RPG 3D Printed Terrain - Is It Worth It  

I really appreciate someone going through print time and material because as you stated no one ever addresses this and I don’t have a baseline before I start throwing money around. Cheers!!

A very good discussion; it was nice that you discussed the practicalities in terms of time and cost as it relates to a hobbyist rather than a full time RU-vidr.

Yeah, what I like most about dungeon tiles, and why I printed a bunch, is that you can force a party into single file arrangement, etc., during exploring or combat, and it makes it easier to visualize where everyone is on the map. I've printed a bunch of OpenForge 2.0 stuff, but just bought practically everything that Fat Dragon Games has produced as part of their recent kickstarter campaign.

Just found your channel. I have never tried making miniatures, but it looks like something I’d really enjoy. You seem like a really good teacher and I’m sure the subscribers will come because of that.

3D printed masters + Silicone Molds + 50/50 Plaster-Quickcrete mix casting = Fast Infinite Dungeons, Scatter Terrain, & Furniture for pennies.

Just purchased my printer on boxing day. Thanks for this video! It was exactly what i was looking for after looking for terrain for my D&D game. I am also a newish DM (2 years) and I was tired of drawing my own maps. Keep up the cool videos man!

Thank you, great video. Has me even more interested in 3D printing terrain!

I made my own diy 3d printer, which reduces the initial costs EVEN MORE (I'm kind of an inventor freak myself, nyeh-heheh! )...and I must say that 3d printing tech is a life saviour in the long run. I'm up to FIVE dungeons, caves and scattered terrain sets right now (I'm also a 3d modeler, so I don't even have to spend that much on bought models), and in the middle of printing my first full city/town sets. It's amazing how much it adds to the experience, and players (specially new-commers to the hobby) really appreciate it. For those that are in the doubt, I will not say them to "go fetch some bucks and buy a 3d printer NOW", but I'd like to recommend them to inform themselves about the technology and make an informed decision on it. I will not lie, you're really lucky to not have any inconvenient with 3d printing up to date, since it can be a real pain in the buttocks sometimes.

one tip if your letting them grey, prime spray them black, than heavy drybrush grey over it. as finishing touch you can do a little white drybrushing for more details. and for protection for sticky cheetos fingers, you can use a Mat or Gloss coating over it. (Gloss for the dew effect on the caverns or something)

Great video all around! Honestly surprised you don't have more subscribers already as the video quality was too notch and the info on point 👌 Thanks for making this and stay awesome! 👊

I've just got into wargaming and started looking at terrain. I have been 3D printing for some years and this was very helpful video, thanks for putting in the effort and sharing.

Talking about creating, you've created quite an elegant stache good sir

This helped alot! As a DM i was willing to up the experience for my players even more, i already have a SLA printer and requested them to design their characters so i could print them, we spend a sunday afternoon not playing but painting the mini's, i started inkjet printing battlemaps after that, which was a huge raise in immersion for them, it just takes a ton of heavy paper and alot of ink, since i now have an Ender 3 V2 and i dont want to rescale every map i find printing a modular map would save me tons of time and resources! Thank for the review!

Wonderful... but I would love to see this video updated to today.

Great vid! If you use a larger nozzle you can print almost twice as fast, but there is some sacrifice when it comes to detail

Thank you, this is all very useful information. I was unsure whether printing tiles and scenery makes sense but after learning about your experiences with printing times and slicer settings I got to printing my first set!

I am now printing tiles as well. I am going for a very large and universal layout. I do not want walls attached to the floors so I have to do them separate as well. This will be a long process and a few rolls of pla will be used. It may cost me $100-$200 in pla but I am looking at replicating sunless citadel dungeon. I am printing a .28 low quality and it is perfect. Still, yes, we are talking about 15h for a good section.

Really appreciate your thoughtful breakdown. Very helpful for those of us on the fence about 3D printers for this purpose. I think you may have talked me out of a printer for this reason, but helped to reinforce a resin printer for minis.

