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I went to a friend’s recently to have a game. When I got there, he had the table laid out with a few standard hills, trees, and some really nice looking 3d printed terrain. I took some photos, feeling the need to show off what he had done. They came from a company called Printable Scenery.

Funnily enough, I remember someone telling me once that would never be good enough, or readily available enough, to do produce anything of worth for wargames. Guess he was wrong.

Printable Scenery has done several Kickstarters and have some pretty nice products available. That said, terrain for wargames is completely different from miniatures for wargames, when it comes to 3D printing. Give it 3-5 years and you might see printers good enough to do 28mm scale miniatures. I think for big things like scenery, current 3d printers are just fine and I've seen some very cool stuff out there.

Grey, you might be surprised. From what I know, resin printers like the Form2 don't have the problem the typical filament printer like the Makerbot does - they don't tend to have the striations from the layers of print.

That, and the resolution is improving with even filament printers, boasting some very good quality work.

I have seen a few 3d printed minis. Though the quality isn't great, is not bad either. I dont think it will be long before we see more and more 3d printed minis on tabletops.

 Mr. Grey wrote:
That said, terrain for wargames is completely different from miniatures for wargames, when it comes to 3D printing. Give it 3-5 years and you might see printers good enough to do 28mm scale miniatures. I think for big things like scenery, current 3d printers are just fine and I've seen some very cool stuff out there.

Nah, we are already there.

http://www.micron3d.com/en/image-gallery

The much much more impressive stuff is on their Facebook.

The Form 2 is not good for miniatures, but its not a DLP printer. I use it for non organic stuff, like structures.


Not mine, but For example:

Nice!

In that case, i dont think it will be long before we see entire armies of printed minis.

Actually, now i think about it, i recall seeing some minis on Printable Scenery's site. Small things like a bolt thrower and catapult, but they looked good.

I also just backed their current Kick starter, which includes Gothic Cathedrals, Industrial Walkways, and Spaceship interiors.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printablescenery/rampage-gothic-3d-printable-scenery-building-syste?ref=f09rqw

The Micron Printer looks interesting. Using an external PC and projector rather than integrated components like the Form Labs printers and keeping the system open definitely makes it more flexible costwise.

My understanding is though that both printers are stereolithographic printers. I'm not sure what resolution Form Labs uses in their DLP element, but I expect cheap HD projectors to be insufficient.

The Micron is awesome.

I used the Form 2 for this hollow base as its far too large for the Micron, and the Micron for each figure individually (build area is limited to 80mm x 42mm on it)

 Zach wrote:

 Mr. Grey wrote:
That said, terrain for wargames is completely different from miniatures for wargames, when it comes to 3D printing. Give it 3-5 years and you might see printers good enough to do 28mm scale miniatures. I think for big things like scenery, current 3d printers are just fine and I've seen some very cool stuff out there.

Nah, we are already there.

http://www.micron3d.com/en/image-gallery

The much much more impressive stuff is on their Facebook.

The Form 2 is not good for miniatures, but its not a DLP printer. I use it for non organic stuff, like structures.

Cropped out the images, but that's really impressive! Thanks for proving me wrong.

I think we need to draw the distinction between printing 3D masters on expensive machines, and "Oh, I don't need to buy minis, I'll just quickly print them up on my budget home 3D printer...".

There's a massive difference. Most miniature companies right now are digital sculpting and those which cast in metal start with 3D printed material --- but those 3D prints are coming from some awfully big and fancy machine, not something you'll be buying for $250 off Amazon.

I think we're a ways from having a quality printer for an average home which produces miniatures to the same level of modern gaming materials (be it metal/plastic). The tech exists, but running it cost effectively in a home is still a ways off.

That's why you still have Shapeways etc. Even they are constantly updating their machines with newer and newer tech - as they know the market is going to die within a few years unless they offer better prices or better detail. Shapeways doesn't want to be the next "We'll cut a custom CD for you with all your favourite songs!" or "We'll put your photos on a CD!" kind of place (which had about a 2 year tenure before going bankrupt).

There are loads of 3D printed materials on eBay and some very nice terrain pieces - these are a little pricey but not bad considering the size and quality, but many of them are done by companies which a larger budget than the average gamer.

The home-brew DLP printers can do a decent (depending on your level of pickiness) job at 28mm minis already using a 1080P projector and 4k projectors should drop in price pretty fast.

I think you'll be able to do it within 3-4 years, but only if you're willing to spend a lot of time messing around with technical stuff and tuning things. Maybe 6-8 years for a home printer that's easy to use, <$1000 USD and can do quality minis at 28mm.

 Zach wrote:

The Form 2 is not good for miniatures, but its not a DLP printer. I use it for non organic stuff, like structures.

Hey Zach,

I got to ask. I got to ask why you think the Form2 isn't good for miniatures?
You state it isn't a DLP printers meaning you need a DLP to do miniatures.
The Form2 is an SLA printer, and from what i am reading a SLA printer is for small detailed prints. DLP isn't for that. It has a different role.
And as for the Form2, it does much smaller prints, why do you think it wouldnt be good for miniatures?
I have been seeing what a Form2 does for 12mm minis right now.
What am i missing?

Grimm