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I would personally go for "prepainted" minis that look good. I do NOT enjoy painting, but I expect that in terms of the hobby I'm unusual in that regard.

I think it would be tough, at least initially, to have minis "painted" that emulate the shading effects of even washing and drybrushing. The point of "good" painting is to emphasize the shape and detail of the mini to a degree that standard shadows don't create on it. So until the pre-made/painted are at least the quality of a basecoat and wash, I won't be buying them.

That said... if they ever get to basecoat / wash / highlight level quality, I doubt I'd ever paint a grunt again. I'd certainly entertain the idea of collecting Orks, that I *especially* hate painting. I would pay a premium above grey plastic, to have that ready, out of the box.

I don't think that painting will go away, as an activity. I would happily do away with it myself, at least for chump-models like Guardsman 132 with lasgun... but that's only me. I expect it would simply open up the hobby (gaming) side to more people. So far as I know, X-Wing minis come pre-painted but lots of people re-paint them to look nicer, or more to their liking.

I personally take A LOT of pride in the armies I have painted and believe I would continue to paint them as my small masterpieces, regardless of where technology goes.

An army on the table I bought painted...meh...

An army I slaved over to paint up to a great tabletop standard... I am bringing this one out every time...

Full colour 3D printing will cause a huge revolution in the near future but it will not make painting miniatures obsolete as a hobby. The reason is quite simple. Everyone enjoys different parts of the hobby more than the others. Full colour printing will be huge for those who enjoy gaming but dislike painting. It will be largely irrelevant to those who enjoy painting more than gaming.

I would assume that people want to get rid of parts of the hobby they dislike and keep parts of the hobby they enjoy.

That's my take on it. Personally I have no intention of moving away from painting myself, despite being painfully slow and only really achieving adequate results. The models I have painted are My Guys. My friend and regular opponent keeps sending me ebay links for painted stuff to bulk out my army, and suggests paying someone to paint and so on - but then they wouldn't be My Guys.

 skchsan wrote:

PieInTheSky wrote:

 skchsan wrote:
Painting miniature is a culture. I doubt you can uproot a culture simply with a new, improved technology.

FYI, color powder printers (z-corp comes to mind) have been around for nearly a decade. It still hasn't replaced grey plastic kits.

Why would that be true? There's an example in the post directly above yours. And countless more ... do you think no pass time has even been made obsolete by technology?

Show me a 3D-printer that can print a professional standard painted miniature at a cheap price and I'll show you the remnants of an ex-painting "culture" from yesteryear.

Figureprints print out high detail prints in color for decent price (busts: $70 USD; full statue: $130). Now, I demand my remnants of ex-painting culture from yesteryear.

I have to say though, your stance is quite misleading judging from the difference in tone of from your OP & your last post. It's almost as if you're rooting for color 3D prints to takeover.

Not at all, I'm consigned to it and dissapointed. If it's anything that you're detecting it's that I don't want to kid myself about it.

Those models btw are really quite average to be fair. They look about the same quality as HeroForge, which is basically a base coat with a weird "sparkly" texture. You'd have to be out of your mind to pay $130 for one of them, a professional miniature painter would be a far better option if you had that kind of money to pay for one figure.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 MDSW wrote:
I personally take A LOT of pride in the armies I have painted and believe I would continue to paint them as my small masterpieces, regardless of where technology goes.

An army on the table I bought painted...meh...

An army I slaved over to paint up to a great tabletop standard... I am bringing this one out every time...

Good attitude. They'll never be able to take that away from us!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jullevi wrote:
Full colour printing will be huge for those who enjoy gaming but dislike painting. It will be largely irrelevant to those who enjoy painting more than gaming.

People have expressed this opinion in the thread, but I can not fully agree. Unfortunately I believe it will be very relevant if 3D-printers are able to spit out miniatures of as good/better quality than what one is able to produce over hundreds of hours of paint-staking painting. I think even for painting enthusiasts it will be hard to justify continuing (I say this as a painting enthusiast who has never even played 40K, fwiw).


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Crispy78 wrote:
That's my take on it. Personally I have no intention of moving away from painting myself, despite being painfully slow and only really achieving adequate results. The models I have painted are My Guys. My friend and regular opponent keeps sending me ebay links for painted stuff to bulk out my army, and suggests paying someone to paint and so on - but then they wouldn't be My Guys.

I imagine that in the not-too-distant future people will be painting their armies or models using software online. They will still be "your guys". Just all the difficult technical painting work will be removed from the process. I really hope not, but seeing that bust someone posted on the previous page, I think it's unfortunately only a matter of time.

I had read somewhere that the Hero Forge colored mini pics you see on the website after methodically selecting your features and all of the colors looks spectacular on the website. However, the actual printed mini (even when selecting their above average version) is really a frank disappointment.

Does anyone have experience with this and can show the model as it appeared on the website and how their mini actually turned out?

