Posted by Calcium on 2012-01-28 11:25:44

Intresting about the 3D printing technology, but can't see this affecting GW in any real way....

That reminds me, I still have a £20 voucher to use at GW I got for Xmas :)

Posted by Grod on 2012-01-28 11:30:03

The conclusion of the article that a 3d printer costs ~ 1000 pounds and is therefore more expensive than a dreadnought of 30 pounds seems to miss the point of the 3d printer...

Give it 2-3 years and these things will be in the 300 pound price range. At that point, if you own one you can make as many GW models as you like fairly cheaply (I don't know which material though), so long as you can get your hands on the design. It will certainly be big for warhammer games to make their scenery. 3D printing has taken off in a big way in Universities already, especially architecture and design departments. It is a kind of Star Trek future (the next Generation kind) that is almost upon us...

Posted by Garion on 2012-01-28 11:30:06

yeah I dont think this will hurt them really.

Posted by JimmyFantastic on 2012-01-28 11:53:15

LMAO - Games Workshop's Space Marine Dreadnaught model sells for £28. Makerbot 3D printers start at more than $1,000 (£637).

I love that this is how they conclude that it won't take off!

Posted by garyt1 on 2012-01-28 12:32:31

These 3d printers are being mentioned quite a bit recently as they are now something companies, and soon individuals, can afford. Not convinced that they could create GW standard models with all the details. The resin model will be hollow and one part I suppose unless you could get individual part designs. Never know though.

Posted by bobafettsmum on 2012-01-28 14:32:35

Maybe it will scare GW into being more realistic with their pricing!

Posted by pythrr on 2012-01-28 14:38:59

excellent

3d printing rocks

Posted by pythrr on 2012-01-28 14:40:22

grod is right

its like dvd players. when they came out they were 1000 quid

now u pick one up for 50.

same thing will happen with 3d printers. altho the costs of the printing material will always be a consideration

Posted by pythrr on 2012-01-28 14:41:41

garyt

3d printers are amazingly accurate. you can print precision tool parts which are accurate to within microns.

Posted by Jeffro on 2012-01-28 15:36:31

Grod is spot on. Even further, some ambitious person who could come up with their own designs could start to challenge Grandma Wendy with just a $10,000 investment. They are right to be concerned... but they'll adapt. Unfortunately it won't be the end of them... ;)

Posted by LrdLother6 on 2012-01-28 16:52:13

We've had a 3D printer at our work for over 5 years now. We use it for prototype designs. They are actually pretty neat.

Posted by Gromrilram on 2012-01-28 18:34:40

working with 3D printers myself i can say 4 things:

- the accuracy is by far higher than what you sometimes get from GW modells... and will further improove

- the prize right now, as pythrr said, will eventually drop, however it needs to have proper demand for it, and there comes the problem in:

- the need to burn a CD or DVD is always given for everyone, as it means data. and everyone has. the uses for 3D printers are a bit more limited.

- and: the material is horribly expensive. speaking of one that i have in reach of myself, that is high end admittedly, i doubt that you would get the material at much lower cost than the actual modells. (this however will in my eyes change more dramatically than the printers itself - i know people that built one at university that uses a nutella mixture as material - what is incredibly awesome)

Posted by dode74 on 2012-01-28 21:35:58

Edible players!

Posted by Grod on 2012-01-28 23:18:01

Edible players ... that does open some possible interesting house rules!

Posted by pythrr on 2012-01-28 23:25:29

edible chess players would be cool.

I take yr rook - om nom nom munch munch....

Posted by Gromrilram on 2012-01-29 04:28:04

edible modells... TROLL EATS GOBBO!

Posted by nazgob on 2012-01-29 12:23:06

Tell you what: you guys all give me £30 and we can all have as many dreadnoughts as we want. Sound good?

(obviously rhetorical, but this is how it becomes reasonable)

Posted by Fela on 2012-01-31 12:16:44

The prize of a printer is pretty much irrelevant at this point, seeing as there are already sites out there, where you can either

- have items printed and mailed to you from a design you supply them with
- have items printed and mailed to you from a selection of designs they provide

Some of those sites are quite affordable already.

Posted by Gotte on 2012-01-31 19:08:48

I'm actually considering buying a 3d printer. Never heard of them earlier. But considering how much you can do with it. And the future potential for it. I can already see a community creating new models that can be used instead of the classical ones in games like warmachine and warhammer. (And if you dont like being legal you can always make your own copies). Seeing as it seems like soon normal cameras, both picture and movie, can be used for making 3d models. Just check out this http://www.hypr3d.com/! I forsee that in the short future (1-3 years) we will see a proper 3d scaning app for smartphones.