So you’ve created an STL and you’d like to publish it..

The following post arose out of a change in the licensing of an STL which was used in a remix from CC to a paid file. Rather than repeat it all in an intro, what follows is the full post I created in a relevant Failbook group:

Just a quick tip for new chums dipping their toes into the 3D modelling pool.

If you’re going to start off with a remix, only publish it (free or paid) once you have checked that it meets the licensing conditions for all source files used.

Generally, if the remix or new model that you wish to share publicly uses a part of any model which uses the Creative Commons (CC) license, remember that there are several types, with CC0 being the ONLY equivalent to Public Domain.

Before even uploading your remix, first ensure that

• the original file/s allows for derivatives
• if the original is a remix itself, check that the source for it also allows for derivatives
• if the model allows sharing although this is usually bundled up with No Derivatives
• provide a link to the original model, or if not known (e.g. lost in the Thingiverse purge), track down the original creator and link to their profile
• if considering asking for coin for your model, the easiest thing is to make the model from scratch rather than remix.
  
  Most of the free models with CC licensing in the wild are also marked non-commercial.
  
  That said, don’t be a jerk and rip-off a model just because the creator hasn’t realised that the license can be set to non-commercial.
  
  Always ask permission and if the answer is no, then the only option is keep it to yourself, or make your own from scratch.
• The last bullet point also applies to selling prints: if the models license stipulates Non-commercial then this applies to prints as well as the STLs.
  
  Even if it doesn’t state non-commercial, then the polite thing to do is to approach the creator and ask permission, and offer a percentage of profit as win-win. This keeps the creators happy and shows that not all people who sell prints are knobs without a conscience… and we’re likely to still have public access to their STLs instead of having them disappear behind paywalls and other convoluted systems.

On a side note, this is why I’m personally not a fan of people “secret squirrel” sharing files via PM or personal cloud drives because rarely are any of the supplementary files kept except for the STL, losing both the reference to the creator and the license terms in the process. Release a remix of one of these and there’s potential to lose any credibility as a modeller once someone identifies the source.

Also remember that when remixing, you’re a creator yourself and it’s well worth taking the time to understand how the Creative Common licensing protects your own works Scroll about half way down the page of the following link and all types of CC licensing are explained succinctly and unambiguously.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Painting vs Average Miniature Gamer

I have watched countless videos of miniature gamers who paint their miniatures exceedingly well.

You know the type. Regardless of the model or the game system, they’ve always got a calm voice, a steady hand, and a catch phrase at the ready. Some of them go beyond slapping paint around with a brush and excel at airbrushing, and produce the most stunning results which would surely be better placed under a glass case than be used by greasy, cheese-ball-stained paws on a table top.

However, I feel that the majority of us are paradoxically paralysed by the abundance of what I like to term “museum-quality” miniatures featured in just about any form of visual media, in spite of all of the gentle coaching of the likes of Uncle Atom at Tabletop Minions, and the dulcet tones of Duncan Two-Thin-Coats

What I feel that we don’t see enough of are paint-jobs which are “good-enough”, work which makes the table look interesting, makes the minis stand out more than the terrain/board, yet doesn’t distract players and observers from what they are there for, and that’s to play the game.

OK. I’ll admit that I’m as guilty of wanting museum quality paint-jobs but I’m not prepared to put the limited amount of free time I have into because painting with that degree of fussing about simply doesn’t grab me; it simply puts me off playing with raw plastic models until I’ve got paint on them and then I’m frustrated because I’m not playing. Yes, that’s my baggage but the sense of peer pressure is a bitch.

Games Workshop identified this when they developed their Contrast Paint range – the idea being to help people who buy their minis to be able to participate in their sponsored competition where “no unpainted armies” is part of the prerequisite for entry (yes, yes, Matilda… and to make more squillions of money…). However, here we are 12 months or more down the track, the range has expanded and now we find that some of the “pros” who would claim that this methodology was somehow cheating when first released have embraced the new medium and are producing great results, better results than originally intended.

Great. Unwittingly, they’ve kicked the lesser mortals in the cobblers by producing results with techniques that again they’ve put hours of work into developing… which in a sense defeats the purpose of the range in the first place. Someone can show you how to play three chords on a guitar but if the motivation isn’t there to keep practicing, then you’ll never play Sweet Home Alabama/Werewolves of London/All Summer Long, regardless of how much money you spend on the instrument and its accoutrements and how many Joe Satriani videos you’ve watched.

