Oct 15, 2015 | By Alec
It’s no secret that the video game world is an actual treasure trove of material for 3D printing projects, but some franchises are more suitable than others. Filled with fantastic and imaginative characters and weapons and high replay factors, Blizzard’s Warcraft franchise and Riot Games’s League of Legends are insanely popular for a good reason, and also regularly subject of 3D printed tributes. However, few projects have been as impressive as those by London-based design team 3DNA, which have just shared some amazing projects: a series of very cool 3D playing cards from Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and even a 40 cm tall amazingly detailed Ekko from League of Legends.
Fortunately, the two designers behind 3DNA were happy to talk to us about their very cool and inspiring projects. The design team itself is quite young, and was founded by Simone Fontana and Ricardo Salomao in January 2015, as part of the first 3D printing Academy by MiniFactory. Together, the London-based designers combine some serious 3D modeling skills with a big love of unique, geeky items. ‘Our vision is to transform concepts or ideas into 3D objects by using 3D printing and 3D design as a tool to produce highly detailed and unique objects for the 3D printing community, without the budget constraints of mass production items,’ they tell us. The name itself is obvious, as 3D printing is in their DNA.
Practically, they are looking for cool and iconic pieces of the online gaming community, and have definitely found the right stuff in the gaming world. For their earliest pieces, they have combined their different skills to produce a couple of fantastic objects derived from the Hearthstone and League of Legends games. For those of you who’ve never heard of them, Hearthstone is Blizzard’s latest expression of the Warcraft universe, and essentially combines heroes and tropes from the game in a turn-based collectible card game that is free to play, but features in-game purchases to experience everything. League of Legends was released way back in 2009, but still has a tremendous fanbase, and is a free-to-play multiplayer where teams of heroes face off against each other.
As tribute to these games, Simone and Ricardo have designed and 3D printed some amazingly detailed cards from Hearthstone (including Dr Boom, Trum Po, Kripparrian and Yong Woo), as well as an amazing statue of League of Legends hero Ekko, that stands a massive 40 cm tall. Both tributes are very cool in their design, and doubtlessly makes fans of the respective franchises drool.
As the designers explain, they both took care of specific toolsets to get the most out of their skills. ‘They were designed mixing the solid surface modelling of Rhino 3D (Simone) and the organic sculpting of ZBrush (Ricardo),’ they tell us. The cards themselves are completely 3D printed, and consist of three separate parts to optimize the use of support material. ‘All cards were printed on the Zortrax using their own brand of ABS filament. ( all of our 3D models are optimized for all 3D printers and filament materials),’ they say.
As for the amazing Ekko, he was 3D printed in six pieces on a Wasp Delta 20X40 using PLA filament. However, to get that final effect, they did have to add an extra touch. ‘The post processing and paint finishing was done by Catherine Wood (artist and prop maker), the model really came to life thanks to the depth and quality of the painting,’ they tell us.
Unsurprisingly, the designs have been quite popular on MyMiniFactory, where you can find and download all of their works. The duo behind 3DNA is therefore already working on follow-up projects in a similar vein, including fan favorite and customized cards for the Hearthstone game, while they are also looking into 3D printing busts and statues of characters from both games. If you love their work and are looking for a particular recreation, be sure to contact them.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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