Will 3D printing inevitably cause Gunpla piracy and general

It's not good enough for whamhammer minis yet, so passable gunpla is probably a ways off.

>>15457721
Only for dedicated modeler who know how to extensively clean parts from imperfection, fill the gaps and misalignment, etc because raw product from affordable 3D printer will not have the same quality as gunpla out of the box.
Simply because they are actually processed and cleaned before packaged, they don't just go straight to the box out of the mold.
Also for the movable fingers and RG inner frames. I heard they used something like ultrasonic welding to make them. That's something home user can't do.

They're good for custom or replacement parts though, I'd love to have one.

>>15457721
oh shit finally gunpla torrents

>>15458311
Don't worry, someone will shoot down the idea.

>>15457721
"Maybe"

Someday in the future when hi res printers become viable for home use at practical prices, maybe.

For now, have you actually looked at the things home printers today produce? They're not good. They're very low detail and the visible layers are so bad they're actually totally incapable of printing a solid, smooth surface.

If anything, they're going to make scratch building custom parts a little easier.

How would you get the files?

>>15459339
3D scanner lol
Yeah the biggest problem here is that currently anyone that can afford a 3D printer doesn't need to pirate anything, they can just buy it because they can afford a fucking 3D printer

>>15457751
>It's not good enough for whamhammer minis yet

It's getting pretty damn close, enough that GW had the blueprints taken down.

>>15459394
GW sues people for using the words "space marine," they were just being proactive. It's not a threat yet. Grognards will laugh at you if you bring printed minis to the fites.

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>>15458311

>>15459344
There are build-it-yourself 3D printers that sell for like, 200.

But yeah, right now it's at most an alternative way of making custom parts.

>>15457721
It would be years before we get prints with plastic just as good as Bandai's. Not even chinks can do it yet.

>>15457721
The $10,000 industrial 3D printers are actually already there, but it's kinda cost inefficient though since the operation cost and the material cost make it almost as expensive as just buying the Gunpla itself and that's before you factor in the ridiculous cost of the machine itself.

China pirates have been at it forever, and their output is still garbage at near-official prices. For all of Bandai's faults they go HARD on R&D to keep both tech and production cost advantages and continue pushing the market towards detail levels that are hard for pirates to even make decent molds for, never mind then cast accurately. (The entire RG line, as well as 2.0s and 3.0s of popular kits, are basically for this.)

The downside of this approach is that, slowly but surely, it's going to Bayformersize Gundam.

What 3D printing IS good for is resin kit prototyping, though. Since the sculptor would be smoothing out the pattern and/or the mold anyway, rough-edged and fragile output is good enough and moves CAD-to-resin costs from "full CNC cell" to "30k yen printer".

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:483766
This works.

>>15457721
>general corporate butthurt

The ramifications go beyond copyright and into social paragon shifts. Practical 3d printing goes right into the realm of star trek replication, and removing our need to labor by crafting.

Imaging if labor costs changed into costs for 3d printer maintenance and cleanup? Hell, this is part of social issue of robots taking everyone jobs.

OP you mind is too narrow if you ask just about copyright issues. Worrying about "3d piracy" is a micro battle compared to being able to make anything for low energy and time.

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>>15460305
>being able to make anything for low energy and time
>anything
as long as "anything" is made from thermoplastic or powdered metal lol

until 3d printers can convert energy directly into matter and make any atoms of the periodic table and then arrange them into specific crystalline structures and do so cheaper than traditional manufacturing methods the "labor by crafting" is safe

I'd say we got about 500 years or so before it becomes a social issue

>>15459427
Yeah and you can buy several gunpla kits for that price, or more if you aren't going for Master Grade stuff

>>15460305
God I hate retards like you
>yeah man it's just like a replicator from Trek
Fuck no it's not faggot. I haven't seen such idiotic Overhype since the original IPhone was first announced.
Yeah it's just gonna magically solve all out social problems, being able to make little knick-knacks out of only plastic and metal, thatll feed Africa for sure

>>15460407
>>15460430
>butthurt factory workers looking for a safe space in this tiny thread.

Good job ignoring all the other points that deny full replicator tech. Of course its not everything.

Labor of crafting is becoming easier with the 3d printers and that means it's already approaching stage 1 of problems solved with auto crafting technology. Making something that can be printed out easily and feasibly Is the new societal issue; we need to make choices on for what is acceptable, or decided it is ridiculous to just lock-down with copyright.

>>15459426
Classic !