“Wizards has been in contact with Miguel ‘mz4250’ Zavala,” a spokesperson at Wizards confirmed for Polygon. The first is called The DM Workshop, and the second is his own personal account. You can find them all spread out across two different accounts on Shapeways. All of the files themselves are available for free, and certain monsters - like named characters from D&D lore and other items that fall outside of the OGL - are only available as free digital downloads. Zavala says he’s careful to follow those rules. The publisher also has a formal policy on fan-created content. Portions of D&D content are available to the public through the Open-Gaming License set up by Wizards. It’s just some people don’t have access to game stores, and some folks like to have a little extra creative balance in their games, and I make these things available for free.’ Once they understood that I wasn’t trying to make an easy buck off of this, they immediately opened up.” “I reached out to them,” Zavala said, “and very honestly, it was just like, ‘Hey, I’m not trying to compete with you guys. Wizards didn’t like that, so Zavala switched over to Shapeways, which has different rules for creators, and he was allowed to resume his work. That’s because he was using another online platform to host them, and the fine print on that website stated that the platform holder would automatically assume rights to his creations. All of his models were pulled offline for a time. Photo: Miguel Zavalaįive years ago, Zavala says, Wizards actually cracked down on his project. A demonic alchemist that Zavala designed for one of his patrons. Is the publisher of D&D OK with this? Zavala says it is, now that he’s made some changes to his process. He also sells printed models of some of his minis online, but says the income from those is nominal at best. The income from his Patreon, where Zavala still does loads of custom commissions for his patrons and other D&D-adjacent work, now covers well more than just his rent. “I’ve made almost 2,000 models so far” Zavala said, “covering all of the D&D books all the way up to. Eventually that income became enough to pay the rent, he quit his day job to work at 3D modeling full time. After getting a good response on Reddit, he started taking commissions for custom figures. That’s until five years ago, when his wife inspired him to make a hobby of creating digital models for his own 3D printer. Zavala says he studied 3D modeling in college, but after a stint in the advertising industry he left it all behind. Polygon talked with Zavala about his work, and how (for the most part) he’s been able to avoid the ire of D&D’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast. Miguel Zavala’s art project consists of more than 1,900 digital files, and he has nearly 3,000 paying subscribers supporting his work on Patreon. For more than five years, one man has been creating 3D models of every single monster in Dungeons & Dragons’ 5th edition, and giving away those digital files for free, so people with 3D printers can make them at home.
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