GU-11

Alfredo Ferrari (born January 1932 in Modena; died 30 June 1956 in Modena), nicknamed Alfredino or Dino,

The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, on ABC.

born January 1932; died 30 June 1956

broadcast from september 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966

ಠ_ಠ

...which is why I asked if there might be another inspiration for the name. Admittedly though, I didn't know he died before The Flintstones were aired. But in my defense, the first thing that would pop into your mind when hearing that name would be that of a purple dinosaur that behaves like a dog, not the son of the founder of Ferrari--for me, at least.

Ah, Enzo Ferrari; the man responsible for Lamborghini getting into the supercar business.

When you sell to a well off clientele and one of them is unhappy with your product, it's probably unwise to tell them to make their own if they think they can do better.

Whoa, really? I never knew that.

I wonder if that final fantasy they list will finally be versus 13, even if rebranded.

Also, good overview of xbot1 policies broken down.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/06/microsoft-details-xbox-one-used-games-always-online

Very likely. Which sort of explains why SE's been feeding us stale leftovers in the form of FF XIII-2 and FF XIII Lightning Returns (or whatever it's called).

BTW, has The Last of Us been released yet? The damn IGN review only stated the review date but no info on the release date. I took it for granted that a reviewed game would naturally have been released, but some of the comments said something along the lines of, "...and now the wait begins.

Never mind; common sense kicked in, and I googled for the release date. June 14.

Phyrox is right.

Enzo Ferrari, the founder, and his son Dino Ferrari.

My bad.

But for a guy who founded a company that makes super-cool cars, it's kind of weird for him to name his son after a purple dinosaur from a stone-age comedy cartoon. Or was there another inspiration?

Anyone tried Sketchup Make before?

Apparently, it's a version of Sketchup that's specifically taylored for 3D printing. I wonder if they actually worked out the glitches that pop up when drawing small objects, yet.

I downloaded it, but decided to ask for some opinions before installing.

Wow, how'd I miss this thread??

I also got started in 3D printing a couple months ago when I bought a Makerbot Replicator 2. It's more expensive than the Cube, but the max resolution is better (0.1mm), and you're not limited to using their filament cartridges. It only uses PLA plastic (unless you install a heated build plate), but it seems that printing in ABS is much more tricky anyway - especially at 0.1mm resolution.

As for 3D software, that's my big challenge right now too. I have a background in 2D drafting with AutoCAD, so I bought a student license of AutoCAD 2014 on ebay (less than $20!). But I'm finding that 3D autocad has a pretty steep learning curve...

I've been using Sketchup 8, and I think it's pretty good. It's free, it's user-friendly, and with the right plugins, you don't even need the Pro version.

And unless you're an expert in 3d rendering, I recommend staying away from Blender. It doesn't just have a steep learning curve, but a literal learning spiral (into insanity)

um... he's talking about this from the first movie:

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Brawl_%28Movie%29

My bad.

funny story, the last time I had to strip the paint off a kit was because a bottle of blue paint exploded all over the kit while I was setting up to paint it. I've still got a big blue paint stain on my patio from that one.

What I do is right after it's all drained from the can into a glass jar, I drop in a couple toothpicks then start slowly stirring the paint until it stops fizzing. also warming the paint up helps it release gas faster (once the can is fully drained the paint will be ice cold, even if you heat up the can like David suggested). takes maybe 15 minutes of stirring.

Thing is, I typically double the amount of coverage I get from a can so that alone makes it worth it.

Just out of curiosity, you thin the paint before airbrushing?

Menasor XD

(Remembering the Devastator in the first movie ^^")

Please don't remind me of that multi-colored waste of CGI budget. If Menasor is anything like Bay's vision of Devastator, I'd rather he not be shown in the movie.

We're you repeating what happened to me from another post?

So that's where I heard that story from!

I'm just hoping for him to try and act a bit instead of listening to him drone off some lines with no emotion. Did we hear Sutherland as snake already, I don't recall hearing it?

If he sounds anything like the voice-acting he did for Ross Syllabus from Armitage III, it's going to be painful to hear.

I initially avoided Blue Dragon due to the Dragonball-esque animation, but decided to give it a try yesterday. Totally hooked now. At first I thought it reminded me of the earlier FF games, with likeable characters in a fantastical setting. It was only later that I found out the anime was based on an XBox RPG written by Hironobu Sakaguchi.

I second the recommendation for Tamiya spray Lacquers. Personally I don't like using cans but I like the quality of Tamiya Lacquers to the point that I drain the can content into jars and run that through an airbrush.

I heard that decanting can be rather troublesome, though. You have to leave it in a container (bottle, etc.) uncapped at least overnight to let the pressure completely dissipate, and handle it like you would a stick of dynamite--VERY CAREFULLY. Any sudden movement might cause the paint to literally explode.

While I know Dino was named after the founder of Ferrari, it's still a dumb name for a Transformer. Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear that name is a purple dinosaur charging Fred Flintstone when he comes back from work.

Gunpla and most mecha model kits use polycaps on the sockets, so they probably fit more snugly. I think I'll start out with a 0.25mm difference and see if that works.

Thanks again!

I'm just grateful I'm not a fan of XBox. Even then, it wouldn't have affected me, as I haven't found any place that buys or sells used games...except ebay, of course. Maybe we Malaysians are just sentimental about our games?

