It's a really great idea, and one that I had briefly thought about as well.

The difficulty, however, is not so much in creating the "counters"/minis, but in producing them. The nice thing about the punch-out card minis on the market now is that they are on really sturdy plastic, and more importantly, are pre-cut. So all you have to do is punch them out and assemble.

I've done some box style figs, and they work well -- usually I wrap the "box" around a piece of foam to help reinforce it for use ... also an idea we can incorporate here.

My primary hope is to have them in PDF version - that way, anyone can print needed figs for a game.

I am currently working on a Miranda Class ship for Star Trek (it's an easy set up) So far, I have it set with a top view, and with the nacelles already attached directly to the hull... the roll bar and torp box are separate. You print in on card, fold the nacelles down and the roll bar folds across with tabs on the end that fit in slots on the hull...

To make it more durable, I cut a small piece of foam board (a little thicker than poster board) in the shape of the hull, and glued it to the underside of the hull. As soon as I get some pics going, I'll upload them for people to look at.

I am also currently looking at a Constitution class, with a fold over inverted V-shaped secondary hull, ect. 

However, they do not need to be Trek ships, and I would prefer that they be generic designs, or ones from the current Starmada books (with permission), so as to not violate any copyrights.

In the end... I would love to create printable 3D counters in paper... fold and glue along tabs, ect.... and make them available to package with the games... some of it I can do with programs, and some of it, I am doing by hand to ensure that it will always be good quality, and that it won't be a difficult job assembling them.....

With the price of figs rising due to increased cost of material, as well as increased cost of shipping and transport, I'd like to make an economical way to share the hobby.

Nahuris

[Edit]

P.S. I do have a copy of Pepakura - and am working with it right now -- my goal with that is to get the final product down to the same scale as readily available figs - most of what I've seen so far as Pep files are fairly large -- will keep everyone updated on my experiments.

Nahuris

Re: Pepakura....

Interesting program, but if you're looking to do 'Pirates of the Spanish Main'-style ships, you're better off doing it by hand. There's a website that does exactly what you're talking about - but the name escapes me right now

I got in at 2:30 AM - worked overtime, took wife to dentist early this morning - I'm REALLY out there right now...even after a 3 hour nap.

Contact me off list if Dan's willing to let you do any of the ships in the recent Grumm book. I'll follow up on anything Dan agrees to in regard to making minis. Dan's the guy with the other set of minis - the 'usual process' would've taken too long, so Dan did those.

Oh, and I'd stay away from trek stuff. Not only copyrighted, and Paramount's sue-happy, but Dan's considering doing an SFB version of Starmada (or something) for ADB...

You could for personal stuff, but you can get actual metal versions of those....

Now, Mechs - THOSE would be a natural for Pepakura...

I agree, actually - I can output a DXF file from DOGA, but that's only useful if someone has access to Rapid Prototype equipment.

I will model/render stuff for whatever Dan will allow, and Box minis are better than counters, but I'd like actual minis - plastic or metal, I don't care....

Mike, is there a "watertight" checker in DoGA?

I ask because what caused our minis to get produced was Charles finding a plug in that would check his Lightwave models for being watertight.

I know how to get minis into production, if you guys can make watertight .STL files.

would be nice to see the IS ships really filling out this way also...

DOGA is a no plugin entity. Making watertight models is very hard in doga. Just ask 'jimbeau'? I think it was me and him who did some experiments and had to port from doga to blender as dxf.

Ultimately and due to this I am learning LW8. Its not so bad for me as I can work in 3DSMax abit but I fancy LW.
Really for minis and better models LW or 3DS or whatever is the route. Even Metasequia could be worth trying to. (And that does do plugins but not the one Ken might be on about)

I can design damn fine stuff and would like to see more as minis. (trumpet blown)

I would be rather interested in this watertight plugin. I have also heard Rhino is good for .stl format stuff as well.

Oh yeah somewhere I did a box mini from Taz's template of a ship from one of the VBAM games, it looked rather good.

I really like the ship designs in S:AE and would love to see them in miniature form!  I guess the issue is the costs and time to make them 'watertight'.  The time there isn't much to do, but for cost, you could always do some form of pre-sales!

-Bren

I'd just need the original models and I can make them water tight...

yup

I'd love the idea of solid minis -- was initially trying to design something that we could include with the game...LOL.
I have no experience with software rendering...
I am game to work on any of these ideas.... there is no such thing as owning too many figs.

Nahuris