MichaelSefranek
commented
7 years ago Sorry - yeah i was working on this when you messaged me. I know there is a lot of fat here to trim from the core of what you asked, so you can take your time to read it any time, no rush. You'll probably notice that the vision and direction, decisions of Terrainify belong to John, he does a lot of the nuts and bolts logistics, he discovered the random Italian company that prints our Vinyl mats really cheaply, etc etc, which pitches me more as a follower than a leader, but I am confident in the role I have played for Terrainify as it stands.
As a side note related to that: I have done my own project entirely on the side, literally finished it the week that code school began. I designed, printed, shipped and billed 100 3D printed models to a company in Dallas. I didn't do under Terrainify, just working for myself. It was a fun project, and I was proud that apparently 3 different companies in Dallas couldn't figure out how to print these models, but I was able to ( I have a former college classmate working there).
I don't know if you want an elevator pitch or more in depth look. Honestly the elevator pitch for this one isn't easy for me, since it always involves some bringing up to speed for anyone who is not too familiar with the concept of "miniature gaming terrain" so I would be interested in how you might come up with a pitch that mixes well with all crowds.
An elevator pitch might be "Terrainify makes high quality miniature realistic looking terrain for table-top gamers - for a fraction of the cost it would take to achieve through conventional methods."
In early 2015 John Casiello and I were buddies who played an assortment of board games and tabletop games. John had a skill set to make realistic looking miniature gaming terrain similar to expensive contracting websites: http://bit.ly/2nGUJ4H
The idea is originally his and is keyed upon the fact that there is a bubble in the market:
contract out really high quality stuff for a fortune.
When he introduced me to the idea in Jan 2015 he hadn't launched yet. He wanted to "copy-paste" by scanning real models and fully finish 3D printed copies. This already had cost advantages over the normal method of creating this kind of handcrafted product. I analyzed that he could probably skip time and the steps of expensive 3D scans by designing the 3D models from scratch. At first he was doubtful and unwilling to learn this new skill, so to prove it was simple I created my first 3D model using trial software over the next few days. By removing the additional cost of that extra step, it sped up his business idea, and I continued to collaborate with him both in designing models, and brainstorming the rest of our approach. One year later, January 2016 John quit his job to do Terrainify full-time, and my involvement has declined since Code School. No mistaking here, he took a lot of risk doing it, and it has yet to pay off, since our company is still very small.
At the end of the day what I do: make things possible that weren't, either through learning a new skill set, or by finding a solution to a problem that was previously more difficult or more expensive to solve. I spend all my time 3D modeling, repairing printers, or looking how to create new processes that improve upon old ones. Some examples of processes I have worked on: making 3D models more consistent and faster to create by learning new software techniques like the Noisemaker tool in Zbrush. Researching and modifying the printer so that it prints with less failure by purchasing and adding PEI sheet which allows for better adhesion. Modifying print speed and layer settings by adjusting and recording results while changing settings so that all our printers matched quality, to make our products more consistent. I pioneered a method to create our gaming mats by using Zbrush's 3D capabilities instead of making a huge GIMP or Photoshop file (we haven't implemented it yet). I learned how to fix several of the printers by buying a voltmeter and researching and replacing wires and wire ends, which would normally cost a lot more to ship back to the manufacturer for repair. I am constantly looking for time and money saving ideas, throwing them out left and right. There was an issue where one of the circuit boards had a USB port jiggle loose. Instead of buying a $250 new unit, I researched Millard electronics in town, and they were able to fix the part for $50.00)