Hi,
This is my first post so let me know if I am posting in the wrong place.
I am doing a porcelain print. The first print was done through shapeways and especially the eyes got smoothed out a little too much. I am mostly just looking for some tips and tricks to get a better result, or any other help that might be beneficial. I am adding the a screen-grab of the zbrush-file and the porcelain print.
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Made an elephant in porcelain through shapeways last year.
Same here, lost quite some details.
To be honest, I am surprised how much detail you got from your model, as the original is already not that sharp defined.
The only way I see using shapeways and getting a better print is to exaggerate all details much more than you would do for normal printing.
All my folds done with DAM-Standard brush were gone. If you want those details, make them big or carve them very deep.
Look here - that’s a good example imho:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/VVT7955WY/porcelain-dragon-baby-large?optionId=57372750
Have a look at the pictures, there is one render showing how much detail the original dragon has.
I made mine during porcelain beta. It looks like they improved their material render preview quite a lot.
So one possible way would be to overwork your model and upload and preview until you are satisfied.
Regarding your eye, I would go almost wild.
http://www.heidimaiers.com/WIP_files/eyering.jpg
http://ceramicartsdaily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sculptfig3_large-1.jpg
Seems to be a good example.
They say minimum detail is 1mm, but I would go for min 3mm or even bigger to have it safely print.
On bottom of this page you see all the printed and glazed examples, and how much the glaze is taking away.
https://www.shapeways.com/materials/porcelain-ceramic
Finally, if it’s just for presentation, not for kitchen use, I would consider to emphasize details with an oil wash.
You can check with sepia water color first, if you like what you see, go for it 
Normally this is done completely different with ceramics, but I have not a clue about it. First google test pointed to something pre glaze.
I really do hope that this helped at least a bit. I am in no way a professional in this, just with same experiences as you. Would be great to see final result
Cheers,
Knacki
EDIT:
Found that page too:
https://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/27454-tips-for-designing-in-porcelain.html
Thanks a lot, Knacki. Your post had so much great input, appreciate it a lot. Cheers!
Edit: Ill post the next print her in this thread when it’s printed.
My pleasure.
I was in same situation and a bit disappointed. One more important point I read after is, that you can calculate 1mm thickness on top for glaze.
Quite obvious why most detail is filled, as one can see very good in shapeways half glazed test prints.
Another thing. How did you go about reducing the polycount while keeping as much detail as possible? This was the part where I lost a lot of the initial detail. The screenshot I posted is just within limits after reduction. Probably not that many ways to go about it, but thought I would ask in case you had some tips on this as well.
zBrush basics
“Magic” Decimation Master
(shapeways 1,000,000 polygon limit - 500.000 points. easy to adjust in Decimation Master) Check out for some Tuts, there are plenty of them.)
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/zbrush-plugins/decimation-master/https://pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/zplugins/
Check out new plug “3d print Hub” either (link above)