Have been thinking about this to step up our gaming nights. Your video helped us all make the decision. I am buying an Ender 5 Pro tomorrow. Lots of browsing and reading reviews and watching reviews. I think it will suit us the best. One of our group is talking an Elegoo Mars Pro so he can print off our characters. Love all the new tech to keep pen and paper healthy. Thanks for the video, was a GREAT help.

Just ordered my ender 5 pro with intent to use it to make dungeon tiles and random items that aren't too intricate. I appreciate this info. Thanks a lot.

Thank you for this vid! I was on the fence on which type of printer I would want and what I would prioritise printing, thanks to you I realised terrain and maps is my biggest interest!

I've just finally jumped into 3D printing after getting back into D&D and wow it's really the time more than anything. Buying or cobbling together open source sets is the easy part by far and then if you decide to paint that's another time sink with another learning curve to boot (assuming you have no prior experience). Great video from a beginner standpoint which I really appreciate. I've been crushing various playlists from 3D printing DMs, learning Cura setting, finding base profiles, tweaking my Ender 3 (fantastic printer by the way) with test cubes and extruder measurements and and and ... It is quickly becoming an obsession and all I can say is: be careful. It's highly addictive. I've already download months of things to print and am contemplating another printer already! Will I ever even need everything I'm considering printing? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's fun to see all the models come to life. Thanks again!

I did an estimate on my tiles before I started. It's about 0.35 to 0.50c for the basic tile and base. Walls add about 0.15c so corners are about 0.25c. My walls are short and all infill is 15%. I use open tiles 2.0.

loved the vid and your quality is top stuff. Keep at it and please do keep sharing :)

It is a pain in the ass but spread out over a couple of weekends it is pretty feasible and saves you a ton of money aaaand adds flexibility that no purchaseable tiles can provide.

Amazing now with the newer hi speed printers like my bambu. Depending on what your original printer was, it would now take 1/4 to 1/5 the time to print with the new core xy printers, like the Bambu, Creality K1 and others.

Using Prusa Slicer (and some others) you can print with different layer heights. Print the bottom 6.8mm as coarse as you like, then only the last few layers with the textures with 0.1 for a quite fast print with best possible visible surface quality. Only works well for the floor tiles though, not so much for the walls (But I guess you could do the bottom 6.8mm of those too coarser)

I always try to print as much scenery as necessary while in the writing phase of my campaigns. Thankfully, my players throw in a little cash every session for food/drink and other costs, which also covers the filament. I guess the most frustrating part for me is actually painting the scenery. If you start by presenting raw-print tiles, then the players will be grateful. However, if you start with _painted_ tiles, they'll expect them *all* to be painted. As a hobbyist, I don't have the time to paint every tile. At least I don't have to cut, glue, and paint foam.

Thanks you for this. Great video. Terrain is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. I borrowed my friends 3D printer but was really put off by just how long it took and how many failed prints I've had. I still want to get one eventually but I think I'll wait a bit as the quality and time were not quite what I was looking at.

Incredibly helpful video! I am about to get into 3D printing for minis and had the thought of wondering if this was practical. You broke down everything Incredibly well, thanks!

About to jump into 3d printing myself, thank you for pointing out that once you pay for a model's plans, the cost drops off as you repeatedly print that model.

A really well put together video, with some cool info. I'm very new to 3d printing but just like you am an impulsive buyer. I bought a dirt cheap Anet A8 and it is fairly rubbish. It's got wooden supports rather than acrylic and so many of my prints fail. Due to this I have just today ordered a creality CR10 V2 that should arrive near my birthday next week! I'm really looking forward to it's huge build area so I can pump out tiles and then can start D&D with my daughter and eventually my son when he's a little older. Thanks again for the video and you have a new sub!

This was a great comparison video and answers all my questions. I'm looking at using magnetic foam floor and cliff tiles while doing my building and more intricate items by print.

I have been doing plaster for so long and the cost of the printer is far less than the molds I have bought over the years, The plaster to buy and ship is a bit much and all in all this seems so much easier to afford and the models are no where near as fragile. I am looking into the Ender 3 and thank you for all the great info.

Outstanding! Thanks - really enjoyed the video.

Thanks for breaking it down.