PieInTheSky wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Crispy78 wrote:
That's my take on it. Personally I have no intention of moving away from painting myself, despite being painfully slow and only really achieving adequate results. The models I have painted are My Guys. My friend and regular opponent keeps sending me ebay links for painted stuff to bulk out my army, and suggests paying someone to paint and so on - but then they wouldn't be My Guys.

I imagine that in the not-too-distant future people will be painting their armies or models using software online. They will still be "your guys". Just all the difficult technical painting work will be removed from the process. I really hope not, but seeing that bust someone posted on the previous page, I think it's unfortunately only a matter of time.

They won't be though. Really that's no different to me buying a pre-painted army from ebay, or paying a commission painter to do them how I want them. If I didn't do it, they're not my guys.

 MDSW wrote:
I had read somewhere that the Hero Forge colored mini pics you see on the website after methodically selecting your features and all of the colors looks spectacular on the website. However, the actual printed mini (even when selecting their above average version) is really a frank disappointment.

Does anyone have experience with this and can show the model as it appeared on the website and how their mini actually turned out?

You can just look up reviews on YouTube or see photos of purchased ones.

They look okay-ish. Like poor-average tabletop standard. The colours are not very vibrant and the contrast is really bad. They're also expensive. Realistically their only market is role-players who want a unique character model and can't even be bothered painting a base coat.

But I'm sure that will change as the tech improves and the price drops.

Crispy78 wrote:

PieInTheSky wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Crispy78 wrote:
That's my take on it. Personally I have no intention of moving away from painting myself, despite being painfully slow and only really achieving adequate results. The models I have painted are My Guys. My friend and regular opponent keeps sending me ebay links for painted stuff to bulk out my army, and suggests paying someone to paint and so on - but then they wouldn't be My Guys.

I imagine that in the not-too-distant future people will be painting their armies or models using software online. They will still be "your guys". Just all the difficult technical painting work will be removed from the process. I really hope not, but seeing that bust someone posted on the previous page, I think it's unfortunately only a matter of time.

They won't be though. Really that's no different to me buying a pre-painted army from ebay, or paying a commission painter to do them how I want them. If I didn't do it, they're not my guys.

But I mean you will be the one "painting" them with computer software in whatever colours and patterns and design you want. So they will still be your guys in that sense. I didn't mean you'd just be buying paint-schemes (although I predict that will also be an option).

I can also follow the "My Guys" sentiment. I have ruminated on getting someone else to paint them. I'm not picky... basic tabletop is all I'd be after, but I keep coming back to,

"But someone else painted them."

and despite my dislike of painting, my ego (?) dislikes the idea of using someone else's paint job. Between that and the cost, I can't internally justify getting someone else to paint my minis when I don't think I'll have the same attachment to them.

Oh well, a vicious circle, I guess.

PieInTheSky wrote:
Those models btw are really quite average to be fair. They look about the same quality as HeroForge, which is basically a base coat with a weird "sparkly" texture. You'd have to be out of your mind to pay $130 for one of them, a professional miniature painter would be a far better option if you had that kind of money to pay for one figure.

IK Crusader (comparable size to full statue print) costs $159 and it doesn't come painted? By extension of that logic, all GW game players are out of their mind paying $35 for a SINGLE 1.5 inch tall figure and IK players are just absolutely bonkers.

 greatbigtree wrote:
I can also follow the "My Guys" sentiment. I have ruminated on getting someone else to paint them. I'm not picky... basic tabletop is all I'd be after, but I keep coming back to,

"But someone else painted them."

and despite my dislike of painting, my ego (?) dislikes the idea of using someone else's paint job. Between that and the cost, I can't internally justify getting someone else to paint my minis when I don't think I'll have the same attachment to them.

Oh well, a vicious circle, I guess.

I get it mate. I quite like painting but for those who don't and want a decent looking army, you can spray-paint on a couple of colours, a lighter one from above and a darker from below (they don't even have to be the same colour, just colours that go well together), then just brush-paint the skin with a totally different value colour from the other two (for contrast) and dip the model in Army Painter Dark Tone "Quick Shade". If you don't know what that is, the results are quite remarkable (a spray paint coat of matt varnish is essential afterwards). Base by covering in wood glue, dipping in sand the covering the sand in a wash of brown and a drybrush of light brown. Then paint the rim of the base gloss black. Done, each model will take 10 minutes max and look presentable at a minimum.

Sorry if you know all that, I don't want to tell anyone how to suck eggs. But maybe you don't know and that's what I'd do to get a decent looking army quickly if I hated painting.

YouTube on Army Painter Quickshade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxm7Y0IJ10U

(and don't let anyone tell you that stuff is like a normal citadel paint wash, or even a white-spirit and oil paint wash - it's not. It's the single most effective method to make a model look decent in the shortest time possible and a thousand times better than any other type of wash. You just have to make sure to spray paint them with a dull matt varnish afterwards!).

Edit: I just looked at your gallery images, so I know you know how to paint and probably know all that already, but I'll leave it there just in case it's useful for someone else.


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