3D Printing - the future of miniature industry and beam of hope for all of us..

[Piotr Gonczarek]

Dear Friends,

In one of other threads I have touched upon this topic a little bit, but I think it deserves its own thread. After all, its (very possibly) a great hope to us all.

Its actually rather simple (dont wanna write a book here, and anyone curious in details can google the rest) -3D printing technology gets more and more sophisticated , and cheaper every week,month,quarter,year..The booming thing in Germany for example is customization of jewelry to order using 3D printing.
The details get better and more intricate looking. There are more and more materials you can print in. And the best thing - you can print even groups of figures and process is not so time-consuming anymore.

I really want to be able to buy larger scenes/battles/painting reproductions..but at reasonable prices.

It will shake up the whole of our beloved miniature industry. I strongly believe it. Everything points towards it. It just will have to take this first person wanting to dive into this with some imagination and understanding of future cliets'needs and desires.

Cool example

A Horrifying and Artistic Use of 3D Printing by Mat Collishaw

more details you can find here

http://3dprint.com/32335/all-things-fall-3d-printed-art/

The competition WILL increase. It wil become littlemore competitive for Pegaso,Romeo Models and others. But the bottom line is -will itl be better for us - guys who pay and expect the best?

What do you think? Please feel free to share any thoughts you have on the subject,

Cheers,Peter

 

[tomifune]

This subject has already been beat to death here on the forum and has resulted in some heated exchanges.
Frankly, I don't feel like celebrating the death of people who live and breathe the hobby and have been in it through good and bad times just so I could save a little money. When I go to a Show, I enjoy talking with vendors who share the same passions about history and the hobby as I do. If this technology results in the disappearance of the really good people in the hobby now, just so I can have some obscure piece made that only a few people would be interested in, then I can just as soon live without it. There are many good figures out there now that can keep a person busy until they're covered with dirt.

Bob

 

[Piotr Gonczarek]

This subject has already been beat to death here on the forum and has resulted in some heated exchanges.
Frankly, I don't feel like celebrating the death of people who live and breathe the hobby and have been in it through good and bad times just so I could save a little money. When I go to a Show, I enjoy talking with vendors who share the same passions about history and the hobby as I do. If this technology results in the disappearance of the really good people in the hobby now, just so I can have some obscure piece made that only a few people would be interested in, then I can just as soon live without it. There are many good figures out there now that can keep a person busy until they're covered with dirt.

Bob

I understand where you coming from Bob (but I didnt know this topic has been beate to death -kinda new to this site..and there are thousands of threads so...) ..I want you to know that I LOVE many current manufacturers to death almost..I appreciaate their efforts ,their commitment and their talents they put into wonderful figures , so i definitely wouldnt want them to dissappear, and would they really?Personally, I doubt it. Maybe they would have to just adapt to new playing field?
Yes -there are many wonderful, awesome pieces out there.Total agreement there. But if I wanted to create a diorama of a larger scene , even only 4, 5 , 6 warriors (and what about 20 of them?),curently I have to spend a small fortune. My only little hope , that perhaps this will change a little to our favor .
btw, Im not affiliated in anyway with any 3d printing firm -just presenting food for thought..
Thank you for your comment,
Cheers,Peter

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Or you could learn to sculpt.

 

[theBaron]

I think a time will come when the technology is cheap enough for many modelers to own a 3D printer, and I suspect that we will see makers selling "patterns", licensed files of their subjects, that drive the printing. I can see this happening in the broader hobby of scale modeling, too--instead of buying a box of styrene, you buy the pattern, take it home and print the sprues.

Will this technology eliminate sculpting? No, I don't think so. Will it change the market? Yes, probably. But things are constantly changing, and nothing lasts forever.

I'm not celebrating any negative impact this evolution may have on individual artists, either, I'm merely stating my opinion.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Piotr Gonczarek]

Or you could learn to sculpt.

Iwhy you guys are fighting this.. sheesh..whether u like it or not, you cant stop this technology,i mean why be dictatsd by fear?..if everyone thought likd that,wed still be riding horses..thanks,but no thanks.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Piotr....as has been said, this has been beat to death. People here are not scared of the future but many, including me, will likely not embrace it. You are not arriving with world shaking news. We already know 3D printing is coming. If the new tech results in better and cheaper figures, so be it. They will need to be cheaper because no one will have jobs due to the increase in robots and AI. Maybe we will all have our own robots painting our figures too. "My robot won a gold medal at the 2027 MMSI Show!" That may all be in the future but most of us on this board tend to look backwards in time for our inspiration, not so much forwards. Sorry to be a damp rag on your enthusiasm.

Colin

 

[Alex]

3D printing will never replace traditional sculpting.

When photography was born, a lot of people said that it will replace traditional oil portrait painting.
And as you know it has not !
What I like jn current figures is that I can see the actual artist touch.. The figures do not look like computer renderings .. Sculpting and painting a figure is not all about replicating something perfectly, it is about putting yourself in your figure.. Creating an art piece, a one of kind.
Cheers
Ale

 

[Gra30]

Iwhy you guys are fighting this.. sheesh..whether u like it or not, you cant stop this technology,i mean why be dictatsd by fear?..if everyone thought likd that,wed still be riding horses..thanks,but no thanks.

Well said gentleman.
With the above response we are obviously not allowed an opinion if it in any way slurs the good name of 3d technology lol
I actually thought you had a very valid point Colin, and certainly more creative than waiting for a machine to come along and do it for you

 

[Gra30]

When the input to the finished piece is minimal or nothing, isn't the hobby then called collecting
I can see a lot of collectors in the future but personally I prefer modelling.

