership with Shapeways 3D Printing Service for Models & Avatars

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Kisaru is not online. Kisaru
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Total Posts: 6378
27 Jan 2012 08:53 PM
Shapeways is a 3d printing service which allows you to select a material and have your 3d model printed in that material and shipped to your doorstep. You can find out more information about them on their website.

Now that that has been explained, here is my idea: a partnership between ROBLOX and Shapeways which will allow players to convert their published models or in game avatar model to a 3d printing compatible format on an official ROBLOX Shapeways shop, which can then be purchased and shipped to the customers home.

HOW IS IT BENEFICIAL: Have you ever built something very cool in the ROBLOX Studio, so cool in fact that you would want to have a little model of it in your house? Well now you can! This idea will allow players to have real life models of their masterpieces and character designs. This will also make ROBLOX an excellent platform for people trying to start making 3d printing designs, thus boosting the popularity of ROBLOX and increasing the player base. Furthermore, since ROBLOX will own the shop in which the models are purchased from, ROBLOX will make money off of this shop.

In conclusion, ROBLOX makes more money and becomes more popular, players will have a new feature to play with, and there should be an all around positive reaction to this addition.

HOW WOULD IT WORK?: In this section I will do a run-down on the process from selection to receiving it at the door.

First off, the player will select their desired model or character. This character or model does not have to be their own. Players may select whether they can be 3d printed or not in their settings on their page. The same applies for models: players can select whether to allow the model to be 3d printed or not.

Once selected and verified, the ROBLOX servers will convert the file to a printable format, and do a quick check for any obvious printing impossibilities, such as floating parts and impossible thicknesses of parts (such as .00 studs or negative numbers).

This will take a bit of time, but once it is done, the player will be given a link to a page on the Shapeways website in which they can select the scale of the model to be printed (1 stud = 1mm, 1 stud = 1 cm, 1 stud = 1 inch, etc.), the material of the model to be (elaborated upon in the Shapeways website), and any specifications within the material selected (color, finish, gloss, detail, etc.).

Both models and avatars can use any material available, but full color sandstone will be the default for both, since it can achieve the widest variety of color while retaining a fairly good level of detail (.4 mm, or a bit less than a fifth of an inch). Should the player choose, though, they can select materials more suited for the specific model, such as ultra detail or stainless steel.

Now that the specifications for the model have been selected, the Shapeways computers will calculate the price of the model based upon the materials used, size, shipping & handling cost, specifications within the selected material, and an added percentage of the price which will go to ROBLOX, as mentioned earlier.

The player will then enter in all required information to make the purchase, and within the shipping time specified it will arrive at the players door, and the player will have their brand new ROBLOX printed model to marvel at!

WHAT WOULD BE REQUIRED TO MAKE IT WORK?: Despite this sounding so complex, it is actually deceptively simple. What is required is that the ROBLOX team create a converting program which can turn ROBLOX .RBXM model files into files readable by Shapeways printers. I'm sure that Shapeways would assist the team in doing that if needed, since Shapeways would benefit from this as well. Once the conversion program has been created, all they need to do is set a shop and a page in which the player can specify the settings for the model. From that point on, the systems already in use by Shapeways can do their thing.

Comments, questions? Feel free to ask and criticize, but please keep it constructive.
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Varp is not online. Varp
Joined: 18 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 5333
27 Jan 2012 09:01 PM
I like the idea, and agree that it would be pretty easy to do since Shapeways has the facilities to allow Roblox to set up an automatic facility for the whole thing (their whole custom order thing for shops where users input various fields). It could be done completely without support from Shapeways if necessary.

The one difficulty is that the prices would be pretty high and I'm not really sure who would actually buy this. I wouldn't. Some gears would also be impossible (anything with a slender handle would probably fail on any small scale, and a larger scale would be prohibitively expensive).
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Randomnessu is not online. Randomnessu
Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Total Posts: 18692
27 Jan 2012 09:06 PM
Keeping in mind what Varp mentioned above, I think this is a great idea! Sounds pretty fun to play around with.


I mean, who doesn't want a human-sized Robloxian in their living room, right? I know I'd love one, sitting in the corner or something... hmm, maybe it could be a lamp, too!...


Anyways, I support. Hope they implement this.
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Kisaru is not online. Kisaru
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Total Posts: 6378
27 Jan 2012 09:07 PM
Thank you for your feedback, Varp. I agree that it may be a problem for some gears, but that would only apply for some material.

While a material such as, say, ceramic may not be able to print out such a small and finely detailed object, Frosted & Ultra Detail with its minimum wall thickness of .3 mm could print out a fairly small replica of it. Of course, the drawback would be that it would be only one color, and not a perfect replica.

Still, a material such as full color sandstone could achieve a fairly small copy which is color accurate, and still retain a decent price (About $5, depends on shipping) if kept to a small size.
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Kisaru is not online. Kisaru
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Total Posts: 6378
27 Jan 2012 09:09 PM
@Random

Don't expect anything that huge! Bear in mind that the prices listed are not cubic feet, but cubic centimeters. Still, it would be very cool to have my own robloxian standing on a small platform as a paperweight on my desk.
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Randomnessu is not online. Randomnessu
Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Total Posts: 18692
27 Jan 2012 09:13 PM
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, too!


