3D Printed Wombats

Here is a little project my husband and I did a number of years ago for two of our friends who were getting married.
They wanted wedding cake toppers, and they loved Wombats, so they commissioned us to design/model/print two for them.
The groom paints miniatures as a hobby, so he took over that part of the process.

I've never actually seen these 3D prints in person! We lived in New Zealand at the time, and our friends who were getting married lived in Los Angeles. AND the prints were printed at Shapeways (in New York)....so aside from a lot of emails and some pictures on the day of the wedding, you are seeing as much of the end result as I am! :D

It was a really fun experience though. I had never 3D printed anything before, so that was a learning curve to go through. Modeling for print is a little different than for tv production. Details (especially at this small scale and using the materials we had available at the time to print) meant that details had to be a little more chunky to survive the printing process unscathed.

This particular printing method used a little gentle 'sanding process' to clean up some of the rough bits, however that also meant that fine details (like the claws) had to be slightly thicker to make it through the minimum printable wall thickness AND the sanding. Also allowing for blow holes (in the underside of the feet) so that the object could be hollow (another process to go through in building) so that less material could be used (ie: cheaper to print). A lot of fun.