3D MECCG Cards

BeeBoy · Post by **BeeBoy** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:42 pm

Since I've been away for a long time I'm not sure if others have already done this sort of thing - if so, I'd love to see their results!

If you're like me, you have loads of extra commons and uncommons.  I don't have lots of extras from every set, really just METW, METD, and MELE, but still way more than I could ever use.  A few weeks ago I found a new hobby to use my cards, since I haven't been around MECCG players for years: Making 3-d versions of the cards.

You can see some pictures of what I've been working on here: http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn231/3DMECCG/

The photos aren't great quality (taken with my Macbook's iSight camera) but give a decent sense of what the cards look like.  Really, it's hard to capture the effect fully with any camera.

For these, I used 8 copies of each card - 1 Limited for the black border on top and the rest Unlimited.  You can do it with way more or way less depending on how much depth and variety you want.  I'm just starting with this so I'm still a little rough with some of the cutting, but I think the cards look beautiful anyway.  Since it takes so many copies of each card I've only worked with commons and fixed so far, but I have a few uncommons ready to be worked on, plus a stack of 8 Morgul Rats that I'll do once I think I'm good enough to cut up the rares.

I'll insert the smallest picture here so you can get a look without checking out the album:

Post by **Vastor Peredhil** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:35 pm

awesome, but some how crazy

mfg Nicolai

well I glued tons of cards using them as background for dreamcards

Zarathustra · Post by **Zarathustra** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:04 pm

Wow.  that's really cool.

Are any of these for sale / trade / donation as prize support?...

Thorf · Post by **Thorf** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:27 am

Amazing!  It looks really hard, but it seems you've done a great job.  Alatar looks especially impressive, and Escape works really well with depth too.

So, do you have to paint the card edges black or what?  It all looks quite fiddly, but what a great idea!

BeeBoy · Post by **BeeBoy** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:37 pm

It's somewhat difficult, but mostly just takes a lot of patience.  I'm getting faster but it still takes a few hours to finish a card.  The really hard stuff is the very fine cutting, like the ropes in the background of Alatar or the tree leaves in Lure of Nature.  I really need to get a thinner blade for those cuts in the future.  So far I haven't done any cards with fine cuts in the foreground, only the background, which means I only have to cut them once or twice.  If they're in the foreground then I'd have to cut them perfectly a whole bunch of times (I really want to do Legolas but his bow & bowstring are so thin and so far forward I don't think I could do it well with my current skill level).

As for the edges - I color them different colors, trying to match the color of the picture pieces.  All black would work well for most of them and could bring a greater crispness, but I haven't tried it.  I do it using a brush-tip fabric pen, which works okay (almost no bleeding), but I've ordered some actual brush pens which I think will work much better (better color with zero bleeding).

I'm definitely willing to trade these away, though since it's just a hobby for me I have no idea what trading value they'd have.  Trading would probably be the best way for me to get enough copies of the rares I'd like to work on.

tbadiuk · Post by **tbadiuk** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:35 pm

Wow, that's really neat!

Hmmm...A use for my copies of the One Ring maybe?  :lol:

_nauku_ · Post by **_nauku_** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:40 pm

Very cool indeed. I think I'll give it a try some day whn I'm bored.

stone troll · Post by **stone troll** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:33 pm

The cards look awesome.  Very tedious, I'm sure, but the results are incredible!  

I can remember back in the day (early 1970's) when 3D cut out kits were popular as hobby projects.

Marcos · Post by **Marcos** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:05 pm

I'm definitely willing to trade these away, though since it's just a hobby for me I have no idea what trading value they'd have.  Trading would probably be the best way for me to get enough copies of the rares I'd like to work on.

impressive! i'd really like to get one of these

Post by **jhunholz** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:54 pm

Andrew!  Long time, no see.  Excellent work on those 3d cards too.  Those look amazing.  I'd never thought to do that with MECCG cards, but it's a great use for the gobs of extra commons I have laying around.  I may have to give it a try.

Wacho · Post by **Wacho** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:36 pm

These are really cool.  As far as trading value goes it would probably depend a lot on quality and level of detail, but as a rough estimate I'd say they'd be worth at least double the value of the cards themselves.  Considering rares worth 3 uncommons, and uncommons worth 3 commons this would give a value of approximately 2 rares for a 3-D common, 5 rares for an 3-D uncommon, or 16 rares for a 3-D rare!

Now I don't know if that is more than people would give.  Probably you could get a little more for the commons and less for the rares.  Not that I think that the 3-D rares aren't worth it is a lot of cards to trade for one.

By the way, what do you use for glue?

BeeBoy · Post by **BeeBoy** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:09 pm

Wacho wrote:These are really cool.  As far as trading value goes it would probably depend a lot on quality and level of detail

That's what I've been thinking too.  Really it's more up to anyone I trade with what they value the card at

 The quality of the original art and its potential for 3-d I think might be the biggest factor.  A 3-d Elf-lord Revealed in Wrath might be mind-blowing, but that's only because it would mean cutting up eight Elf-lords; the art is pretty lame and also doesn't lend itself to 3-d well IMO.

Wacho wrote:By the way, what do you use for glue?

Good question - I think it's an important detail that isn't at all obvious.  I use Styrofoam glue, which bonds very tightly, very thinly (doesn't cause any bubbling) and dries clear (in case some seeps out and you don't clean it up in time).  I haven't tried any other kinds of glue, so I'm not sure how others would do in those three categories.

Since it sounds like there are at least a few people interested in trying it, I'll try to put together a tutorial next time I start a card.  I'm working on the METW Barrow-wight right now, which is looking really cool - I have the darkness under its cloak being deeper back than even the sky in the distance for a sweet "endless void" feel.

BeeBoy · Post by **BeeBoy** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:29 pm

I'm curious what cards people think would look really great in 3-d.  I'd like to work on some of the favorites and post the results.

melkor_morgoth75 · Post by **melkor_morgoth75** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:46 am

If ever u have the chance to do the following or one of the following, i could be VERY interested:

- Doors of Night (art by John Howe)
- Watcher in the Water (art by John Howe)
- Ghouls (art by Angus McBride)
- Goblin Gate (art by Ted Nasmith)

These are just 4 i like ... but i'd have a long list, lol  :lol:

mm75

BeeBoy · Post by **BeeBoy** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:31 pm

Wow, I forgot about the MELE Watcher in the Water art.  It's beautiful, perfect for 3d, and does not look too difficult (I'm not quite good enough to attempt the MELE Doors of Night, for instance - that will be tough).

So, I dug through my collection, excited to start it, and found only 5 MELE Watchers.  Drat.  I guess I'll put it on my list of cards to get.  In the mean time I'll see what I can do with the METW Ghouls!