So it's just a technology problem. As soon as bambu or someone evolves the tech sufficiently to have full color full resolution, the meta will change.
The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
101–110 of 154 posts
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#102I think it's also worth mentioning, along with all the very valid points of the article, that 3d printed figures, even at their best, simply cannot match the properties of GW's injection molded plastic at the same time. FDM prints have visual artifacts you cannot escape with many shapes, and even the most flexible of the expensive resins isn't nearly as durable as a plastic model. Plus plastic models insta-bond with…
> even the most flexible of the expensive resins isn't nearly as durable as a plastic model
GW themselves make resin miniatures, they used to be called forgeworld.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#103Why not just transition to LEGO for the figures and units ?
Because the tldr of the article is that the authors' specific definition of fanaticism involving investment of hundreds of hours on side tasks like painting individual units is considered based and epic and totally not a collection of junk, and that other solutions involved around not doing things like that are actually not based and not epic and are totally big collections of junk
It's sort of weird because the issue isn't around proxies representing a figure in another form, but about the perceived "loss" of the value of their efforts from someone popping out something identical without wastin- spending as much time. "I do it, so I value it" is an interesting life code to live by.
So, the actual answer is pride, it seems.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#104how about 3d printing backup boat propellers?
i dont own a boat.
i imagine real propellers are somewhat expensive. and people often dont buy 2 to keep a spare on board. and on occasion they do fail.
why not a 3d printed backup propeller then? it only needs to last 1/2 a trip..only the way back...
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#1053D printers absolutely revolutionized small volume plastic manufacturing and prototyping.
If you do something useless with a tool that's not on the tool, that's on you.
There's 40 of them sitting in my garage doing useful work that would have been absolutely impossible without this tech.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#106I play a wargame (Battletech) where the rulebook says "use a bottlecap if you want to as long as you can tell which way it's facing" and even there 3D printed minis are uncommon. For Battletech there's two official sources of minis, plastic from CGL and metal from IWM[0]. IWM has a model for almost every unit published in the last 40 years, but some of them are... very hard to look at. CGL's plastic ones look much and cover the most common units so you can usually get by with just them (although, I did just order a couple minis for an upcoming tournament). If I ever see a printed mini, it's either a) one of the ones where the IWM model looks terrible, or b) a model ripped from the Mechwarrior video games that the person thinks looks better aesthetically.
Where 3D printing has been revolutionary for Battletech though has been terrain. Battletech's played on a hex grid, and ever hex has an elevation printed on it to form hills, buildings, and rivers. There's one company (Thunderhead Studios) that makes STLs of the elevation of the official maps that's very popular. Popular enough that they've actually started mass manufacturing them and selling prepainted terrain retail. That shows up in every event I've been to, even official events where 3D minis are banned. But it's a decidedly ancillary part of the experience for Battletech.
[0] Catalyst Game Labs and Iron Wind Metals
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I waited what I thought (and what was suggested by enthusiasts to be) long enough for the tech to be mature and approachable, and finally bought a highly-recommended beginner printer about three years ago. I’ll never touch the tech again. The chemicals seem sketchy as hell (I don’t really want any hobbies that make me feel like I need a dedicated area of my house that I only enter while wearing significant PPE, and w…
It really depends on what your end goal & use case is. Resin printers are pretty phenomenal for any kind of product development and are very much a useful tool in the industrial design space. That said, casual hobbyists should almost always start with an FDM (filament) printer as a first printer. Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience :/ https://youtube.com/@pyottdesign
Both have their uses.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
I waited what I thought (and what was suggested by enthusiasts to be) long enough for the tech to be mature and approachable, and finally bought a highly-recommended beginner printer about three years ago. I’ll never touch the tech again. The chemicals seem sketchy as hell (I don’t really want any hobbies that make me feel like I need a dedicated area of my house that I only enter while wearing significant PPE, and w…
My Prusa Mk3s (kit built) from 2019 has been no-fiddle for all seven years of its life.
Those things are indestructible. The oldest I have has done well over 100 km of filament.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#109So it's just a technology problem. As soon as bambu or someone evolves the tech sufficiently to have full color full resolution, the meta will change.
That tech already exists.
https://www.mimakieurope.com/products/3d/
It is mostly a price point thing but I would expect this tech to come down in price at the same rate that other 3D printing technologies have over the coming years. We're in the 'Stratasys' era of full color high res 3D printing right now.
Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves
#110You can absolutely 3D print warhammer.
“The bottleneck isn't acquiring plastic. The bottleneck is everything else.”
Getting models is certainly a bottleneck if you dont have $1000 to spend on minis.
In my city you can resin print the same army for $100 at one of dozens of 3D printing shops.
Same goes for high end mtg proxies.
If you are interested in a great game with an open license that encourages printing and hacking together your own models check out Trench Crusade.