What does Veeky Forums think of 3D printing for miniatures?

What does Veeky Forums think of 3D printing for miniatures?

I think it has potential however there is the problem of the layers making it difficult for fine details to stand out.

You'll never have the economies of scale to compete with bigger companies.

That would be true if you wanted to sell your own 3D printed miniatures. If you make them for yourself, it would cost lest then the ones sold in stores because there would be no markup. Of course you need to produce a certain numbers of miniatures for yourself in order to break even depending on the price of the printer. But a printer has other uses then just miniatures.

I would be doing it 24/7 if I could afford a 3d printer.
I'm a minimum wage shitfuck though, so that's unlikely to ever happen.

It's currently in its infancy, but I think within a few decades it'll be standard for most kinds of game.

The idea of reusable resin printers is a big one for me. As a GM, being able to print out all the pieces I need them for a session, then melting them down to reuse the material to print next weeks minis would be perfect. Of course they'll never be as high quality as professional grade miniatures, but I think the sheer convenience will still appeal to a lot of people.

But, as I said, the technology is still in its very early days as a consumer product. It has a long way to go.

I am kinda curious how high quality home 3d printing will affect board games and stuff, whether companies will start selling 3d printing packs for you to make your own at home and such. For pieces like pawns and tokens, a 3d printer could be ideal.

The technology IS here. 3D printing is fully working, it's simply not a technology for home use. And it never will be, because there's zero incentive to make it one.

Zero incentive except the rapidly expanding market of home 3D printing that's already in existence?

It's exciting to think that in 5-10 years home 3d printing tech will be able to churn out miniatures that are indiscernible from GW minis and those fucks might finally go out of business or have to answer for decades of shitty business practice at the least.

Show us some of those hot numbers then, because apart from a bunch of disappointing kickstarters that produced underwhelming products, there's nothing fucking happening.

3D printing isn't like 2D printing where you just right click and print something, or type it up in Word and then print. Even if you download a working file, you still need to properly adjust the printer to get good results. Most people struggle with paper printers to this fucking day, 3D isn't and will never be mainstream.

Printing is an oddity, it's just one of those technologies that never advances as much as you think it should in the market. My sewing machines have gone through more innovations than the average home printer. The problem is most people have such a rare use for printing. No one says you have mad talent with a machine that puts ink on a paper and cannot be used to make a product. If anyone really does need a high quality large print those 3 or 4 times they do, they go to a shop that can do it.

3d printing while infinitely more complicated as far as the machinery goes and the talent to use one also has very practical applications for many people. The demand is higher, and they'll innovate it for home use at a far faster rate because of this. I don't expect it to be in every household, but I'd expect it to be a thing you could obtain if you wanted for a price no worse than say the average other high quality hobby machines like cameras or sewing machines.

3d print the original and then use it to make a mold.

You need a minimum of $3K of SLA printer to get something that isn't a piece of shit.

I think you should ask that same question in 5/8 years and I'll give you an honest opinion.

>gazebro
>gazeboid
>gazeboctopus
I'm scared

> I don't understand the original question or even the purpose of 3D printing in general.

A small group of us are actually trying to compile 3d models, but that's for virtual wargaming. We do, however, use software that is designed to make the models ready for 3d Printing.

They said the same thing about computers.

You do know that there's, like, a ton of 3D printing communities out there, right? Fuck, my OS came with 3D printing software and I didn't even need or want it.

For Terrain you are better off buying a funton of hirst art molds.

Higher level of detail and still nowhere near as expensive.

I had considered it if i could get a 3d printer for under $2,000 that produced the level of detail i want for terrain.

As for minis... just no. i have yet to see a 3d printed mini that made we want it for $0.50 when i could get a plastic / metal / resin one for $10.

I dont give a shit if i saved $9.50. i have a heaping pile of shit that looks bad on the table.

>also has very practical applications for many people

For whom? Who are these people that can actually utilize a 3D printer to a point where simply buying the object or, if need be, ordering it from a company would not only have been easier, but also cheaper and time efficient?

Pay attention to the context. He wasn't talking about now, but the future of the technology. The factors you're talking about will naturally get less significant over time.

Plenty of people? In addition to the hobbyists this thread is about, anyone who does work can benefit from a 3D printer. It's always easier and cheaper to do it yourself, provided you'll make up for the initial cost.

You can argue that it's not something that *everyone* will need, but there are many things that not *everyone* will need that still have a market.

Start naming applications. Anything where the time you need to either model your needed parts at the PC, or spend time searching on the web for a printable 3D model of what you need, the time spent learning how to use the modelling program AND the printer, the time spent prepping the model and tuning the printer, the waiting time of the actual print and the money spent on both the printer and the material comes out on top over "Just go out and buy the shit" in either time or money spent.

Hobbyists are a tiny portion that won't pull the 3D printing market. And that's disregarding the fact that most people in the hobby don't have an interest in doing this shit themselves. I mean, for fuck's sake, most people playing 40k STILL buy directly from GW, even though buying used from ebay would just mean a tiny amount of extra work.

No they bloody won't. Have you ever worked with a fucking 3D printer? Again, this isn't like 2D printing, it's a lot more complicated and tailored to exact needs. They aren't that hard to use, even right now and they might become a bit less finnicky, but most of the stuff is inherent to the technology itself.
High quality home 3D printing is a pipe dream, because it exists right now and there's just no demand for it.

So you're completely failing to acknowledge the ability of things to, you know, change? To progress? To advance? What you're saying has merit now, but that doesn't mean it will forever.

Spend 2k + materials printing low quality models that you will get bored of and break or loose. Na...im good buying miniatures. If you are smart or you dont have a good income you buy online at 25%-45% and all you have to do is glue them right and maybe paint them. If you want to resell them you dont loose as much money. I have a gaming budget that has been going up and down for 2 years. All I do is sell old games that I dont use and with that money buy new stuff at discount. Win/Win. (There are no local game stores in my area that sell wargaming or other shit that has nothing to do with tcg or casual board games.)

If I had one it would be great. But I don't want to drop around $600-$1,000 on a good printer plus whatever the material costs.

I feel like you're arguing about a different thing than other people are arguing about.

>No they bloody won't. Have you ever worked with a fucking 3D printer?
Have you?
I don't have any idea why you seem to think this technology won't get smaller and cheaper. There already *is* demand for it. I know, because I see people demanding it. You can argue that hobbyists are a small demographic (and I mean hobbyists in general, not people looking to make Warhammer minis), but that doesn't stop it from being a demographic that often has money and wants a product.

Hell, half the things Tested.com gets giddy over are 3D Printers.

Since the original question was,
>What does Veeky Forums think of 3D printing for miniatures?
with no mention of *home* 3D printing, I'll simply direct people to heroforge.com and be on my way.

I don't get anything for shilling for them, they don't know me from Adam, but their product is boss as hell.

Seconding this. Heroforge is pretty sweet.