I don’t knock miniature gamers who are also modellers, as defined by their efforts in painting and whatever other work they may perform, such as posing the model.
I just want to see that balance of average, tabletop ready paint-jobs by people who are more gamers than they are modellers and/or painters. Paint jobs that don’t take more than 2-3 hours per mini to complete from start to finish including basing and varnishing, not including drying, Finishing a model that doesn’t feel like a chore.

Here’s my example, FDM-printed minis which I consider to be tabletop ready; I sit at a table and from an average viewing distance of a metre/yard/arm’s length or more, they look fine.

… yes, the King Crab is …. mostly ‘armless… (BAZINGA! DAD JOKE!)

In these models there are no highlights and no decals but they fit my criteria:

• no more than two main colours used for the main coverage
• around 7 colours of paint, or less
• look acceptable at arm’s length and on the table
• won’t be terrified when Stubby McCheeseballfingers picks up the models to look at them

Do you suffer from painting paralysis? How have you overcome it or are you like me, just starting to break through it, or are you still struggling with it?

I’m keen to read people’s comments…

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Post Script

Here’s two completely different paint jobs, one is of the “display-case” quality and a high-quality polystyrene injection-moulded model, the other is a 0.16 layer (barely less than terrain quality resolution) FDM-printed model.

The second is more achievable and just as playable as the first.

The second gives the procrastinator a target readily achievable and on the tabletop in game faster, where it looks better than in the photo, whilst the first is a high-standard and some serious hard/careful work, taking several days to complete as opposed to hours for the second.

Grey Knight – Blazed_minD

Dragon DRG-1C – Blazed_minD

Both are painted by the same person, and the Grey Knight predates the Dragon by a few years…

Mech Gaming Resources

Background

The following database initially started life as bookmarks stored in an Excel spreadsheet. Not being familiar with the mech gaming universe, additional links were added to each entry for future reference.

Before long, it seemed that I wasn’t the only one having issues maintaining a collection of bookmarks with any semblance of order, so the spreadsheet was transferred to Google Sheets in order to assist others in a similar predicament.

Sooner or later, things were going to have to change. Spreadsheets make for lousy databases in the long run.

The bullet was bitten. The data painstakingly forged into shape and transferred to an online database, which is no longer free to maintain; not too much to be out of pocket per month but US$60.00/year which the Household CFO will be asking questions about.

The old database is dead. Long live the new database… until it doesn’t!

How the data is sorted

No, Felicity, there’s no geeky splainin’ goin’ down, so you can keep your knickers on.
This is high-level, where-to-start looking kinda stuff…

There are four main categories; clicking the title for each will open that section of the database.

If you’re of the “Manual? Wutsa manual?” persuasion, then you can jump right in without the parachute but just be warned that there’s no permanent alpha-numeric sort; that’s up to you to determine as I haven’t yet figured out how to get around the last-entry:top of the list default.
Beyond that, knock yourselves out. By the way, every link will open a new tab so you don’t have to jump through hoops finding this page again.

For the rest of you, just continue reading past the list a little ways.
(Each underlined heading below is a hyperlink which takes you directly to the sheet in question)

• Mobile Assets – Walkers – Every vehicle that walks, whether it be military, industrial, or otherwise.
  Two main classifications, FightMech for Military, ComMech for industrial, agricultural, and militia.
  
  
• Mobile Assets – Other – Every other type of military vehicle which doesn’t walk. The only vehicles missing are naval. Classifications are FightInfantry for PBI and Battle Armour, FightSpace for fixed wing, orbital, and interplanetary craft, and FightVehicles for everything else.
  
  
• Static Assets – In a nutshell, terrain, but not all of it may be as inactive as first imagined.
  Classifications are Buildings, which are pretty self-explanatory, Static Defenses for turrets and orbital defense cannons, which may have an active role in a game, and Terrain which includes terrain features, such as hex terrain, hex hills for existing “paper” maps, wrecks… you get the idea.
  
  
• Miscellaneous Assets – AKA Miscellaneous, this is the black-hole, the back of the cushion, where everything that doesn’t fall into any of the above categories ends up. This one will be a work in progress as it’s the least used and there’s likely to be some other categories added as new brain-farts bubble to the surface to threaten the fabric of reality.
  Classifications in this section now comprise of Modparts for moulded mechs and 3D design elements, Gaming Aids such as calculators, software, rules etc., Hex Bases for minis, and Commerical Sites relating to specific mech games, whether there be commercial STLs or printed models available.

Each of the four sections are operated in more or less the same manner.

Once opened, you’re presented with a table view which, unlike the previous Sheets iteration, doesn’t have every single field in your face like a tsunami of data waiting to consume you.

