eclipsegrafx

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Posts posted by eclipsegrafx

  1. Posted

    On 12/17/2020 at 3:55 AM, LegoFanDK said:

    Hi everyone in this thread. Im curious to hear your thoughts on where the digital print technology is today.

    Is it faster? is it as durable? Is the quality and detail compareable to pad print or better? Is it cheaper than pad printing? What is the ideal setup for digital printing on Lego both in small volume and in large scale high volume. 

     

    As a person who deals with both pad and print I will say they both have their strengths and weaknesses. 

    Some of the benefits of digital printing:

    More colors can be used
    More durable (depending on the vendor offering the service and how current their technology)
    More detailed, digital printing can really produce some fine details at a small scale. With some of the books we offer in lego size, you need a magnifying glass or a cellphone photo to actually read the words. You can not get this level of detail with pad printing. (again dependent on the vendor being used)
    The ability for textured print (this can add depth to a print)

    Pad printing advantages
    The ability to print metals
    smoother flatter prints (great for photos)
    Ability to print on round surfaces without losing details and also a greater coverage on round surfaces

    In terms of speed, it all depends on the project at hand. 

    All results will vary depending on the printer being used and if the person cares about the details they are producing. We have a high standard that causes us to chuck a lot of, what would seem like, good prints. 

    Both have setup costs, but pad will have more set up costs, typically per color. 

    I would definitely do pad prints for large volumes when possible but it depends on the amount of colors involved. 

    hope this helps.

  3. Posted

    Hi, its Victor - AKA Eclipsegrafx,

    I have been on this forum for several years now and competed in at least one contest but never really was able to hang around due to time and also how big this forum is. O.O Man you guys are huge!

    Anyway, I am hoping to start small and hang around the MCW section (as advised) and every once in a while venture out.

    I am primarily a customizer then a builder. I hope to strengthen my building skills soon but for now I am having fun making all my minifigures. :D

    When ever I can I will give some feedback and input on custom designs I see.

    I hope to become a valuable member some day to the community but for the time being.... baby steps :P.

    Well thanks for listening.

  4. Posted

    Another thing people do is try to find a problem with everything that has to do with them. People would actually post on my photos on Flickr, something like "I have never seen that in my life, but it's stolen". They will also try to compare it to other peoples work and try to come up with a reason on how they could try to convince people they stole something. I've seen someone call their Daredevil stolen off some guy on Flickr when the two designs contrast very much so.

    Something that happened over the summer was the release of Eclipsegrafx's Justice Kids(Young Justice). Some people may know, Pop had been printing Young Justice figures since early this year. But in the world of Flickr, that means nothing. So the next time Pop put out a Young Justice figure, people started calling them copied. It all has to do with the company's reputation in a certain area. Eclipsegrafx and the new customizer Phoenix Custom Bricks are both producing Captain America figures from the new movie. PCB was a week or so after Eclipsegrafx's, but not a single comment was made about someone copying someone. Now I bet if Poppunkmunky were to release one, there'd be 100+ comments on my stream and several comments just spammed on my photostream on random pictures.

    I want to apologize to the whole EB community. I hate this drama and I further hate it coming on to another reputable forum. To Clarify this whole LIE this guy is spitting about the young justice release:

    Pop did have there figures designed first and no one mind at all because it was distinctively different. As soon as eclipseGrafx (we) announced our figures and showed off our designs "poppunkmonkey" decided to not only change their designs but use replicas of our new figure styles. It wouldnt have been such a big deal if the style was similar to LEGOs but we spent about a month working on a template that would compliment LEGOs style and match that of the cartoon. They then (within a week) changed all their templates to match suit.

    Phoenix Custom Bricks did release screenshots of their upcoming figures, and the difference here is that theirs is distinctively different then ours or that of minifigs4u. They did not copy us but used the same reference material to make their own rendition of the figures (as the_customizer was explaining).

    Also owning your own printer doesn't make you or your practice more or less credible. (FYI)

    Lastly, I would take whatever PCW says with a grain of salt as he has been caught in his web of lies many times before.

