Assuming this is the right board to ask this question:
When will it be possible to torrent figurine blueprints off the internet and print them with a 3d printer? I've always been interested in figs (especially movie related) but I'm unwilling to pay the ridiculous prices.
I'm not an expert on the matter but to me it seems the technology to do it has existed for some time now (hell, they're printing fucking guns) so I'm honestly surprised this isn't allready a thing.
What about you /toy/ - would you download a figurine?
>>5355704
>Looks good
>Not expensive
Pick one
>>5355704
>torrent figurine blueprints off the internet
you can download CAD files of many random things
>but I'm unwilling to pay the ridiculous prices.
The cost of 3D printing IS ridiculous moreso if you're after good quality.
It's probably cheaper to just buy the figure instead of fucking 3d printing it
>>5355717
>>5355715
wat. There's no way the plastic pellets as raw material cost a lot. You need some electricity to run the printer but it's not considerable.
Sure, you have to make a one time investment for the printer but from what I've read so far you can get a good model for <1000$ - that's the price of 5 quality figurines or less. And most of the collections I've seen on /a/ and /co/ are fuck huge.
Printing figs seems like the most logical thing in the world is all I'm saying.
>>5355713
Look at this thing.
It probably cost like 5$ to make.
>>5355760
No, the tech ain't there yet, and you're paying 1k to be able to print fragile toys with no joints.
joint quality ain't great yet. you're looking to wait a few more years. By the way, 1k affords only 5 quality 1/6th figures if you shop around. You can get way more figma and shf with that and sell most of them later for more.
>>5355762
Maybe the printing took five bucks, but there's still sanding the plastic to smooth it down, as well as the intricate painting that your pic shows.
>>5355779
There are multicolor printers with that kind of resolution.
However they are FAR from cheap and to actually save money with this method you will probably have to print millions of figurines. And at that point you might as well have bought them.
>>5355760
This is what $1000 printer gets you.
And it's not just any plastic pellets, you have to buy a certain type of filament.
>>5355704
>When will it be possible to torrent figurine blueprints off the internet and print them with a 3d printer
As a 3D modeler: soon (with a but), or never. It really depends on certain factors. If there's a big movement to democratize our designs that we work hard on without compensation, I wouldn't aid that by giving out welfare handouts to poorfags. That would be the 'never' end.
But if the technology for 3D scanners improves drastically without any sort of device regulation, and 3D printers continue along their inevitable course of results improvements and price reduction, basically anything and everything is up for grabs on a superficial level. That would be the "soon" part, relative as it may be in regards to what "soon" actually means to you. And the "but" would be that the "pirate" would still need the moderately advanced modeling skills to take the raw info of what they've scanned, fix any errors (and there's bound to be some, as perfect technology does not exist), and actually work to fix the joints and internal mechanisms not captured by the surface-level scan which would take quite some time. Unless they just want non-articulated statues or some shit like that.
So realistically if you're a talentless scrub with no drive to learn difficult things like 3D modeling, it's going to be "never" unless you get welfare model handouts from people like me, which will not happen because it takes hours to do these things and few if any people will pour in that time and effort for no returns.
>>5355760
You're thinking of the plastic used for injection molding. That plastic is dirt cheap.
The plastic material for 3D printing has to be specially formulated one. It needs to have a nice consistency at an elevated temperature, not too gooey, not too runny. This makes it almost a hundred times more expensive per unit weight.
Maybe to put it into better perspective, the expensively affordable 3D Printing setups that's available to consumers these days, like >>5355862 were already available back in the 90s when the process was known as "rapid prototyping".
>>5355873
This.
>Not supporting the things you like
>Demanding free handouts from others
>Thinking 3D printers are Star Trek replicators
>Not realizing you'd still need to sand, paint, and assemble everything taking hours and requiring skill and talent you don't have
Imagine 5-10 years from now
>heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey /toy/
>I want to get the SDCC-NYCC-TCC-KFC joint-exclusive gold-plated Kylo Ren but I don't want to pay more than a mcdonalds meal($20) for it!
>I heard you guys got dose fancy 3D Printers
>Can you guys do a bro a favor and 3D print a 3D Printer for me so I can 3D Print the kylo ren doll???///
>Plz thx bye.
>>5355762
Hahahah oh man how naive some of you guys on this board are.
>>5355873
How do you model joints in? I get 3-d modeling is a bitch but how could you model something in a way in which the printer would spit it out with joints?
I feel like it'd be easier to hack apart a t pose and add in a core with joint cuts so you could fit in SHF joints or otherwise.
>>5357571
You can't unless you somehow got it to print half the joint, sprayed it with something non-stick, and printed the other half directly on top. At that point it's just easier to print the halves separately and snap them together.
>>5357530
>being on /toy/
>not knowing a decent figurine costs literally 100s of $, even more if it's not made by the Japanese
>>5357533
>plastic = 3-4$
>3d printer electricity = <1$
>paint = can be done at home, ~2$
We were talking about manufacturing cost only, this doesn't include the cost of the 3d printer itself,w hat's so hard to understand about this?
>>5357623
>electricity $1
>paint $2
Okay you've made it plenty obvious. Just stop now
Good figures are made of solid parts of malable plastic formed from a molten mass. A 3D printer will not cover that, not in a hundred years.
>>5355779
You got the right idea.
98% of "Hey I Printed A X!" things I see, the fuckwit hasn't done any finish work so the printed result looks like crap.
Then there is the 2% that do finish work, filling, painting, and it looks fucking fantastic.
>>5357571
One thing that was happening back in the Polynian threads was we had a guy making custom high heels for the models. He had to go through a few programs, but he used the measurements for the commonly purchasable Hobbybase globe joints (which Polynians use) to make CAD models for high heels which he then prototyped, and is now selling on Shapeways for $10 a pair.
Making joints via 3D printing usually isn't as viable as simply making parts. Pre-built hobby supplies like the globe joints could help for those who wish to make figures of their own, and it was something that was discussed in the threads too.
We also had a guy a while back posting robots he sold on Etsy made via 3D printing. They had screws to hold them together which doubled as joints, and the robots had pretty good articulation to boot.
http://www.shapeways.com/product/G6CG4AGE7/polynian-compatible-non-scale-figure-high-heels?li=search-results-1&optionId=58236169
>>5357636
I don't know who's baiting who anymore...
>>5357731
Noice
>>5357731
>sanding etc
So its not exactly a printed out figure is it. It's a model kiit. OP didn't ask for that.
>>5355704
the initial investment for the setup along with the time needed to make those print out looking good is too much to make it worthwhile. Pretty much all your figures is going to be models now.
The paint alone is not cheap since you have to buy all those different color, then there's the air brush equipment, and brushes, clear coat,cleaning solution. that's just painting.
The next gen 3d printer that prints inside a solution base is the one to look forward to.
I have had a 3d printer, solidoodle 2, for almost 2 years now. Even at 1mm height you're going to notice the layers without a lot of sanding (which is going to require thicker walls on prints which increases print times). Painting from scratch is not easy and like >>5359718 paint and the items required for it are not cheap
>>5360790
these were with cheap acrylic paint from micheals.
Found out how to get models out of gmod, had some fun with it. Dont mind the bland paint its an old picture. What op said might be viable in a few years though.
fucking morans...
3d printing is shit and will always be shit for anything other than light rapid prototyping.
(laser sintering is different, shut up)
If you want to produce figurines for cheap: learn to machine, build a small EDM machine, and make an injection molder and molds.
Or wait 1-5 years for good enthusiast 3d printing to go under 1000$ in kit form and make molds with a 3d printer, it will produce a better result.
