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The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

matduggan.com

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Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#31

Post by wincy »

lovich wrote: post #11

His description of resin printing, especially the meth lab comparison and > At one point, he said the phrase "you really don't want to get this on your skin" with the casual tone of someone who had definitely gotten it on his skin. are spot on. There are currently 10 3d printers in my household and there have been maybe 30 unique ones in total over the past 2 years but after the first 3-4 months of resin printing tha…

It’s not that bad if you get it on your skin. You just wash it off. The danger is having it on your skin and not realizing it, then going into the sun. It’s an exothermic reaction and since it’s UV reactive, you’ll get an unpleasant burn. I just wore nitrile gloves and I already wear glasses, and printed thousands of miniatures without incident. There’s the GooberTown chemist guy on YouTube who prints lots of minis and he did a breakdown of the chemicals, it’s less dangerous than the bleach you likely have under your kitchen sink. Just don’t drink it or get it in your eyes, it’s not going to explode.

I moved from an isopropyl alcohol wash to using acetone, which resulted in much crisper details, but that felt substantially more dangerous than the resin ever did. It’s very unpleasant to breathe in. I just put the printer in an unused room, and opened a window every once in awhile, and did my minis washing outside with a mask on.

I was in a Telegram group for awhile that shared all the sets and ended up with dozens of terabytes of extremely high quality miniatures. Often video game modelers moonlight making high quality minis that are much better looking than anything in Warhammer. Once I stopped the hobby I left as it required you to sign up for $30+ a month of subscriptions you needed to share to get access to their group.

I’ve fallen out of the hobby after my good friend passed away because him and I made a lot of minis together, but it was a lot of fun. I was primarily using it for D&D minis though, with 1 resin printer for minis and 3 FDM printers for terrain. Nobody cared at all about “authenticity” and was just wowed by the presentation.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#32

Post by TrevorFSmith »

I 3D print items that aren't mass produced, either because I'm one of few people who wants them so there's no market or I'm the only person who wants them because they're customized for me. Most reasonable 3D printer users don't believe they'll replace mass production. They use them for parts you can't buy.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#34

Post by iLoveOncall »

I fully agree with the article, and I have experienced the exact same pain with resin printing, which has been collecting dust since my first printing streak.

But I have to say that the comparison between the time investment in resin printing and preparing official Warhammer models for painting is very incomplete.

Ultimately, if everything goes well with the printing (and it usually does), the whole process will take around an hour of active time (preparing + post-processing) a plate of 20-30 models (however many you can fit). It will DEFINITELY take longer than this to get the same level of quality from plastic sprues. Removing the pieces from the sprues, removing the mold lines, filling the worst ones, etc. is extremely time consuming, and it is really the most boring part of the hobby.

It took me at least 20 hours to prepare around 100 models (small ones), when it would take only 4 or 5 when printing them. This time saving is time you can reinvest in painting.

I also still believe that at some point, with advancements in printers (which happen consistently year over year), but especially in resin formulations, we will reach a state where it will be safe (or at least much safer than it is now) to 3D print models using resin, at which point it will indeed have a large impact on Games Workshop's business.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#35

Post by bdcravens »

neonnoodle wrote: post #2

This was a very enjoyable read for me. I’ve never played 40K but have always been impressed with the craftsmanship and dedication of the community. I remember a lot of the early hype around 3D printing, most of which hasn’t panned out where the consumer-hobbyist-level machines are concerned. My local game shop makes a lot of cool 3D printed stuff and sells it online or at cons, but even Etsy is now cracking down on p…

> even Etsy is now cracking down on prints of “commodity” STLs. IIRC under their new policy, you can’t sell a print you didn’t design yourself.

Not really true. There was a lot of drama about this when it came out, but I suspect there were more videos on YouTube about the subject than there have been actual products taken down over this. You just have to disclose that you made it with design partners. (ie, an STL you didn't create)

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#36

Post by bdcravens »

TrevorFSmith wrote: post #32

I 3D print items that aren't mass produced, either because I'm one of few people who wants them so there's no market or I'm the only person who wants them because they're customized for me. Most reasonable 3D printer users don't believe they'll replace mass production. They use them for parts you can't buy.

