New to 3d printing and the realm of Elder Scrolls

So I little bit of back ground. For my Birthday this year I was bought a resin printer ( don’t ask me why ) I was bought this but I now have one. I do think it was bought for me as my son play’s Elder Scrolls On Line. He may want some Models printing from this game. He also plays Dungeons & Dragons On line with his old school friends one a week I think. So why am I writing to you all, well I want to print him a model or bust for when he comes home next Monday 12th July BUT I’m also unsure of the characters from both games. Is there a place here that I can upload a Model and print for free would be good as it’s a surprise and my son is so critical there for it’s just a start of what he can print.
he plays Elder Scrolls a lot "maybe for or five times a week " so a main character from that game

hopeful Dad

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Dear Hopeful Dad,

Whew there’s quite a bit to unpack here! Hopefully I can help you out a little bit.
Especially since your post was 5 days ago, this might not be in time for your time-frame unfortunately, but hopefully you find something useful here. Hope I’m not too late. :slight_smile:

First of all: Resin printers. Good news and not-as-good news...

Good news: They’re relatively turn-key as opposed to their “FDM” counterparts. Some simple calibration and away you go, usually. The details you get from resin prints are INSANE compared to their filament-melting cousins.

Not-so-good: Resin is hiiiiighly toxic!!! Do NOT let this stuff get on your skin! We’re talking lifelong effects here, potentially cancer, don’t breathe it either. Get all the necessary safety equipment for handling this stuff.

I’m gonna repeat that:
DO NOT LET RESIN TOUCH YOUR SKIN. It’s very tempting to think the stuff is relatively mild since it’s made for an end-user mass-market product, but it’s highly poisonous stuff and needs to be handled with utmost respect.

Here’s a handy starter-vid for you on safety because, well…safety first!

Also this Reddit thread is kinda handy, if a little old:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ElegooMars/comments/hb535n/regarding_is_it_safe_to_use_a_resin_3d_printer_in/

You can’t research this topic enough. Read. Watch. Read. Read some more.
Don’t play around with your health.

Not a bad idea to look up where you can safely dispose of hazardous chemicals like this, either.

Next: You're gonna need to familiarize yourself with a slicer.

Personally, I don’t own a resin printer myself, so I’m not sure which software to recommend. The printer might have come with software you can use for this purpose though. The point of a slicer is to take a 3D model and tell the 3D printer how to build it.

You might have to do some research on which of these programs would work best given your printer. Slicers also have lots of settings to tweak depending on the properties of the model you want to print. LOTS of resources on YouTube and elsewhere for this.

About Elder Scrolls Online ESO and D&D (Neverwinter?) Online:

First of all you mention your son plays Elder Scrolls Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online (Could it be Neverwinter, which is newer? Both are currently active right now.)

If you didn’t already know, both are MMORPGs, or “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games.”

As such, they’re mostly about the players themselves interacting with lots of other people, and although they usually have rich storylines and plots, don’t tend to have “main characters” the way a traditional book, movie, or videogame might. It’s more about the social questing experience with one’s friends (and making new ones!).

Elder Scrolls is actually a long-running series that started with “Elder Scrolls: Arena” in 1994!
Until recently, all the installments have been single-player experiences, the most popular being The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Elder Scrolls Online (sometimes called ESO) is the MMORPG that takes place in that universe.

Onto Dungeons & Dragons, it of course came from the popular tabletop game from the 80’s (and is still played today in its 5th Edition! Tons of fun.) that often involved players living through their characters as well. You might find recognizable heroes and other main characters in the novels, but the games tend to be about the players designing the heroes themselves!
(By the way, if you like fantasy, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A Salvatore.)

Ok so after that info-dump...What to print?

You can still probably find a lot of cool models that relate to those universes!
The main go-to for free printable stuff is Thingiverse.com.

Some search terms to try are:

  • Elder Scrolls Online
  • Elder Scrolls
  • Elder Scrolls Bust
  • DND Bust
  • Dungeons and Dragons Statue

And so on.

When you’re looking for models, be sure to check the intended scale! Things can be scaled up or down easily in 3D, but a LOT of roleplaying game models are directed at tabletop gamers, who make 28mm figures. Results may vary when scaling them up. (Although you might be pleasantly surprised!)

Due to the high detail capabilities, resin printers excel at miniatures. :slight_smile:

Of course, it doesn’t escape me that you’re on Blender Artists, so maybe you’re planning on printing your own model? If you have something made in Blender, usually exporting it to .STL is what you want.
(Although scale can be tricky here, because Blender sees everything as meters, and most slicer softwares sees everything as millimeters. Scale accordingly.)

This is a bit advanced. You need to make sure your model fits certain criteria for it to be printable, such as being “water-tight” among other things.

A final encouraging word...

You’re gonna fail. A lot at first.
And that’s ok!

If it’s your first time with a 3D printer, you might be surprised that we’re not quite at that Star Trek stage where we just hit “print” and everything looks marvelous. There’s still very much an art and science to getting prints to come out their best.

Experiment, try some demo models that likely came with the printer, and see how that turns out. You’ll get the hang of it before you know it!

Personal opinion? Showing your son a cool model you printed might be really exciting, but using this hobby as a father-son bonding experience would also pay off wonderfully. :smiley:

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps!

Good luck, and have fun!

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