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Just found this while browsing around and thought it would be cool to post it here What with 3D printing becoming a more viable aspect in our hobby now and all the discussion on it.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/staples-3d-printing-service?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Yup it sure sounds interesting.

This video has some better examples of what the printer can actually produce colour wise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnn-ACoMw4w

As stated in the first video, it uses a paper printing technique. These are often more fragile then the resin ones but it will be very interesting to see just how durable the material will turn out to be.

Did you catch the price on the computer at 12:30 into the video? €8.75 for a chess piece. It's actually cheap compared to the other 3D printing companies I've looked at in the past, but not cheap enough to really be a game changer.

I called this last year but I thought we were still two to three years away. The hardware for 3d printing lends itself very well to the print shop format rather than home printing.

Looks cool... in an internet promo video with professionally programmed and printed materials.

We should probably give it another couple years before we think its going to be something the miniatures companies will pay for model subscriptions or something.

How many of us jumped on the first tablet and now, 10 years later, look at the iPad and go, "crap..."?

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
How many of us jumped on the first tablet and now, 10 years later, look at the iPad and go, "crap..."?

I didn't. Those early tablets were garbage. Especially the tablet/laptop hybrids.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Looks cool... in an internet promo video with professionally programmed and printed materials.

We should probably give it another couple years before we think its going to be something the miniatures companies will pay for model subscriptions or something.

How many of us jumped on the first tablet and now, 10 years later, look at the iPad and go, "crap..."?

The difference is that tablets were prohibitively expensive for something mostly unnecessary in people's lives. It was only until Apple came by and convinced a notably large section of the population that they need a tablet to be cool/hip or whatever titillated their jollies.

This is something cool you can design in your off-time and 'print' for an acceptably low-enough price. It's probably too fragile and low-resolution for any acceptable use with miniatures and wargaming, and it's likely too expensive and fragile for terrain. However, it's cheap enough to encourage experimentation in people.

My point was that the results look good, for the developers to have produced, using their technology they created, and on a video on YouTube. Remember, they know what they are doing. Not too many of us are 3D artists or industrial engineers. Let's see what it actually looks like in our hands before we jump on the bandwagon.

were you are 1st going to see this idea catch on is with collectors of PVC statuettes and busts. (You know. the kind you see of popular Anime and video game charaters.)

I could see people getting 3D prints of their MMO characters and such.

When that starts happening we will probably start getting a idea for the qualities of the material you end up with this paper based 3D printing.

 Lockark wrote:
were you are 1st going to see this idea catch on is with collectors of PVC statuettes and busts. (You know. the kind you see of popular Anime and video game charaters.)

I could see people getting 3D prints of their MMO characters and such.

When that starts happening we will probably start getting a idea for the qualities of the material you end up with this paper based 3D printing.

Ya I could see this being used for simple vehicles as well for possible terrain use and whatnot as well. Maybe small terrain pieces as well, as the price isn't that prohibitive.

I'd also love to see how this did with terrain. Xenos terrain, ho!

Not sure how durable the items are, but I could see some one like WotC coming up with a program that allowed people to design and print out their player characters for DnD.

I'll be curious to see just what retail stores LET you print. Will copyright, safety, and other issues come into play?

If it's a photograph that you want reproduced (like Direct Copy), and there's a copyright indicator anywhere on it, you need a copyright release; if not, you're fine to reproduce. I'm guessing 3D files will start having copyrights embedded in the file headers or somewhere on the design.

My fiance has been doing some work in this field and the copyright part is one of their big concerns. She has talked to me about how this could be used for miniatures in the future but I never thought much of it. Should be interesting once this becomes more mainstream to see how they handle all that.

I seem to remember Blizzard doing this a few years ago. You could pay to have your World of Warcraft character printed and delivered to your home.

Oh, I just found the link: http://www.figureprints.com/wow/Default.aspx

 judgedoug wrote:
If it's a photograph that you want reproduced (like Direct Copy), and there's a copyright indicator anywhere on it, you need a copyright release; if not, you're fine to reproduce. I'm guessing 3D files will start having copyrights embedded in the file headers or somewhere on the design.

With the amount of people making 3D models for free as a hobby on the internet, there will be no shortage of easily obtainable 3D files.
The copyright issues will mostly come from someone designing a skull for fun and GW giving them a C&D because the designed skull looks too close to their copyright designs because it has two eye sockets.

My Local STAPLES won't print RPG PDF's that I've legally purchased, because I can't get a written release. I can just imagine the head aches I'll get for 3D.

The technology looks great. Still need an affordable 3D scanner to pair with it.

Starweaver wrote:
Yup it sure sounds interesting.

This video has some better examples of what the printer can actually produce colour wise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnn-ACoMw4w

As stated in the first video, it uses a paper printing technique. These are often more fragile then the resin ones but it will be very interesting to see just how durable the material will turn out to be.

Hey it's Arthur's Seat!

but that's actually pretty impressive, price isn't too bad though although it may knock an Idea I had out the window due to cost.

It's actually not what I expected though, what's with all the material around the sculpt?

 adamsouza wrote:
My Local STAPLES won't print RPG PDF's that I've legally purchased, because I can't get a written release. I can just imagine the head aches I'll get for 3D.

The technology looks great. Still need an affordable 3D scanner to pair with it.

Then your local Staples is run by morons. Go to Fedx or one of the other many store the do it.

I waiting until one of the printing companys, my friend works at get a 3D printer. Then I can get it done at cost.

We have had 3D printing on demand at The Color Company in central London since this summer. However, I have not worked out how to take advantage of the service.

 FM Ninja 048 wrote:

It's actually not what I expected though, what's with all the material around the sculpt?

That material is a removable support base.
You print one layer at a time and you can't print on thin air. So if you want to print something that gets wider with each layer, or is on an angle, you need to print onto something and that something is that white stuff that gets removed later.

I saw something similar with a multi-wrench being made. It was made complete with moving parts which was amazing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
3D printing would be excellent for making custom bases and accessories like ammo pouches, crates, fuel drums (in two halves).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You could custom make your own treadplate with imperial or whatever designs too.

 FM Ninja 048 wrote:

It's actually not what I expected though, what's with all the material around the sculpt?

Its the remainder of the paper sheets that were used to print on. This video shows the mechanics of the process:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2h1k0cpgzQ

T

 adamsouza wrote:
My Local STAPLES won't print RPG PDF's that I've legally purchased, because I can't get a written release. I can just imagine the head aches I'll get for 3D.

What about PDFs that have your name printed by the company on each page? Most legally purchased files have had that for me.

 judgedoug wrote:
If it's a photograph that you want reproduced (like Direct Copy), and there's a copyright indicator anywhere on it, you need a copyright release; if not, you're fine to reproduce. I'm guessing 3D files will start having copyrights embedded in the file headers or somewhere on the design.

That also depends on who is working at each store. I do some photography for friends and they have taken a CD with the pictures on them to Wal-Mart and they refused to print them without a release. They had no copyright indication whatsoever, but because they looked nice they thought they were done by a studio and refused to print them. I added a PDF on each CD with a Creative Commons license, but that was to complicated for the print-monkeys at Wal-Mart, so now I just throw a generic copyright release when I put a CD of photos together for someone.

But the moral of the story is that some overeager person can prevent you from printing stuff you created yourself if it looks like someone professional did it.

printing china is a good place to know about china and also where you can turn to when encountering some technical printing issues.

SPAMMER may have necroed this thread, but on topic STAPLES now sells the CUBE 3D Printer
http://www.staples.com/Cube-3D-Printers/cat_CL205651 $1,299.00 100 micron printing capable is what I'm told.

<Punches crow. Stuffs in mouth>
Nom. Nom. Nom.

Well I didn't expect anything of that accuracy and in color for years. I expected we would be seeing single color resin printers first. Checked the specs on the printer and it has an accuracy and layer thicknesses close 3D Systems top printers.

Mcor IRIS:
Accuracy:
x, y & z axis: 12µ, 12µ, 100µ (0.0004in, 0.0004in, 0.004in)
Layer:
0.1mm (0.004in)
0.19mm (0.007in ply colour only)

3D Systems ProJet MP 7000:
Accuracy:
0.025-0.05 mm (0.001-0.002 in)
Layer:
0.075 mm, 0.050 mm layers

The Mcro will have a more jagged edge due to the thicker layers, but it is in color. If the comment about 8.75 for a chess size piece are true, you will see services start selling painted army files for this.

Big question is how resilient this stuff is and how well it holds color over time. I got a Figureprint sample from Blizzcon years ago (at least 5) and found it last year. Had faded considerably.

And Form1 for comparison:
Accuracy:
300 microns
(.012 inches)

Layer:
25 microns
(.001 inches)

What will really make this worthwhile is an affordable 3D scanner.

There is a current thread in Dakka Discussions talking about this same topic here (one that has not been threadnomancied ):

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/527310.page