For those less enlightened (definitely not me), what does this mean practically? Can people try to manufacture their own controllers?
What I understand of it is that it is more for printing replacement parts (non-electronic) and general understanding of the controller
It also means you can perfectly shape accessories for the controller like skins, docks, cases, attachment brackets, etc.
Yeah a dock/stand would be stupid easy if you have the actual scale model of the controller:
In your CAD program of choice. Make a cube, load the controller model, put the controller model so it intersects with the cube, tilt it back a bit so it would rest naturally and boolean subtract the controller model from the cube.
Now you have a cube with a perfect cutout of the controller. You can add some stand components to the bottom or a pin/attachment in the back if you’re using HSW or Multiboard, or some other pegboard.
Nope, it‘s just the exterior design. Valve releases those files to make it easier to design skins, grips and other accessories for their hardware.
Seems more like you can now 3D print the physical shell that the actual electronics live in… good luck with the rest of the components!