  5. Posted · Edited by eclipsegrafx

    Raminator- I apologize for how the conversation quickly went south. I was asked to come post and shed some light on pricing for printers and the rest... Well sorry.

    If you have some spare funds and are willing to explore the world of printing I believe a pad printing starter kit costs about 1500. It would come with everything needed to print (including 1 color pad printer) and to make plates. I am not sure how readily available it is in Germany though.

  6. Posted

    LOL No I have not been talking to DIY tshirt printer. Thats a funny comment to make. You print more then LEGO? Interesting...

    In a recent conversation you told me you were just designers not printers and now you are telling me you are the printer too? What is the correct story now?

    But solvent is old inkjet technology that companies are phasing out for UV inkjet. Pad companies aren't phasing out Pad for UV though.

    I have been biting my lip here to not bring the Flickr drama here. Eurobricks is a awesome community and does not need to be tarnished by lies and embellishments. I won't be responding anymore to reduce the outbreak that is sure to follow.

    I am sorry to all the EB moderators. Keep up the good work. :)

  7. Posted

    You should learn that printing on LEGO is just a needle in the haystack of digital printing. More and more companies ARE switching over to digital because it costs them less, they get a higher quality(more durable) product and it takes less time to setup(more or less). We know this from hundreds of other printers, and we aren't just in the biz for LEGO. I think I noted that pad is better for round surfaces, but digital can print 360 degrees too(think we were the first to do that on LEGO). It may be easier than pad though. We have experience with all those printers. Solvent I would say is the most durable because it eats into the plastic. It's thinner than pad printing. It should only be used on white surfaces though, or your color is thrown off. You can use white with solvent but is is unattractive. I prefer digital because you get more for less, and it still looks good.

    Its funny I hear directly from UV printer companies (the companies themselves) that people who are already using Pad don't switch over as often as new buyers would because the clarity isn't the same. But if you think you can speak for those companies outside of your expertise level then by all means I am sorry for contradicting you.

    You also weren't the first to print 360 on lego. ;) Trust me on that one.

    Actually solvent is the LEAST durable of the three. It is OLD technology. Again from years of experience and working with other companies. It does not eat into the plastic like UV and Pad does. And in the end, cost of time and materials, a pad printer really does more then a digital can. Albeit you still need more maintenance but the results rendered are still worth it. Lastly, unless you are using cheap ink, pad ink also bonds ("eats") into the plastic as well. Thats why some LEGO torsos are harder to erase then others.

    I come from a background of this stuff from before LEGO and have been in the printing and designing industry far longer then I have been in the LEGO community.

  8. Posted · Edited by eclipsegrafx

    I am sorry for the late post to this but it was just brought to my attention.

    1. You do NOT need 30-100k to buy a digital printer. Yes there are some in that price range but you can get them cheaper. And depending on what you need it for the cheaper ones may suit your needs.

    I have found digital (not UV) printers starting at about 5k. THe difference is the curing process and the ink durability. With a regular digital printer you would need to seal the ink in some manner so it doesnt wear off as easy.

    I have found UV solvent inkjets starting at about 20k. A little easier to swallow then a 30k printer but it does do the same work, quality and if bought from the right company you can get some nice warranty packages with it (not extra).

    Pad printers can start at about 700 for a manual 1 color printer and go up from there. A decent 2 color printer could be about 3-5k. Some of the companies out there start with a 1or 2 color machine and just run the projects through multiple times to get the needed amount of colors on their project. For 4 colors and up you can start spending about 20-30k and upwards. I do not imagine there being a need to spend more then 40k on either technology.

    For pad printing the 2 important ingredients are the pads you are using and the ink. The machine is just a middle man to get your artwork to where you need it.

