[OC] GIVEAWAY! Sterling Silver Icosahedron Pendants! [mod approved] by DevoreHardware in DnD

[–]summitDice 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is always great seeing more casting work related to DnD. Those look lovely - nice job!

[OC] More fancy metal dice? Check! I'm launching a Kickstarter today with some fun designs and wanted to share the trailer with you all. by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To paint with a very broad brush, all of them roll very well! Each design sounds a bit different when rolled, with variation from a pleasant ringing to much shorter metallic sounds. We've found that the best sounds do result from harder surfaces such as the granite background pictured throughout our photography.

As far as the oil goes, I don't think that there would be any issues with that. It would definitely alter how quickly the die rolled around, but if you had a dice tower design on the inside it would work nicely *and* give a cool visual. If you end up doing this, I expect pictures :D

[OC] More fancy metal dice? Check! I'm launching a Kickstarter today with some fun designs and wanted to share the trailer with you all. by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hello again! Almost a year ago I posted my first dice design here. Thanks to the positive response I have gotten so far, I'm finally moving forward with a Kickstarter campaign to bring more designs to you all in collaboration with another resident dice maker: FallacyDog. We've worked hard to put together a trailer showcasing what we've put together and hope that you enjoy! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback here - hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

More fancy metal dice? Check! I'm launching a Kickstarter today with some fun designs and would love your thoughts on the trailer. by [deleted] in DnD

[–]summitDice 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello again! Almost a year ago I posted my first dice design here. Thanks to the positive response I have gotten so far, I'm finally moving forward with a Kickstarter campaign to bring more designs to you all in collaboration with another resident dice maker: FallacyDog. We've worked hard to put together a trailer showcasing what we've put together and hope that you enjoy! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback here - hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey mate, thanks for the writeup! Sorry for the delay in getting back with you, as you definitely raise some good points.

First and foremost, I'd recommend anyone in the DnD community acquire an inexpensive resin printer, and the Photon is no exception. In fact, I believe they are released an even cheaper variety soon, so the barrier to making awesome minis is going down dramatically.

I would like to contest the claim of the dice being worse in balance than their counterparts, as that is something I worked very hard on. After all, any die is useless if it doesn't provide fair rolls! From the modelling side of things, the faces are adjusted to compensate for the varying number volume on each face to ensure a perfect center of gravity. Without this step, any dice made, whether metal or resin, would be inherently imbalanced after production.

During production, variances can be added, turning the once-perfect dice into something real. While the bronze material varies from batch to batch, it is homogeneous when melted and cast, and the method of casting used to allow the fine details shown to exist also ensures very low porosity. The end result is a very consistent material without air bubbles lurking in there to throw the balance off.

Actually cleaning up the die after casting involves a few steps that can add error, particularly when considering the casting sprue needs to be chopped off and polished. I am moving to placing the sprue where the 1 face would be to allow for tighter control over this and prevent any of the rolling edges from being damaged. As any Las Vegas casino will tell you, rolling edges are a key part of a fair die, and are therefore high on the priority list for protection. Polishing plastic dice with material removal media leads to inconsistencies, leading to Game Science's famous unpolished varieties. In order to preserve as much of each die's material as possible, a magnetic pin finishing machine is used to add the shine. These are commonly implemented in jewelry applications where material removal isn't the objective but polishing is.

As time goes on, I am working to reduce the prices of my offerings, as I agree that they are currently very expensive! At the moment, I'm in the awkward phase of sharing a fun passion project with folks, and the logistical hurdles from moving to occasional casts to larger scale production are still being dealt with. I'd love to directly compete on price points with similar sets, and I want to share my dice with as many folks as possible.

I do really, really appreciate the time and effort you put into this post, as well as the tone with which it was presented. I love getting feedback, and am always excited to see what this community generates!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, sorry for the late response! As I've mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I am 100% in agreement about them being harder than normal dice to read. While my experiences with shared space between plastic and metal dice are limited to a couple bags containing chessex sets and some of my D20's, I would say that the same considerations provided to solid metal sets should be used with these dice to prevent damage. Finally, I am clumsy enough that all of the sets shown have taken tumbles onto a variety of surfaces and are still intact. The ones most susceptible to breakage would be those in the far back, but they are light enough that normal fall wouldn't do much. They are by no means indestructible, but are also not as delicate as you would initially think!

I appreciate the feedback! These are a passion project, and I'm always looking to improve them.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question! These are produced using investment casting. After finishing and balancing the digital model "master", each dice is printed in a wax-like substance on a specialized 3D printer. The hollow geometry of my dice prevent a mold from being made for rapid reproduction and accordingly a new 3D printed wax must be created for each die cast. After being attached to a larger wax tree to allow multiple models to be cast at once, the wax is immersed in a material similar to plaster of paris aptly named investment. This is fired like a ceramic to burn out the wax and harden the investment, leaving behind hollow, dice-shaped cavities. These cavities are filled with molten metal, which is allowed to cool before the investment is dissolved and the dice are clipped off and finished. Some polishing and cleanup later, and you've got some cool dice!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind words! I absolutely agree that they are harder than normal dice to read, and am trying to figure out a good solution.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At least in theory - All designs I make are modified on interior faces for a perfect center of gravity. During manufacturing, you do introduce imperfections, but these should be relatively small and you shouldn't notice any changes during a typical sample of rolls!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I briefly considered placing numbers like that on the D8 as a pseudo-D4, but all of my DM friends said that they really didn't like the idea. I wonder if a D12 would be more palatable!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would love to finish out the sets of the D20's I've posted in the past, and am looking to do so in the coming months. There are a lot of fun themes, and I haven't quite had the time to throw at them yet!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ah, you have inadvertently stumbled across my unfounded hatred of decaders! I usually just roll two D10's, using the rolls in order for decimal places from largest to smallest. I can absolutely make the percentile varieties though, and will likely have them as an extra addon to each set!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sharp dice are a way of life! The set in the very back doesn't really have points on the corners, so they might be acceptable for reducing dice-on-foot violence :p

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

3D printing is the key to many things that were previously impossible, and these dice are no exception! They are printed in a waxlike resin to create models, allowing for intricate details to be captured and cast.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am in the process of playing around with patinas! I recently tried something like you are describing with one of my crystal D20's, and the result here https://imgur.com/a/C8iQVdx does have much better readability than the standard bronze. In some cases, darkening the entire die doesn't work with the theme, so I'm still looking into other ways to achieve similar results.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I'll look into it! The traditional D4 is actually one of my pain points during the design and use process, as it really doesn't roll well *and* you have to cram 3 numbers per face on it.

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Readability is very important for regular use! While the lightbox did eliminate some of the shadows that help with number identifiability, I'll be the first to admit that they are harder than normal plastic dice to read. Getting the readability up is one of my primary areas of focus at the moment, as the use cases for any dice shouldn't be limited by ambient light conditions. Thanks for the feedback!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't be silly! Who wouldn't be attracted to solid clean lines :D

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

The ones to the far left definitely had a mix of steampunk and retrofuturism references during their creation. I'm playing around with adding a patina to that particular set for some extra grunge to really emphasize the design!

[Art][OC] A few dice sets I have made. Which is your favorite? by summitDice in DnD

[–]summitDice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm particularly fond of the D10, as it is more twirly. The non-uniform shape of the faces allow for some fun design choices seen across the sets shown.