Also, I was thinking; Rather than trying to convert .RBLX to .w/e Shapeways uses, why not have a new file extension ROBLOX models could be saved to that's compatible? Might be easier to design.
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Kisaru is not online. Kisaru
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Total Posts: 6378
27 Jan 2012 09:19 PM
@Random

Well, I'm glad you asked this Random. The reason for this is that the altered file type would create a lot of stress on the roblox servers, since the new file type will have a lot of extra baggage attached to it to allow it to be printed, in addition to the data readable by the game engine. You see, printing a file in a 3d printer and loading a file for a 3d game may sound similar, but are very, very different. This unified file type wouldn't really be used that much either, since most model files most likely will not ever get printed.

A converter would put less stress on the system, allow the devs to retain their current file type, and be much easier than creating an entirely new file format.

Your feedback is appreciated.
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robloxkid08 is not online. robloxkid08
Joined: 23 Nov 2008
Total Posts: 5489
27 Jan 2012 09:40 PM
This would be incredibly difficult to do, and here's two major problems with it:

C-Framing (how?)
Money (yeah, probably pretty expensive)

You figure out a solution for those, I'm all for it. It would also be nice if you could have a printed copy of your favorite place.
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Kisaru is not online. Kisaru
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Total Posts: 6378
27 Jan 2012 10:37 PM
Simple solution to your cframing dilemma: Only print the outside of the block in full color. The inside would be set to white.

As for the expense, that cannot be helped. 3D printing is a developing industry which is, by nature, expensive to do. It can, however, be helped by making small models to keep the material price down.
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rayjin10 is not online. rayjin10
Joined: 16 Feb 2010
Total Posts: 451
01 Sep 2013 05:51 PM
support
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Randomnessu is not online. Randomnessu
Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Total Posts: 18692
01 Sep 2013 05:52 PM
@rayjin
Necrobump, 'eh.
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rayjin10 is not online. rayjin10
Joined: 16 Feb 2010
Total Posts: 451
01 Sep 2013 06:01 PM
@above: XD heh I didn't know this was a long time ago XD
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JetCrusherTorpedo is not online. JetCrusherTorpedo
Joined: 13 Feb 2012
Total Posts: 218
01 Sep 2013 06:05 PM
I like it.
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rayjin10 is not online. rayjin10
Joined: 16 Feb 2010
Total Posts: 451
01 Sep 2013 06:18 PM
I kind of REALLY want this... XD
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Jro1311 is not online. Jro1311
Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Total Posts: 3328
01 Sep 2013 06:19 PM
Make a tl;dr version

I used to be a forumer like you, then I took a post in the thread.
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joshuagibson2 is not online. joshuagibson2
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Total Posts: 1371
29 Oct 2013 12:17 PM
How it would work is that it wouldn't ever work. You simply cannot 3d print a roblox character because of two reasons hats and gears. Everything else would more than likely be able to print. But Shapeways printers along with many others have a minimal wall thickness. Which makes printing alot of things impossible. Such as the brim of a robloxians hat.
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joshuagibson2 is not online. joshuagibson2
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Total Posts: 1371
29 Oct 2013 12:18 PM
You would have to make it large anyways and in full color sandstone.
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latedownload is not online. latedownload
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Total Posts: 2873
29 Oct 2013 12:20 PM
Support.
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joshuagibson2 is not online. joshuagibson2
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Total Posts: 1371
29 Oct 2013 12:22 PM
It would have to work with just a limited amount of heads. Not all types of meshes will indeed work with it. But there could be an in-app creator.
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TheDuckOfYork is not online. TheDuckOfYork
Joined: 07 Jan 2012
Total Posts: 6599
30 Jan 2014 07:58 PM
support
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Firestormx11 is not online. Firestormx11
Joined: 19 Nov 2012
Total Posts: 266
30 Jan 2014 08:44 PM
I like this idea. But will there be like a limit? Because let's say some guy lives far from America and want's his/her's model to be delivered, won't the shipping price will be a killer?


Anyway, Support.
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CVW is not online. CVW
Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Total Posts: 7780
30 Jan 2014 08:46 PM
Support, I would love to have a physical version of certain models I own. :L
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Nikola7007 is not online. Nikola7007
Joined: 20 May 2013
Total Posts: 7998
30 Jan 2014 09:55 PM
Nice idea, but maybe just let us export to other file types and have them printed ourselves?
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recounted is not online. recounted
Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Total Posts: 2348
30 Jan 2014 09:59 PM
support
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5thearthperson26 is not online. 5thearthperson26
Joined: 11 Mar 2013
Total Posts: 107
27 Mar 2014 03:28 PM
Well you can make a car look like a toy car (unless 1 stud = 12 in) so that could be a really good idea. This can probably be added in the next decade (ROBLOX may be filled with noobs by then) so this may be the greatest idea added in ROBLOX.
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