I wanted to give 3D sculpting a try, so I found an open source program called Sculptgl. It has both a browser based app and a stand-alone app.
I found the app easy to learn and fun to use. My first project was a beholder from Dungeons and Dragons, which I then printed in black on an Ultimaker 2plus. After, I primed it in white, splashed it with shade, and then painted it.
I think it turned out great!
Last Thursday, friends and family came out to Vancouver Kidsbooks where we launched The Three Spartans, my newest novel and first middle grade comedy.
This certainly won’t be my final stop in promoting the book! I have a signing at Black Bond Books this Saturday, and more to announce in 2020!
To sign off, here’s the video Crwth Press made of the book.
One of the fun things about promoting a book is finding fun and interesting ways to spread the word. For the last few years, I’ve been pretty involved in 3D printing at work (Richmond Public Library) and so I took those new skills and created some .stl files you can have in advance of the book release.
The Three Spartans is my first middle grade novel, and is a parody of the battle at Thermopylae. This was an epic battle of 300 Spartans against 10 thousand Persians under the rule of Xerxes during the summer of 480 BCE.
In the Three Spartans, we see Art, Lea and George gather up a small resistance to battle Zeke and his Immortals. It’s a story of overcoming incredible odds, and inspiring those around you to do the same.
This is a 3D rendering of a spartan warrior I designed using the beta version of Desktop Hero 3D. I’ve been using version 1 of this program (which is publicly available) to make Dungeons and Dragons characters, and have run library programs teaching teens to write character backgrounds.
So, when I was looking at a cool giveaway, I approached Andrew at Desktop Hero and asked if I could create an .stl for a free download. He agreed, and using V2 I made the above Spartan and a rendering of Art Demus, narrator of the Three Spartans, as seen below.
Andrew was great. He’s redeveloping Desktop Hero 3D into V2, and it’s amazing. I’ve used Hero Forge from time to time to create a character, but this new Desktop Hero 3D (it releases in December) will be my only source for creating figures.
The interface is easy to use and the files (they export in .obj) print nice and clean. I printed mine on a Makerbot Desktop Replicator, with .2 layer height, 100% infill, 2 shells, a raft and supports. (Examples to come in later blog posts.) You can download the files below and give them a try.
I was first introduced to Greek history in university while in my 20s. I studied the Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and read it cover to cover. Since then, I’ve been dabbling in Spartan/Athenian history from the taking of Troy to the rule of Alexander the Great. I first discovered Birch Bay while on a road trip. I decided to take a road I’d never taken before, and found myself in a small coastal beach town that immediately made me feel at peace. I knew at that moment I needed to write a book that took place there.
You can support this into becoming a series by buying a copy of the book.
To celebrate the upcoming release of my next novel, the Three Spartans published by Crwth Press, I’m 3D printing a scene from the novel.
The premise: a parody of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), the novel is a paintball war between two groups of tweens over a tree house.
Above, we have (left to right): Zeke, George, Lea, and Art.
Above, we have the beginnings of the tree house.
I’m currently using the printers at Richmond Public Library. If you’re interested in trying something like this, check if your local library has access to 3D printing!