Thanks for the video. Those were exactly the points I needed to know! 👍

I am thinking of adding a space for a magnet in each side of the tile, so when people move their miniatures, it won't disrupt the entire structure and helps hold their shapes even better. It would add a little more cost for the magnets and time for gluing, but I would think it would be worth the little extra without having them snap together and having a chance of them to break. You could also print the walls separate from the floor and have them attach via magnets to ease off the print time.

great video thanks man!

Thanks. It was fun. I've subscribed

Ty vid was big help for me as a noob 3d printer just getting into table top games.

Thanks for the breakdown!

I found for the time and the amount of filament used, I like using the Dungeons and Lasers tiles. Nice detail, great price and the Kickstarters have a ton of extra bits.

You're using a fairly expensive printer as far as the hobby goes. Printing that sheet of clips is not something my Ender 3 could reliably do. Also on a budget, the filament can be pretty cheap. $15 a kg or less. But I'm glad you brought up the time issue. It takes a lot of time to print (and paint) your own terrain pieces, especially if you're on a schedule and need to have things ready for the next session. But they're reusable, particularly the dungeon tiles, so it's a great investment.

awsome video, very very helpful , as i just got back into the hobby!

Very helpful video... I've been printing OpenLOCK Printable Scenery pieces from Terrain Tinker recently and am impressed with how well they look. I also have a small batch of DragonLock pieces and the DragonLock to OpenLOCK adapters for more options.

I enjoyed this video. It was full of good information. I want to get a solid setup and have two printers banging these tiles out non-stop. Once my set is complete, I won't need to print anymore unless I just need a single piece for a specific adventure.

Great job, hope the channel keeps growing :)

you seem like a fun dm, you got my sub

I dont play table top games. I dont own a 3d printer and/or any miniatures. I have never painted one but I still watched and like the hole video.

A few things!one-i've never seen someone reply to there com.boc like u!thanks!two-i've played for yrsrs (35yrs to tell the truth) well anyway new to 3-d printer(5 days) now A lot better informed on new projects!thanks again!

I've gotta bump up the print speed on my next slice. Right now my hallways are taking 9 hours each, 0.2 layer height, no infill (Fat Dragon Games' models). One change I would warn a newbie is that open lock is the way to go! Sure I can use conversion clips with my Dragonlock tiles, but I wish I went with Open Lock from the get go. Second advice, never underestimate how much is enough for you! I have a set of dungeon and cavern tiles the size shown here and it's not enough. So I'm now doubling the size of each set. I aim to have a huge set laid out before my players arrive, all under a sheet, so I can get that Wow factor from them!

Very helpful, thanks

thank you for this video :)

have you thought about using a 3D printed mold of a dungeon tile and then use something cheap and quick like Plaster of Paris to quickly make a bunch of dungeon wall pieces?

As someone who also 3D prints dungeons tiles (In resin) I found it MUCH MUCH quicker to print some masters and then cast a mould of them and make them that way.

With stepper motors it’s more accurate if you do full or half steps. So on the ender 3 as an example it’s best to do it at increments of .2, I’m not as familiar with your printer but might be something to look into.

Great video thank alot but ... What i realy whant to know is how your mini look next to the wall, do the square in the coner still fit a medium size mini/charather ? (Are the wall taking place from the 1' square)

Great video. In my experience making those by hand wouldn't even take half the time, including painting. I'll pass 😊 However, might be interesting for figures.

I like the video man. You got yourself another subscriber ;)

I use a 0.8 nozzle with 0.6 layer height. I could print out those basic tiles in about 20 minutes. Just giving some helpful advice.

Well being 2021 after the nasty Corvid mess this gets easier because of RESIN printing being quite a low cost for some really great printers and because of how they work time to print one item is the same as several as long as they fit on the print stage I love RESIN printing

Where did you find sets of 60 pre-made dungeon tiles for US$50-100? Dwarven Forge would set you back around US$150 for the amount you printed and with far less variety (not counting shipping costs). For we Canadians who would need to pay in US$, it would cost us $200 for your set at a cost of approx. $50 in filament. It seems to me that, apart from the time element, doing it yourself would be far cheaper. Great video by the way!

