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

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

#41

Post by arvinsim »

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…

I see at least 2 reasons why we don't see proxy play in MTG.

One is the strong dependence on your peers for approval. If your group is against proxies, then you are screwed.

Second is that there are now more ways to play against each other online for free. This approach is much more convenient compared to creating proxies IRL and allows you to play with other people outside your peer group.

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

#43

Post by arvinsim »

wincy wrote: post #40
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 ra…

I thought EDH would satisfy my casual interest in MTG. But it ended up being worse than competitive play because of politics, vague deck building restrictions for balance(brackets) and difficult to organize people to play.

I settled into boardgames(especially solo boardgames) last year to satisfy that itch.

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

#44

Post by ggm »

Some people play warhammer to win.

Some people play warhammer for the cameraderie.

Some people play warhammer to get outreache to sell their 3D printed components, which probably started out as a "hey look at me" but like all side gigs can, has become foundational in who they are, and now occupies them more than cameraderie or winning.

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

#46

Post by pyottdes »

phantasmish wrote: post #38
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 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

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

#47

Post by ungreased0675 »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #14
amelius wrote: post #12

A 3D printer can't even print a DVD case, with the transparent insert thing. There's a long way to go.

It is very well-known in the 3D printing community that the design of a lot of items that you see in your daily life are actually driven by the limitations of the production process that was used to produce them. All in all, 3D printing allows a lot more flexibility in designs, but if you attempt to 3D-print many items of your daily life exactly as they are, the result will often be much worse than with the productio…

Please don’t speak on behalf of the entire 3D printing community. Just say what you think.

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

#48

Post by dclowd9901 »

reactordev wrote: post #9

Honestly, resin printers are a god send to the miniatures community. Hands down best tech to print warhammer, n-scale, D&D, you name it.

I get it though. I'm the kind of person who's willing to learn slicing, architecting supports and all the other wonky shit that 3d printing begs of because it provides essentially priceless (read: nonexistent custom things) for me.

Someone who's already well steeped in a hobby as demanding as WH40k and who already has access to items they can purchase alternatively probably is not searching for something else they have to get their head around. And MSLA printing is not a chill hobby by any measure.

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

#50

Post by dcw303 »

I am a new initiate into the world of 3d printing for minis. I decided a resin printer does not suit my small apartment lifestyle, and got an Elegoo Centauri Carbon FDM printer. It's pretty plug-and-play, there was very little setup required.

www.reddit.com/r/FDMminiatures/ will give you an idea of the level of quality you can reach. With the smallest 0.2mm nozzle, will it reach resin levels? Close but not really. Is it good enough for me to screw around with, improve my painting skills, and play casual games? Certainly.

Also I subbed to the OnePageRules patreon, they offer alternative minis and rulebooks that are very similar to GW, with an alternate for fantasy and 40K, as well as fleet battles and other stuff.

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