[dataway]

Yes I am depending on the texture of the build plate that in this case creates a medium coarse satin finish. No, consumer level printers are not capable of the resolution required to mimic a vinyl grain texture (not to mention the modeling is very complex). If for instance I was using a smooth build plate the finish would be glossy.

It is absolutely critical that the build plate be flat, within thousands of an inch, for the first layer to adhere properly. The first layer like the foundation of a house is critical to the success of the print. The build plate is heated to maintain this adhesion, so something like a silicon mold, while it would take the heat, would insulate too much, and one of the properties of silicone is that things don't like to stick to it .. so no adhesion.

As far as I know it is not possible to program to print on a non flat surface. To use the layer cake example again .. the top of the cake can take many shapes, but it starts on a flat surface.

I've tried to print a vinyl texture on the top surface of a part and so far no success ... there are people working on this problem though ... the printers are capable of doing better, but the software isn't there yet.

I have no idea how they produced these patterns in injection molded part dies .. perhaps stamped into the dies ... but then how did they get them in the stamping dies? I think on sheet vinyl it's done with large rollers that impress the pattern into the vinyl using heat as the vinyl is produced ... again, not sure how they create the pattern in the rollers.