    Well.. We've been at this since 2000, so we have oodles of experience with UV, Solvent, and Pad printing. The lesson would be more suited for the other viewers. I do say Digital is indeed better(as a fact), because the longevity of the piece is really what matters. How good your product is. While Pad may offer a more aesthetic result at times, it is not the main priority. It is number two. It would actually be a better, smarter, and more economical decision to get a digital printer rather than a pad printer. More and more printers each day switch from Pad to Digital. I think we can agree that digital is much faster than pad(but is still not simple. It takes us a week to perfect 5 figures). In the end, you're going to get tires of making plates, cleaning ink cups or replacing trays, and having to take extra precaution with alignment. Different printers do give different results, and sadly, the thickest ink is the strongest. So far out of all my tests, we have the strongest ink and the most long-lived figures at that. And then you have the boot problem. I believe we were the first to solve that problem using a digital printer. There is a reason why we own both Pad and Digital. Pad is used for objects that are round, or have a lot of detail in them. But eventually, they'll have digital printers that are almost like pad printing.

    More and more people are not moving over to digital because of durability and what not, its just cost effecient and simpler then making plates. Pad can produce more product in the same amount of time as digital can. Apples to apples. There are many reasons why most companies WILL NOT transfer over to digital. You will never get the same level of clean details with digital as you can with pad, you will not get the same coverage either. Pad allows you to print better on rounded surfaces where digital has huge limitations.

    Yes digital can withstand more tests but when its scratched it chips away alot easier then pad.

    LEGO for one, will never switch over to digital, atleast not in the foreseeable future with current digital technology.

    Yes, correct, I forgot the other zero, I need to check my writing a bit closer. This ($30,000-$100,000) is indeed the price range i was given by these printer vendors. But, I would disagree on the UV prints vs. pad printers. (Though this is highly debatable in the Lego custom community). The quality of both can vary from printer to printer and all depends on both the quality of the physical printer itself and how well it is maintained and how well the printer is trained on using it, in the case of the UV digital printers) and the experience of the printer. The most crisp and cleanest prints IMHO come from pad printing, without a doubt. Digital prints are not as sharp or clean looking, as they usually have a bubble effect that doesn't always translate as cleanly. By bubble effect, I mean that digital printing adds a secondary layer to the top of the figure surface that you can feel, which can be cool if done for a purpose (like eclipsegrafx' Apoc Drifter fig, which has a textured shirt printing all around the torso or BrickArms prototype Russian Ushankas with the insignia), but when putting them next to other Lego figs, it looks a bit odd. When you look close, the bubbles make some elements stick out (like edge lines to "muscle" or eyes or any pocket outlines) that shouldn't. And most importantly for me, printed heads look a bit odd, as eyes and mouths stick out above the surface of the head. Pad printing does not do this and has a cleaner finish, just like TLG's actual figs. While it can be a bit cheaper, if you are doing this for a business and printing in large enough bunches to sell, I wouldn't go with digital, as they aren't that much cheaper.

    Now, this doesn't mean that I don't like digital prints, as I do like them if done well, but overall I like the quality of pad printed figs better. What digital printing does have over pad printing, IMHO, is that you can print fades and shades, and other design elements that otherwise couldn't be printed on pads. Also, printing on legs is MUCH easier with digital than pad. I've been working with a pad printer for some time trying to perfect the leg prints, as Lego legs have a difficult print area on the front, whereas the digital print was done as it was sent, little hassle other than making sure the colors matched correctly to the design.

    I think the key is that it is very expensive to buy yourself and you will have to rely on the printers that are out there for the LEGO community unless you plan on starting a business. Good luck on this and feel free to email me if you have more questions about this, as this is something I've worked on for years to find the right solution.