Once you get a 3d printer, you do tend to find many uses for them for things you could easily buy (organizing bins and the like) but I don't think anyone is buying them with this in mind.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#37

Post by aleph_minus_one »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #30

Great essay! I have never played WH40k but have been quite into Magic the Gathering at times. Before I started playing I asked a friend what was to stop me just printing or photocopying cards (even in the 90s this would have been possible) I understood how silly that question was when I felt the pleasure of actually owning a high quality product. Sure, I could spend the time to make my own cards but playing the game…

> Warhammer and MtG get mocked for being expensive but in reality they are comparable to cars, sports, fashion, and all the other things humans spend their disposable income on.

I guess there really is some kind of "hacker-type" personality who does spend a lot on some things, but these things are typically "not very proprietary", i.e. not things where the producing company enforced the copyright and trademarks heavily, and "highly modifiable". So I guess to such people the question "what was to stop me just printing or photocopying cards" is not absurd, but to fans of WH4k or MtG it is: because of their very different product tastes.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#38

Post by phantasmish »

neonnoodle wrote: post #2

This was a very enjoyable read for me. I’ve never played 40K but have always been impressed with the craftsmanship and dedication of the community. I remember a lot of the early hype around 3D printing, most of which hasn’t panned out where the consumer-hobbyist-level machines are concerned. My local game shop makes a lot of cool 3D printed stuff and sells it online or at cons, but even Etsy is now cracking down on p…

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 with gloves that never leave that dirty-zone) and after probably ten joyless hands-on hours burned over a couple weekends, I never got the fucking thing to print a single one of its test designs.

Seems like yet another fiddly hobby for its own sake (that might eventually yield some not-remotely-worth-the-cost fruits) rather than a useful tool. I don’t need what it offers that bad, the amount of money and time I’m going to put toward it in the rest of my life is zero. It’s probably a fine activity if the act of fiddling with 3D printers is the main draw for a person. Otherwise, no.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#39

Post by bdcravens »

lovich wrote: post #11

His description of resin printing, especially the meth lab comparison and > At one point, he said the phrase "you really don't want to get this on your skin" with the casual tone of someone who had definitely gotten it on his skin. are spot on. There are currently 10 3d printers in my household and there have been maybe 30 unique ones in total over the past 2 years but after the first 3-4 months of resin printing tha…

I have several Bambu Lab printers and even have a fun little side-hustle with them. I do have a single resin printer, and honestly, I've never really gotten the itch to do anything with it.

Re: The year of the 3D printed miniature and other lies we tell ourselves

#40

Post by wincy »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #30

Great essay! I have never played WH40k but have been quite into Magic the Gathering at times. Before I started playing I asked a friend what was to stop me just printing or photocopying cards (even in the 90s this would have been possible) I understood how silly that question was when I felt the pleasure of actually owning a high quality product. Sure, I could spend the time to make my own cards but playing the game…

It’s a good question though! I got into Lorcana in 2024 and spent way too much money. I became curious about the $3 “reproductions” for $50 cards on AliExpress and ordered a few, while having matching copies I had pulled myself from packs, so I knew mine were authentic.

I was shocked that even under a jeweler’s loupe, I could tell no difference. Even the microscopic ink patterns were identical, except for the very rare editions of cards that use a special holographic print (called “Enchanted” cards, which are fancier alt art prints of cards, but those have a regular equivalent for gameplay purposes in all cases). It was all just worthless paper at the point.

This “broke the spell” for me, so to speak, and I quit playing. Soon after, I’m guessing everyone else realized this too, or, more likely, were buying the same cards at full price without realizing their provenance, and card prices tanked substantially. I also quit playing because it took up a lot of time and I rediscovered why I stopped playing Magic competitively. I’m an extremely sore loser and when I get into a hobby I play to win, to the point of obsession.

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