Tips on 3D printing from 3D designer Formbyte [DOTM]!

This month’s featured 3d designer on Pinshape is FORMBYTE! Having been a Pinshape contest winner in the past, as well as owning some of Pinshape’s most popular designs, FORMBYTE is here to talk to us about who they are, and their involvement with 3D printing!

Without further ado, here’s our 3D designer of the month! 

Pinshape: So we want to know: who is FORMBYTE? 

FORMBYTE is a design team including members from different backgrounds. At present, we have three members working in our spare time. Our goal is to experiment with 3D printing as a way to bring our creations to everyone. In other words, we take advantage of 3D printing systems to realize our creations anywhere people have access to internet and 3D printers.

FORMBYTE was founded in 2014 by Duc Tran, an architect practicing in Vietnam. Duc teamed up with some of his friends, who were designers, 3D modellers and IT engineers to assist him in building up FORMBYTE. The team has been making many designs in different categories, ranging from arts, jewelries to appliances.

Pinshape: We love your designs on Pinshape! How do you guys decide what to make next? What’s your inspirations? 

Thank you for your interest in our work! Basically, our designs are generated from our creative concepts. Each concept consists of an extensive collection of many object designs under a certain subject. This is how we have made our designs and also how we decide what to make next – one by one, they start from a certain point.

In terms of function, our inspirations come from daily life’s activities – in the workplace, at home, in school, etc. We get ideas from these activities, then design things.

In terms of form design, our inspirations come from nature. We appreciate the beauty of nature and see inspirations from natural shapes— faunas and floras, organic structures, or even beautiful landscapes. Mother Nature is the greatest designer, and we’ve learned a lot from her. 

Pinshape: What programs/software do you use to design? 

We use 3DS Max to 3D model our designs. For sketching up the ideas, classic tools such as pencils and papers work very well for us.

Pinshape: Any tips for people who want to get into 3D design?

Working as a 3D designer requires high-level skills to use 3D softwares, which are frequently changed and updated. So you have to constantly be up to date with the changes. Fortunately, more and more user-friendly 3D softwares have been introduced recently. This trend facilitates newcomers to start 3D printing from scratch.

The real question is how to choose a proper 3D software. My advice is that you should pick the 3D software that you feel most comfortable working with, because achieving your final product is the target—not mastering tools. So it’s better to spend more time using whichever one you feel is best for you.

Pinshape: Got any tips for people who want to print out FORMBYTE’s designs?

Some of our designs on Pinshape might be a little difficult to print with FDM/FFF 3D printers. For instance, the wire-frame part of the “Roaring Lion Sculpture” — one of our popular designs on Pinshape, is tricky to print with a FDM 3D printer. This is because it has to create a framework of support materials to help construct the wire-frame structure. Therefore, you will need to spend more time removing this support framework. Hope this won’t deter those who like quick and easy prints! SLS, SLM, SLA, DLP printers will not have difficulty and will not even require support removal with a design like the lion. 

Pinshape: Anything else you wanted to share with the Pinshape community? 

FORMBYTE has been on Pinshape since the first days of the community. Since then, we have introduced many designs onto the platform. Designers like us love to make and release high quality designs. We hope to receive more support from the community to keep up our work going. We love to be loved by you, and we thank you very much for supporting us! We hope the community will be growing continuously to consolidate Pinshape’s position as one of the largest 3D printing communities in the world!

Check out FORMBYTE’s Designs! 

Thanks once again for your time FORMBYTE! Here’s to looking forward to more great designs from the team! Don’t forget to check out their awesome designs and show your support for them in the community 🙂 

The Pinshape community is talking about us! Send your testimonials to [email protected].