    Yes, correct, I forgot the other zero, I need to check my writing a bit closer. This ($30,000-$100,000) is indeed the price range i was given by these printer vendors. But, I would disagree on the UV prints vs. pad printers. (Though this is highly debatable in the Lego custom community). The quality of both can vary from printer to printer and all depends on both the quality of the physical printer itself and how well it is maintained and how well the printer is trained on using it, in the case of the UV digital printers) and the experience of the printer. The most crisp and cleanest prints IMHO come from pad printing, without a doubt. Digital prints are not as sharp or clean looking, as they usually have a bubble effect that doesn't always translate as cleanly. By bubble effect, I mean that digital printing adds a secondary layer to the top of the figure surface that you can feel, which can be cool if done for a purpose (like eclipsegrafx' Apoc Drifter fig, which has a textured shirt printing all around the torso or BrickArms prototype Russian Ushankas with the insignia), but when putting them next to other Lego figs, it looks a bit odd. When you look close, the bubbles make some elements stick out (like edge lines to "muscle" or eyes or any pocket outlines) that shouldn't. And most importantly for me, printed heads look a bit odd, as eyes and mouths stick out above the surface of the head. Pad printing does not do this and has a cleaner finish, just like TLG's actual figs. While it can be a bit cheaper, if you are doing this for a business and printing in large enough bunches to sell, I wouldn't go with digital, as they aren't that much cheaper.

    Now, this doesn't mean that I don't like digital prints, as I do like them if done well, but overall I like the quality of pad printed figs better. What digital printing does have over pad printing, IMHO, is that you can print fades and shades, and other design elements that otherwise couldn't be printed on pads. Also, printing on legs is MUCH easier with digital than pad. I've been working with a pad printer for some time trying to perfect the leg prints, as Lego legs have a difficult print area on the front, whereas the digital print was done as it was sent, little hassle other than making sure the colors matched correctly to the design.

    I think the key is that it is very expensive to buy yourself and you will have to rely on the printers that are out there for the LEGO community unless you plan on starting a business. Good luck on this and feel free to email me if you have more questions about this, as this is something I've worked on for years to find the right solution.

    You are correct, for larger batches, pad printing is best by far. The amount of time it would take to make 1000+ head prints on a 2-4 color pad printer would be a fraction of what it takes on the digital. Though the extruded texture of the ink that you mention here can be reduced by more experienced printers. I have been striving to achieve near pad quality on my stuff. If you look on my flickr our latest designs have a mix of raised and not raised prints on them. It really all depends on what you are shooting for.

    Though I predominantly print with digital I prefer pad. But because I do figures in smaller batches with multiple colors, digital becomes more economical for me for now. I do offer both pad and digital prints though.

    Check us out on flickr or our website. (hope its ok to mention this here if not moderators please feel free to delete this) thank you.

    I´m really interested in this too. When I did my research that led into this I came across two things that might be cheaper but might have not the same quality as UV-Prints.

    The first thing I noticed when walking threw a mall. There was a finger-nail-studio offering printing on your finger nails. Later when back home I googled for such a nail-printer. They cost about 1000€-5000€. But then I found this: "Barbie dolled up nails" that is/was alot cheaper

    . Sadly, afaik, it isn´t produced anymore.

    The second thing is called Golden Digital Grounds (

    ). It´s basicly a liquid the enables you to print with ink on surfaces like plastic. Like seen in the video it is ment to use with "paperlike" objects. But there´s Printers that can print on CDs/DVDs, so are able to print on thicker objects too. This might not help to print on torsos but atleast on tiles.

    You´ll find the Nail-Printer on the big internet-shop that´s starts with an "A", but there´s only one left.

    The Liquid is available from the same shop but also might be found in crafting or art shops.

    Hope this was not too Off-Topic.

    That looks very nifty and fun to play with it. Id like to get my hands on one of those sets.

  10. Posted

    Could you be so kind and connect me with that person Christo?

    I really want some good quality compared to what is offered on the market these days..

    Since he is on vacation I can't find any of his work to link you to, sorry. Hopefully in a week he should have some stuff up but I know he was also behind on order.

    What exactly (if anything) are you looking for?

  11. Posted

    Actually its not more difficult to do. It (in my opinion) is easier BUT its more expensive.

    I will have a line of printed heads coming out soon but in order to make an order I had to buy a minimum of 50 heads.

    Other printers do 100 pieces.

