The next Generation sculptors... software and a 3Dprinter?

[traveller]

After observing the new Indiegogo campagne of this great Willy Miniatures Chaos team
i ask mayself, what will be the future of the miniatures sculpting....

Just read it on the Indiegogo page:

They will be about 32mm, 44mm and 50mm to the eyes,
but since we work with a 3D printer this measures can be conveniently
adjusted for the final cast.

and as i asked this some days before on the TFFposting on page 58 here

ah, btw... just wonderig with all the 3D Screenshot Previews
.... are you " in " 3D Printing now, too?

Will this be the new way of the miniatures "sculpting"... ehm... a kind of
3D-Software-using Sculptor?

Would be interesting to design a mini on "Maya" or similar and let it print on 3D Printer
for a mold, which could used later from a Casting company?!
I know, not so easy as i write it here, but still...

What do you think? Maybe we are "processing" our own Bloodbowl teams soon?

Traveller

[traveller]

And please dont misunderstand...

I´m just curious, what will be the future and what the others are knowing and thinking about.
That´s not against a maybe new way to produce new miniatures.

Traveller

[MattDakka]

I hope that the diffusion of 3d printing will decrease miniatures' prices.

[Borthcollective]

I think the one thing it will do is speed up the concept to casting time, as you shouldn't have to wait as long for the fig to be sculpted in 3d rather than in putty.

[DixonCider]

curious if/when 3D printers/scanners are widely available how companies will deal with the piracy issue

[Axtklinge]

I suppose we're watching the future hapening right before our eyes.
Bet sculptors arent that happy with this...

[Steam Ball]

3D is pretty much the present, for metal, resin and plastic miniatures. Raging Heroes? 3d print and cast. Maxmini? Yeah. GW? 3d design and computerized mold making. Dreamforge Games? Too. Wyrd? Same. Products that have been hitting the shelves for the past months & years. Not all the products, of course, probably only a handful of companies are 3d only now, like RH. And not all will use it, each sculptor is different. It's just another method avaliable.

As said by others, it can save time and also makes variations easier. Pricewise, probably not much, the other parts of the production will still be the same, and so far, the "putty" (and the machine time) is more expensive than epoxy or polymer putties. Only by reusing parts you can save a bit... but traditional sculptors already do that, do one armor, clone it in resin or metal, make a handful of soldiers in different poses.

What is more, you can already buy products that are 3d printed, including BB ones. Not just a 3d printer used along the process, but you get the 3d printed thing and use it.

[DixonCider]

I suppose we're watching the future happening right before our eyes.
Bet sculptors aren't that happy with this...

in some ways they most likely don't mind having another tool for making sculpts, but the implications of the designs going up for free would be a little frightening.

[GreedySmurf]

I could see in 5-10 years time once 3D printers have become good enough and cheap enough to be purchased for home use, that sculptors & mini companies might proceed on a 'sell blueprints', rather than 'sell a physical miniature'. So you'd pay for say a chaos team 'blueprints', download the files from the seller and print up your team. Although I could see this taking the path of buying a license to the designs, said license allowing you to print x number of copies of each design. This would however be subject to piracy issues.

[GalakStarscraper]

Half of the miniatures in our Chibi KickStarter are being done via 3D sculptor and the other half by a physcial sculptor.

The price of both to create a 30mm miniature is the same for us so no cost savings at all using the 3-D sculptor for us.

Tom @ Impact!

[Pakulkan]

I don't know in the future but by today, 3D sculpt still need some processing before enter into production mold.

Check materials to be printed, some layering visible... means that you need to make some hand work with the printed sculpt before cast it.

This is an issue to teke into account before provide 3D sculpts to customers to print themselves. Maybe the future line molds, in any case.

[Pug]

he's right, 3d printing ok for prototype miniature for casting due to materials you can print in (Yes you can technically print in metal but the expense of it hurts!)

Dependant on the quality of printer being used and the material used to produce miniature prototype, there will be finishing issues before going to cast.
Layer lines (More prominent on the cheaper 3d printers..not always mind) and printing props. That is where props need to be added to the disign so that the miniature as it is printed doesn't fall over due to changes in centre of gravity as it is built up layer by layer. Another bit of actual physical finishing.

I'd be happy to see minis produced anywhich way!..putty or program!

[spubbbba]

I can see it as a very useful tool for making the master or small production runs. I think we are still a fair way off being able to print good quality miniatures at home that don’t cost a fortune (though with GW’s regular price rises much less for their stuff).

The closest comparison I could think of would be GW’s rulebooks as those cost £30 now. Do people illegally download those to tablet or print off their own versions? I used to buy all the army books when they were £12 but stopped once they hit £15, so if you wanted all of them it would be expensive.
I suppose the example is a little flawed as you only actually need the rules pages so could just print those out.

[Pakulkan]

On top of that, we have an old discussion about if technology is going to replace (or at least change) art/artesany.

Although many electronic tools are available for drawing, and many of them have influenced the creation art pieces, there is still place for the ancient pigments, paper and so.

My point is that maybe in the future you could get Some stuff modeled, 3D scanned and modified to produce different poses and possibly provided to users as e-resource to use proxys. But still, I guess putty sculpting will have this sense.

[Shteve0]

I'm hoping that 3D sculpting will see multipart sprues become more widespread and customisable (at an inevitable cost premium); and eventually a glorious reduction in tooling costs as some bright spark builds something that can print high detail molds from electronic sculpt, cutting down on a whole load of costly intermittent steps.