"You'll need a machine that can run 14 hours." *Laughs in the 52 hour terrain print job that is 83% complete on my printer right now... It's addictive. I just ordered a third printer (mid-size resin printer because my FDM is great for terrain but I want extra detail on minis and certain objects). The key is choosing prints that are highly reusable across campaigns and locations. I spent a few weeks sort of steadily building up a cavern and dungeon set, then outdoors, now I'm building up an urban tile set. It does take a long time to print a big job, but my Ender 3 print bed fits 9 tiles comfortably, and it can run while I work, sleep, or carry on with life, so my my actual time invested doing anything is pretty minimal.

Please try printing these with your resin printer, im super curious how that'd work out!

Ty man

Great stuff

Good video, what was you type configuration of your 60pieces set? Walls, bridges,…?

For tiles like that, if you were really going for speed, a SLA printer would be able to do a lot in little amount of time.

That’s cavern at 6:50 is inspiring. My players would love it. Is it possible to create multiple pieces at once? Would you be able to reuse Hess pieces for your next map?

Great video. Appreciate you taking the time. ... as an aside, where did you get the Skull and Crossbone wall decor?

I’m just at the beginning of your video…. But I’d say no, use wood and xps foam. It is for doors and scatter terrain, but not for walls or floors

Love your caverns! Which set did you end up getting? I can't seem to find the one that matches your display.

I just got into the hobby about a year ago and I'm having the trouble of just randomly printing terrain. I do like the fdm for terrain, but I feel like I could do building and such a more efficient way. Could you suggest where my wife and I could attempt to make the card stock buildings and such?

Just came across the channel, great info and thanks for the recommendations. I think I'll give the printable terrain a shot. Do you primarily print in grey? I've been using Black but was thinking of switching.

I am sadly not a good guy to do stuff like this. I have 1 prusa printer I that has a relatively minor problem. I may even just have to change the nozzle for the first time. Although I think there is an issue with the extruder in general. Likely just a easy fix though that I am too lazy and dumb to fix, at least yet. However I even have a 2nd prusa printer that I have only built like 1/10 on and its almost a year since I got it. On the other hand I have a 35 kg of plastic if not more just waiting to be made into stuff. Unfortunately I fell out with my brother or I could probably get help from him with some of that stuff. I may just end up having to try to sell it or something if I can not get my ass to actually fix the darn things. This is why one should have friends into fixing and poking into stuff. "Hey buddy, I bought this dumb printer a while ago, but I never built it, please build it for me. If you do, perhaps you can also fix this one that seems to not work right. In exchange I will let you borrow one of them for a few months and give you some rolls to play around with." >.

The problem i have is that there are so many options I don’t know what to do.

Just wondering if you ever ended up painting them? If so, what did you use? Getting a printer next month and I'm going to be making some tiles myself.

Your print times are insanely fast. Mine take about 4x as long as yours...

Nice Video. Subscribed.

Awesome. Can you please pass the link for you scenery? I am trying to find in the site but without success.

Do you know Dungeon Blox? May also be interesting for you.

It is very nice, but I think, you would have had an easier time if you had limited yourself to those rock-pillars and the walls, without bothering for the floor of the cave. You could have mixed between printed things and things made our of styrofoam (for the floor of the cavern) or another material. In my experience, printing large parts of floor is not very efficient, when compared to other solutions, like styrofoam or anything similar.

how has your experience been on minis vs terrain?

i realy need a 3D printer

where did all the comments go

"I could just continue to use them unpainted..." In the name of the God Emperor, Your planet has been sentenced to Exterminatus

Flat Tile, 2 inches square, 52 minutes. Took him forever to finally say it. Go to 12:10 for times. jfc

You can’t download from thingiverse free

Great video... I would just like to point you and others to free 3D terrain -- do a search on Openforge on the Thingiverse website. Lots of free 3D stuff on Thingiverse.

better to make your own, paying for dwarven forge is ludicrous. who do they think they are games workshop?

Scatter not tiles

Mz4250 on shapeways have a rather large collection of stl files all D&D related. All files are free.

very helpful. Thank you!