@SKETCHLEY: Thanks, I think i'm getting the hang of it now. Sketchup does have Boolean tools, but they're locked in the free version. I was able to download a free plugin that pretty much does the same--subtracting, merging, cutting, etc.

When you said smaller hole, how much smaller can I realistically make the hole? Would 0.5mm be a safe estimate? Sorry, but I'm completely inexperienced at 3d rendering.

When I read the name Tsumugi, my mind conjured an image of a blonde Japanese schoolgirl with bushy eyebrows playing the keyboard...until I noticed the katakana next to the picture of that...thing.

Kiefer Sutherland?! Damn, I hated his voice acting in Armitage III (almost as much as I hated Elizabeth Berkeley, which is quite a lot). Sounded like he was half-asleep.

That's what I'm expecting, definitely.

And yeah, if he doesn't deliver... head on a stake, skull on a platter, body left for the birds and dogs, an' all that.

Well, there's certainly plenty of him to go around for the birds and dogs. Seriously, I'm concerned about that man's health. Here's hoping he lives long enough to complete book 7, and maybe go on to write a few more books. Then again, waist size is no guarantee of good health. I mean, David Gemmell (google Waylander and Legend if you don't know who he was) looked as fit as any man his age could get, and his heart just gave out one day.

The workable solutions I came up with are:

flat surface:

1. make circle in the location and the diameter of the hole you want.

2. pushpull the circle through the surface until the far end is flush with the far surface.

3. erase the plane inside the circle.

curved surface (or all the way through complex, multifaceted object):

1. put rod through curved surface in the location and in the diameter of the hole you want.

2. merge (or whatever the term is) - in effect, the overlapping parts disappear. So any parts of the surface that are penetrated by the rod are removed, and a new series of facets and surfaces are formed around the rod.

3. delete rod

Remember to pay attention (or better yet, directly input) the diameter of the hole in the measurement indicator in the lower right corner.

I can't thank you enough for the help!

Stupid-question time: After reading the steps, does this mean I won't need any Boolean tools for this? Also, I don't recall any merge or equivalent options in Sketchup. IIRC, it automatically "fuses" two components or groups together when you intersect them. I'll try and simply intersect the rod and head, and then delete the rod to see if it does make a hole.

One more thing: for a ball socket, is it necessary for the hole to be bowl-shaped, like what you see on the ball sockets of certain TF and Gunpla heads?

So, I had to facepalm a bit when I thought of this. That old MD3 format is a really popular format for polygon models, because it's so simple. I went to look up whether you can import them into Blender.

Lo and behold, I do a google search, and yep. People have written import scripts for Blender that read MD3s.

So, problem solved. There's a direct route from Gmax to Blender, if you want to use it. While it'll take some work to learn, the library of online tutorials for using it is absolutely massive, especially in the aircraft realm, where it was the go-to program for the MS Flight Sim series.

That's good to know! I just downloaded Gmax, and I'll be tinkering around with it when I can find some time.

There is also a little program, from the defunct X Dimension Software, called 3D Exploration 1.11 BETA that can import and convert from-to many different mesh file formats, including MD3, and it exports to STL directly. This little gem from 1999 works great and will save the frustration of going through Blender; it must be noted that depending on the source file, some triangles may end up being omitted or get their normals flipped, but nothing that can't be easily healed in the prep software.

Edit: For anyone who may be interested, the installation file is called 3DEXPLOR.EXE, and it's only 1196 KB... the whole installed application is only 2.03 KB and runs flawlessly in Win7 64 bit. If the mods permit it, and only if the mods permit it, I can upload it here.

I found a file called UNKLAB 3D Explorer.exe. Is that the right one?

maybe you can 3D print your own atrociously gaudy VF-1.

Challenge accepted! And I'm pimping mine out with chrome rims on the landing gears!

Many thanks for the explanation, Mechaninac! I guess the 5mm measurement does indeed refer to the width of the cylinder. I dug up FOC Jazz's weapon and measured the peg, and it's almost exactly 5mm. If it were the circumference, it would have been more than 5mm. Stupid of me not to have thought of that in the first place.

Downloaded that diagram, too; I'm sure it'll come in handy in the future.

Okay, super stupid question, and I admit I totally flunked my math and geometry tests back at school...does the 5mm measurement for TF weapons refer to the diameter of the cylindrical peg, or the width of it when measured across?

More importantly, how do I render a peg that's accurate to the measurements in Sketchup?

If I knew I was going to need geometry skills in 3d printing, I'd have paid more attention during math classes.

Damn, that's so f#%ked up!

And I thought their handling of TFA toys were bad.

Hey there. Compared to many others here, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to modeling and customizing, but I'm just going to give my two cents' worth, anyway.

There are several reasons you'd want to sand a model kit:

One, is to give the smooth plastic more "tooth" so that the paint adheres better to the surface.

Two, is after you prime the part and and want to smooth out any uneven parts.

Three, is that you're painting a transforming kit, and want there to be enough clearance between parts, so that they don't scrape against each other and cause paint chipping.

If the part has been primed and doesn't show an uneven surface, it doesn't need to be sanded IMO.

BTW, TS paints are lacquer paints, and should have enough tooth that it doesn't require primer for added adhesion...although it doesn't hurt.