What follows below is a very brief summary of the difference between the List View and the Form View, however, some people may find the video linked here more helpful in demonstrating some the database’s capabilities.

List View

Where the extra detail is required, just click on any record and the details will be presented in a form.

Form View

Each list may be sorted or filtered by the desired classification, and this will then automatically sort that classification our for you.

Entries may be selected as Favourites by clicking on the Star icon at the left hand side of each entry in the list. By clicking the “Favourites” button at the top of the side-bar menu,a sort on the marks marked accordingly will be returned.

There is a sidebar where specific filtering may be performed and any visible field, or filtering & sorting may be performed in each column header. For the side-bar, to initiate the search press the Search button at the top of the side-bar.

To clear all filters, press the Clear Filter button which will have become visible at the top of the list view.

These instructions are by no means comprehensive otherwise I’d be here all night and rather than lose you to the latest cats-on-synthesisers video, now’s the time for you to scroll back up a little, click some links, and start “playing”.

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A couple more things to note:

1. The design of the sheets will be subject to change

2. Each table may be viewed on a mobile device with the Ragic! app without having to create an account.
i) Open the Ragic! app on the mobile device.
ii) Press Click Here at the bottom of the screen where it reads Open an account as a guest.
iii) Tap the QR Code Scan button at the end of the URL entry line then scan the following QR Code.

QR code to open in Ragic! app as a Guest

Ragic! app Form View on a mobile phone

Non-IP nomenclature for describing 3D models of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic combat vehicles.

Introduction

The initial purpose of this document is determine a common selection of non-IP  terminology which may be used to freely describe a sci-fi universe and gaming systems where anthropomorphic and zoomorphic combat vehicles feature prominently in the lore, with the aim of enabling modellers to tag any freely available or commercially available models which may be deemed suitable for that universe.

In doing this, the terminology avoids mentioning specific IP but at the same time may be applied to any applicable free or commercial models for the purposes of being inclusive of all models which may be used for this specific genre of sci-fi. These terms may therefore not be copyrighted or trademarked by any entity for the purposes of making them commercially exclusive.

Nomenclature

The public domain terms include but are not restricted to (this list may grow)

• Mecha, Mech – typically used to describe an anthropomorphic (human-like) or zoomorphic (animal-like) vehicle
• American Mecha – a westernised style of mecha grouping which is a subset of FightTech.
• FightTech – the generic term describing a sci-fi universe within which mecha technology may be found
• FightMech – a FightTech universe military mech
• FightVehicle – any FightTech AFV (armoured fighting vehicle) or VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) unit
• FightSpace – any FightTech aerospace (planes, spaceships) unit
• ComMech – a FightTech commercial mech unit, whether used for industry or agriculture
• ComVehicle – a FightTech commercial vehicle, e.g. tanker, truck, train, VTOL
• ComSpace – a FightTech aerospace unit, e.g. passenger or cargo “ships”

Whilst the terms are capitalised for the effect of the appearance of being proper nouns they are essentially regular nouns and capitalisation does not matter.

This work (Non-IP nomenclature for describing 3D models of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic combat vehicles, by Unknown), identified by Steve Lockett, is free of known copyright restrictions.

Let’s see how far we get…

I’ve created this blog at the suggestion of a work colleague.

His suggestion was for me to get what I know out of my head and record it on virtual paper for all and sundry to see.

Well, the plan is to do that eventually. I will start discussions related my trade but with the technical side comes some griefing and I’d like to leave that until I can post with minimal emotive input.

Meanwhile, I’ll use a bunch of other topics to .. erm.. well, learn how to blog.

You see, I’m a big kid in a bald man’s body who’s always been fascinated by cool technology. In essence, it’s a fascination with science, sometimes as pure knowledge, other times in the production of art but it’s always for enjoyment at some level. If I get to share the experience, even better.

This has left me feeling that I’ve always been a little left-of-centre with my peers.

I don’t give as big a shit about what I like to term the three Fs – footy, fishin’, an’ four-wheel-drivin’ – as the rest of them seem to. I can be interested in them enough to be social but beyond that, honestly, I’m not that fussed.

So, what you are likely to see in this blog is pretty much a brain-dump of whatever has caught my eye, either in the past, currently, or what may be the “next” thing that my magpie-brain looks at in its perpetual scanning for the next exciting “shiny” thing.

Expect a roller-coaster of topics ranging from railways to computers and most things in between. Music, audio production; a smattering of that.

And maybe history. Or maybe that’s should be the loose topic for another blog…

Here’s a quote that was attached to this page’s template. I thought I’d leave it here.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton