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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heroforge/full-color-custom-miniatures-with-hero-forge-20?fbclid=IwAR1EjZ6thDasL4hevRZcABdsmmscMMs3qEiol8Hugv2rOz8yIQ3DlCN9Bsg

Full-Color Custom Miniatures with Hero Forge 2.0

Hero Forge
Project Creator
Create Unique Tabletop Miniatures in Vivid Color with New Design Tools and Cutting-Edge 3D-Printing Technology.

Launching soon.

I'm curious what printing tech they'll use. My first instinct is to assume that example render will be about as indicative of final quality as the ones you get with Heroclix previews (which is to say not very). Regardless, they've piqued my pessimistic interest.

The next step in 3D printed miniatures is full color 3D printed miniatures, utilizing the paint shotgun:

This looks to be the same method they use to 3d print custom action figures. Been around quite a while. For example you can get a 3d print of your WoW character that's in color. It's generally done with an SLS, power, based printer that as a dye added as it's doing the layer.

I suspect the reason they're adding this as an option is Formlabs just came out with a cheap SLS printer for around 10k (usually they're in the $50k from what I understand).

I wasn't aware that formlabs did but I hope it's not that tech. I don't know if gameprint uses that for their Star Trek Online model prints but, if that is the same, then, the "detail" is pretty bad both in terms of color saturation and surface texture and those would be significantly larger models.

The detail from the Forum Fuse don't look too bad but near the end of the video at the bottom they show a car that's close to 20mm and I think the final will look as ruff as their metal prints which means crap detail. That's assuming they are getting the form. This video is 2 years old when they made the first announcement. Think it's coming out this year.

https://youtu.be/IrFYt3uUdrI?t=759

Kick Starter starts Jan 14

Well, I'm at least glad there're advances in 3D color printing. I certainly know that, on BGG, few boardgamers had interest or time to paint. I presume the same goes for RPG'ers, which would be a better match for the individualized, single-casting, nature of 3D printing?

well, if the new KS allows me to get a license to access the page to get STL files from everything I do ala desktophero I'm all there.

Otherwise... polyjet printing is nice and all, but given the price and results I'd rather paint myself.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 warboss wrote:
I'm curious what printing tech they'll use. My first instinct is to assume that example render will be about as indicative of final quality as the ones you get with Heroclix previews (which is to say not very). Regardless, they've piqued my pessimistic interest.

Not even close, the render is a render. Seeing as they've always worked with Shapeways and that Shapeways nowadays already offer it, they most likely will be using polyjet SLS printing, which is a very cool technology, but for regular sized minis... they'll probably look washed off and there will be a softness on the color edges that will be a very clear tell tale.

The picture in the OP is from the editor:



But there are some images of the printed minis floating around:

Those look pretty darn good.

Not that there aren't any Dakkanauts who are interested, but I think the prints are a match for the RPG market, whose players tend to want unique miniatures that aren't available on the market, only need one miniature for their character, and don't paint as much as Dakkans.

With Hero Forge, one of my players can create his white-haired braided-ponytail light-chainmail dual-katana etc. etc. player character that he made in a MMORPG game and I don't have to paint as if I could find a miniature like that in the first place.

I agree that there is a solid niche for these. While the close up pics look a little rough, they pass the arm’s length rule, which is what’s needed.

Sure, we can paint better. But not everyone paints. And full color minis are a massive step up from bare plastic.

The one HeroFoge minin I painted (for a non-painting friend) I was not very impressed with the quality, and it made it hard to paint. This was a few years ago, so they are probably better these days.

Great concept for the RPG market, where you often need very unique combinations.

Wish them luck.

And the option to digitially color them online is an interesting on if you just want a 2d image.

That example quality (assuming that it holds up for the mass market and isn't a cherry picked best case scenario like used to happen with the D&D minis from WOTC) isn't too bad. Depending on the cost, I think that's acceptable for the average gamer that doesn't want to fuss about with painting. The detail on the sculpt looks about equivalent to 80+ micron layer height (and XY resolution) and older 2010ish board game quality which, again, is acceptable to a segment of the gaming population. I don't think dedicated minis gamers will go gaga for this but we're probably not the target audience.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Albertorius wrote:

Not even close, the render is a render. Seeing as they've always worked with Shapeways and that Shapeways nowadays already offer it, they most likely will be using polyjet SLS printing, which is a very cool technology, but for regular sized minis... they'll probably look washed off and there will be a softness on the color edges that will be a very clear tell tale.

Interesting... I didn't know they used shapeways. I just figured they had a farm of Form Labs printers and printed them as needed in house but that was just a guess on my part.

 ced1106 wrote:
Not that there aren't any Dakkanauts who are interested, but I think the prints are a match for the RPG market, whose players tend to want unique miniatures that aren't available on the market, only need one miniature for their character, and don't paint as much as Dakkans.

With Hero Forge, one of my players can create his white-haired braided-ponytail light-chainmail dual-katana etc. etc. player character that he made in a MMORPG game and I don't have to paint as if I could find a miniature like that in the first place.

Exactly. Hard-core mini gamers are not the target audience, but RPGers and others who do not paint, but want one or a few unique models. It's easy to forget that for those who don't paint, even the crappy paint jobs found on the original Mage Knight (from 2002) figures were acceptable. Just having a little color to bring out details is often enough to please a non-painter gamer. (Sure, they want high quality if they can get it, but since they can't do it themselves, and they want affordable, they set their sights lower.)

 warboss wrote:

Interesting... I didn't know they used shapeways. I just figured they had a farm of Form Labs printers and printed them as needed in house but that was just a guess on my part.

Yes they are just a front end for shapeways

this is either polyjet or chinese slave labor

I'm all over this. I make figures for all my D&D characters even for online games, and I can't paint for crap. Even just a digitally colored version to use as a picture and token on Roll20, or get the STL file to downpoly to use on TTS. I bought my own 3d resin printer, but my results have been disappointing so far.

Those look much better then expected and you can tell their SLS. I think they'll do quite well if they can keep the price around $30.

Frankly, the actual minis look a little soft to me... The initial render looks fantastic, but that is to be expected. I have a resin printer that can get better detail than what they show. So although the color is great, the detail being so mushy I just would have thought the technology would have been able to do this a little better. As the technology ages, I know it will get better (and cheaper) as all tech does.

They look like high quality Kinder Surprise figures.

Its probably pretty pricey... but I'm not surprised if technology is about ready. 2yrs ago in color 3d printing had a quality approaching 1980's G.I.Joes, in terms of detail, color blead over, and general blobby rounding off of edges. Those were either printed with colored resin sand melted together or printed with very fine extrusion... and could either end up grainy or if processed for smoothness you'd get the blobbing. The technological advancement to improve that process is a case of producing finer and finer powders and the experience to fine tune the lasers and anticipate how colors will interact.

It probably also doesn't hurt that the acceptable size of "miniatures" have grown which only makes an acceptable level of detail more attainable.

A price of $30 would be about what you could expect with current SLA... but this is much more likely a high quality SLS printing which can end up more expensive just because they tend to use more proprietary materials that aren't as easily filtered into reusable state.

It would be great if there was a way to combine this with Shapeways' new super fine detail prints, they cost around $10 each and the detail really good. Way better than the older fuzzy prints they used to do. I'd say it's pretty close to what you'd get from a good SLA printer, guessing that's what they are using. The ones I got were a clear resin.

 Necros wrote:
It would be great if there was a way to combine this with Shapeways' new super fine detail prints, they cost around $10 each and the detail really good. Way better than the older fuzzy prints they used to do. I'd say it's pretty close to what you'd get from a good SLA printer, guessing that's what they are using. The ones I got were a clear resin.

As someone who owns an (admittedly good but still) entry level resin printer, they're noticeably chunkier and less detailed most evident on the thickness of weapons and rounded edges that should ideally be sharper. They look like the detail you'd get with a home resin printer ($250-300) printing at 80-100 microns IMO when those same printers are capable of 20. I'd put the detail shown on par with their original white strong and flexible (WSF) level instead but with a smoother finish. The draw for these looks to be the low fuss color aspect and not the sheer detail.

aka_mythos 784198106825044969ec9512a0a38e20ea4bf353b5a78e.png wrote:

A price of $30 would be about what you could expect with current SLA... but this is much more likely a high quality SLS printing which can end up more expensive just because they tend to use more proprietary materials that aren't as easily filtered into reusable state.

One of the selling points for the form sls is you can reuse material. So it would be cheaper.

i'd imagine they look so 'soft' as they've been in once of those acetone baths or similar to smooth off the surface as much as possible,

which of course also removes the sharper edges that should be there too

Yep. Two years from now (when my Myth KS might be delivered...) 3d printers should even be better!

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
i'd imagine they look so 'soft' as they've been in once of those acetone baths or similar to smooth off the surface as much as possible,

which of course also removes the sharper edges that should be there too

Acetone baths only work on ABS, so that's a hard no. Plus, you don't need it for resin of any quality, and you could also risk smudging the polyjet. Case in point, I did these last weekend:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
i'd imagine they look so 'soft' as they've been in once of those acetone baths or similar to smooth off the surface as much as possible,

which of course also removes the sharper edges that should be there too

SLS is nylon powder and is rock hard. I don't think there's a way to vapor smooth it and if there is it might be a nasty substance like Chlorine -- which PLA would need (it's why no one vapor smooths that as it would kill you).

Because of how it looks like it's made of sand you do loose detail, but as people have stated for someone that wants a colored mini of their RPG characters but doesn't want to paint it or pay for it to be painted these will do great if the price is right. I'm in some hero forge groups and by far one of the most popular prints I see people share is the metallic SLS print that look just as bad--if not worse then these. People love them but there's no detail.

@AlbertoriusMade those prints look great. I've been hesitant in getting back into my resin printer as last time I used it I had some flex resin mixed in and that got on my skin by accident and had some bad burns for 2 weeks. Don't reuse rubber gloves. Some got in the inside when I took the pair off and that little amount really spread far.

Depending on the price, I will probably give these new options a try. I'm always looking for shortcuts to painting, and the coloring may work as a basecoat of sorts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heroforge/full-color-custom-miniatures-with-hero-forge-20

Kickstarter is up and it funded in like 20 minutes. Most stretch goals are already unlocked. It's $39 for a 3d printed mini if you do it through the Kickstarter.