Well, it appears the solution to the loss of all threads was restoring a month-old backup, so my old project thread seems to be gone and everything seems like I never existed in the first place. So, to recap, I have been building an almost-functional Dragon's Tear over the past few months. You can find more details about it on a blog I have been setting up while the board was acting up, you can find it at http://prjdtear.wordpress.com
Well, it has been a while since my topic got lost in the forum crash and I set up the blog as a replacement of the lost posts.
Anyway, first update in a while as I have been busy, which shows my attempts at dirt-cheap PCB fabrication, asks for input on a combined strain relief / filter inductor / decorative part and discusses whether to move to a lower system voltage as my multimeter tells me I should be fine with that.
http://prjdtear.wordpress.com/2012/0...me-ponderings/
This deserves far more attention. You are trying to create a symbol that should resonate with the entire fanbase. The fucking site is called Dragon-tear. it's Iconic, and you endeavor to make it real. I wish I could give you some pointers on what you could do, but I don't think my input would really help you. Just know that I am watching. I see. This is wonderful, I hope you can complete it soon. It is hard to carry on with a project with no reciprocation, especially when you know you deserve it. This is fucking awesome, please keep going.
Old sig, tired of it.
Well... It is not that this thread has been completely ignored. The original thread, including lots of feedback, was lost in the server error, and I have, in response to this, moved the content off-site and have not added much after that. It is also hard to get response without doing anything, which I hope will change once I find time. But thank you for your response, I appreciate it.
Well, I am still on it, and to show it, I am giving you this:
Why did I build another one that looks like junk? To test on. I can cure the plastic and work on it without damaging the pretty model. For more high-res photos and documentation, I do not want to crosspost everything, so feel free to check out my blog, which now contains a new post with the most recent development. And man, I hope this does not come across as advertising another site, as the blog exists pretty much to prevent reposts and to provide a fail-safe since I already lost quite a bit of content in the forum crash.
I don't blame you, I wouldn't wanna see you screw it up as well. Keep it up though! It looks like it's coming great, and I'm sure the testing will lead to some seriously sweet improvements.
It is pretty much a shame that my 3D modelling skills are abysmal and I do not have access to a 3D printer of my own (and the item itself is based kinda strongly on copyrighted content so I cannot use commercial services easily). Otherwise, I could do the whole design in software and just do a printout for testing after already having verified that it works in theory. Well... cannot have everything.
To demonstrate updates getting more frequent, I have uploaded another blog entry detailing my first experiences with the cured prototype. And, because I want to contribute a bit to the forum too instead of just announcing off-site stuff, here is a picture from my experimentation (which you can also find on the blog):
You can see the LEDs fitting into the gem holes and the ditch I drilled for the central gem.
looking pretty nice, can't wait to see how the finished version turns out. Also, you shouldn't worry too much about copy-write issues, it's not like you are mass-producing and selling them or anything. No money, no worries.
Old sig, tired of it.
I do not worry about copyright for my own build (hey, it is a fan work), but it kinda makes it difficult to employ a commercial 3D printing process like Shapeways or something like that.
This is a rather short post, so I crosspost the entire text and picture so I do not feel as bad about my constant double-posting:
One advantage of having a prototype to experiment on is that I can afford to make mistakes to learn for the real deal. And one of the things I learned today is: I need a bigger brush. I tried painting the model today, and I found a size 12 bristle brush and a size 1 fine brush. Turns out I need something like a size 2 bristle brush or so to get the details right, especially since I have quite a bit of 3D structure to cover. Still, it turns out the black-and-silver paintjob accentuates the design rather well, and I will probably use it on my final model as well. Whether to use black (for purer colors) or silver (for better spread) as the background color for the central gem will be decided in future tests. The post picture shows the painted prototype along with an untreated piece of clay for comparison.
Nice Dragon's Tear there!
Nice work! I think the prototype color looks good
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. ~Ambrose Bierce, Epigrams
OK, got the brush, and learned not to overuse it. For most purposes, a hair brush works best, just the hard-to-reach areas need a bristle brush. Tried painting on wing details, and it looks carp. Well, not quite like the fish, switch the middle two letters and it works. Fortunately, the real model has sculpted wings, they will work much better in that regard.
Next step: Compose shopping cart for installing test electronics (braided copper wire with black insulation, thin-gauge copper enamel wire, maybe an order for the SMD processor), buy it and install some LEDs for an "action test". Maybe I even get to hack together something I can give a spin around my neck until I finish the project.
This is a big milestone for me, and you get it before the blog:
The first action shot of the tear. All the electronics are still on the breadboard, but I got the test model ready complete with center LED and diffusor for some testing and photographing. The test showed: The silver half yields a much better color spread while hardly affecting purity. In fact, it is closer to the hand LEDs that way. So that is what I will use for the final version.
Otherwise, this should give you a rough idea of how the final version will look in action, however, there were a few problems with taking the pictures. My camera appears to have rather little sensitivity for red, so yellow appears green and orange appears yellow. Also, the white balance might be different between two shots, so you do not see the relative brightness very well, instead getting some background flicker. Still, it should give you a preview of how the tear works.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