 

[renarts]

With figure prices just getting more expensive (average price for a 54mm metal figure at a show this week was $50-60) there needs to be a change somewhere. If its not in the packaging to maintain lower prices i.e. rather than slick 4 color gloss printed wrap around covers, paper boxes with gold foil labels and then packed in foam, or metal tins with 4 color process painted labeling why not simple boxes or even envelopes with foam etc. with black and white pictures. Then something needs to keep the hobby moving forward. Everyone wants it cheaper and a large complaint from many that the price is keeping newer and younger painters away. Every year we bemoan the fact that yet another company has gone out of business because the return on cost is not enough.
If 3D is the wave of the future and it forces a tipping point in pricing as well as production then so be it. With some of the 3D sculpting software out there, there is no reason the artists skill can't be projected onto the screen as opposed to wax or putty. I forsee a future (not in the near future) but one where you select a figure, download it to your own printer and then paint that.
There will always be hand crafters. I know plenty of blacksmiths, wood workers, jewelers, etc that do everything old school, with hand tools and still make a comfortable living. Put their kids through school and have the accolades of being a true craftsman. I also know many that have embraced new technology and done quite well with it.
I'm curious to see what comes from this.

 

[Ferris]

Peter,

There has indeed been a lot of discussion on the topic. Somehow this subject stirs emotions and heats up debate. Do a search and run through some of the discussions. All arguments seem to have been exchanged many times, hence the muted response to your post. I share your enthousiasm about this new technology, but the bottom line is we will have to wait and see. Or go in and change the world ourselves. In between are just opinions and counter-opinions.

Anyway, just to give you my brief 2 cents on this: whatever the technology, 3d digital or hand-crafted, we will still need talented sculptors that create the master. That will for a large part determine the cost of making the figure. 3D has many advantages, like allowing easy changes to the master, scaling a figure, etc, but right now I don't think it will change the cost of a figure by a large factor. I like the link you posted, but it didn't say how much effort was involved. I would guess more than 1000 hours...

Anyway, let us wait and see.... ;-)

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Gra30]

We have had this debate before about the price of figures. With a 54 mm piece being around the £20 mark and half the cost of a video game I think it blows the argument of this hobby being expensive out the water. I also don't think sculptors that use 3d will be lining up to sell their work cheaply in order to support the hobby, they will charge the same rate as manual sculptors and this dictates a large portion of the costings of a piece. Casting and moulding time is not even accounted for in the final cost a lot of the time so IF printing at home, which I very much doubt , it would be irrelevant to the final cost.

As Adrian say, let's wait and see as nobody knows and it is all speculation.
To me if it ain't broke..... , no matter how good a sculpt it ain't going to paint itself, yet. I have a grey army of manual sculpts that I can only hope to do justice to.

 

[tonydawe]

I've already had my say on this subject on a previous thread, but since I can't remember what I said and can't be bothered to find out and check what I said, I'll have another crack at it.

I don't fear the introduction of 3D printing to our hobby, nor do I think it will see the death of traditional sculpting.

I think the two forms of sculpting can easily co-exist and figure modellers will have more options than ever before.

The real threat comes from the ability of thieves to replicate an artist's work and steal his income by producing replicas en masse through the use of 3D scanners and printers.

People have a tendency to fear the things they don't understand. I'm happy to welcome new technology into the hobby and to recognise the artistic skill it takes to create a digitally sculpted figure.

 

[blaster]

I think that you have identified a real potential problem with 3D tech and piracy.
But I think that Peter's initial post is very interesting in that one can have customisable scenes which can be scanned, converted into a 3D diorama and then purchased. It seems to take the fun out of making your own models, though. But there are solely collectors as well as makers in this hobby.

Rgds Victor

 

[Piotr Gonczarek]

Wow, this is a hot topic indeed...
Guys, I swear I didnt know this -the post was not meant to be confrontational , I didnt realize it would stir such emotions..
Maybe I should dive into older threads to understand this, but it never crossed my mind.
Well, certainly this is my first and last 3d printing thread.
Ill just stick with safe topics like religion or politics
Sorry for all that...
Cheers to all,
Peter

 

[WhyteStryke]

There will always be hand crafters. I know plenty of blacksmiths, wood workers, jewelers, etc that do everything old school, with hand tools and still make a comfortable living. Put their kids through school and have the accolades of being a true craftsman. I also know many that have embraced new technology and done quite well with it.

Renarts,

This pretty much sums it up for me.

Excellent point.

Paul.

 

[Blind Pew]

I will have to begin by saying I fear this and I don't fancy it. I haven't held a 3-D printed figure in my hand to compare it to a 'normal' one so I haven't seen the difference, or if there is a tangible difference at all anyway.

If the two have to co-exist (which they may well do anyway at some point in the future) the 3-D process may come in handy for sculptors to do the more tedious and time consuming aspects such as making weapons, water bottles, helmets etc. thus leaving time and energy for the more interesting parts of a figure. As such it may lead to sculptor's output increasing...

But I will never call anybody who produces a 3-D figure a sculptor. To my mind they are not the same. Or as good.

 

[Blind Pew]

Oh as well, I can't see 3-d printing having a sculptor's signature.

For example, I can tell a Moz Corrie or Carl Reid and feel a warm glow inside when I do.

I can't see this electronic stuff having the same impact. Sorry.

 

[JonP]

I thought 3D printers had been abandoned in favour of RC Drones as the new hi-tech fad!
To put things in perspective with regards to modelling in general it is dead easy to produce your own decals at home if you can create the artwork yet very few modellers do. Likewise it's easy enough to get all the materials you need to make your own PE brass if you can get the artwork yet very few modellers do, so why is it going to be any different with 3D printers. Someone has to put the work in up front be it a digital or traditional sculptor, graphic artist or CAD jockey before you can have a solid lump in your hands; 3D printers are a very useful tool but that's all.