    I plan on offering alot more but I need to build up the capital for it. The reason people don't offer it as much as you might like is that for decals you can make one figure to display and then make the rest of the figures as you go. With printed pieces you have to start holding inventory and it may get pricey especially if some of your items don't sell fast enough.

    I know of some clones that will be printed in the future by someone else as well.

    There is only one other customizer who does fully custom printed minifigs and his shop on ebay is closed so I can't even link you to him yet. Christo offers some really high quality stuff. But it is also very expensive.

  13. Posted

    Yeah that would be cool. Just a slightly longer version of what we've got. Not as long as this.

    I can make them shorter. I did actually but that one was just a functionality design to have multiple ways of holding it.

    My original one didn't have the middle piece added to it. If you would like me to do a couple more designs for maul just let me know. I will try them in black. :)

  15. Posted

    I am sorry, but, as you can understand, no exceptions can be made. It would mess the on-going voting and would open the door for others to ask for exceptions.

    Thank you for your understanding :classic:

    Its ok. I had to atleast give it a shot. :) Not sure how far in the running I would have made it anyway. I will still post my second idea over the weekend. :)

  16. Posted

    This is a really nice custom, eclipsegrafx.

    Too bad you could not make it in time for the deadline :cry_sad:

    Yeah I figured, :cry_sad: Maybe an exception can be made? Pweeeze? :(

    I was going to stay up last night to do it and fell asleep at my desk then woke up early only to double check the ending time and realize I may have been too late. Though the time only says 12 GMT I wasn't sure if it was midnight or mid day. Oh well.

    If there is an exception I'd appreciate it but if not I understand. Its not like I would have an advantage over the rest :P.

  17. Posted

    Perfect, I love it. I was a bit sceptical on the mask but once its on, it looks great. Kudos on the shell idea and that belt, the belt just looks great. Reminds me of my childhood.

    Thank you! The childhood comment was exactly what I wanted it to do. The mask can actually stay on without the electric tape too which is pretty cool! I originally was going to make it out of paper/cardboard to portray more of that childhood feeling.

  18. Posted

    I am probably too late I just saw the GMT on the deadline but here goes nothing:

    Theme: TURTLE POWER! (Ninja turtles/Cartoons)

    Character : Donatello

    Costume Cost: I can't say since it was stuff that I had already but millipu was 7$ for the whole pack. Some electric tape and paint. The paint is 2$ per color.... so maybe 12$ Oh and the label paper for the torso.

    Materials used: Lego pieces, Milliput, paint, crazy glue, and electic tape.

    5120824124_20fbf33480_b.jpg

    5120220077_dfddd48b2e_z.jpg

    5120220177_8392a86b35_z.jpg

    Auntmay in her closet ready for TURTLE POWER!

    5120824218_40a4c9bd50_z.jpg

    I wanted to go with something a little different so I chose a character from one cartoon series to place into another series.

    Ever since the death of uncle Ben, and Peter Parker moving out, Aunt May had to find things to do to fill in the gaps of her new found life.

    It seems fun to go to costume parties and eventually it became a regular thing for her. This year she was excited to find a vintage suit of one of her favorite oldies cartoons.

    Donatello! Wait till the girls see me in this! She thought to her self. :)

  19. Posted

    Hi eclipsegrafx, and welcome to Eurobricks!

    Only one entry is allowed per member. Hope you can work a choice between your 2 options :wink:

    First of all, you may need to know that here all the members registered before the voting starts will be the judges, through a public voting topic. They will consider the whole entry: kind of minifig, details of the customisation and its level, and vignette/presentation. All in all, they'll pick their favourite entry based on what strikes them most in it.

    Moreover, as we use here on EB, each voter will be able to spend 3 votes on his favourite entry/es. This gives better chances of winning to you entrants, and a better way to express their choices to the voters :classic:

    Hope I am doing this right.

    Thanks for the welcome. I joined some time ago but was never familiar on the forum style. I think I am getting the hang of it.

    I decided I will make both my ideas and vote which I like better. :P Then post that one up.