How will 3D printing affect wargames and table top gaming?

Depends on the mass appeal of at-home 3D Printing in the future. If everyone and their dog has a 3D Printer like they do 2D Printers now, we'll see "print your own minis" included in PDF bundles.

>>51151216
People will be able to print personally-made models.
Not many people can 3D-model, so... nothing changes, I guess?
The price of 3D-printing will always be higher than the of a mass manufactured model.

Honestly depends on the development of the technology. Ubiquitous home 3d printing might certainly change a lot, but whether that will ever be a thing is unknown.

>>51151260
I don't know if that's accurate considering that large corporations need a huge infrastructure to produce and distribute their figures.

>>51151260
>The price of 3D-printing will always be higher than the of a mass manufactured model
There's a bit of initial investment, but the Oracle of Google tells me the cost of filament is about 19 dollars per kilogram. That seems like a much better value by weight than Games Workshop's models, especially when you can print them hollow to get more out of it.

>Not many people can 3D-model
But if only one person can, they can spread the models around and other people can print them.

>>51151407
You realize that the quality of modern consumer-grade 3D-printing is shite?

Do you think cast resin/plastic/metal models are made from casting a consumer-grade 3D-printed model? Of course not.

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>>51151512
>You realize that the quality of modern consumer-grade 3D-printing is shite?

Yeah, nobody's ever going to want one of these.

>>51151675
The problem is that only cutting-edge enthusiasts are going to by the technology in its current state.

3D-printing can and most likely will become consumer-friendly, but it's at the very least 10 years away, and realistically, it's more like 15.

>>51151216
A few well-off hobbyists will use for custom models.

Most people will stil buy models from the big companies because of economies of scale and quality control.

>>51151216
well, I don't wargame, but I can go to a website like GrabCAD or Thingiverse and make tokens or models for tabletop gaming.

I made a few model houses and tokens with my laser-cutter at work in spare time. I will embrace the tech as it comes.

>>51151675
I lived in a house in the 90s that always had an automatic vector-plotter, tractor printer, standard paper printer, and flatbed scanner. I have watched the tech roll by...(dad was an engineer)

>>51151260
>Not many people can 3D-model
enough people can that you can basically get anything modeled by suggesting that someone "doesn't have the chops" to model something.(this is how you get an engineer to do lots of things)

and some clever dude might just design some freeware programs for modeling custom miniatures.

as the tech rises so does the laymans level of skill.

>>51151407
>There's a bit of initial investment, but the Oracle of Google tells me the cost of filament is about 19 dollars per kilogram. That seems like a much better value by weight than Games Workshop's models, especially when you can print them hollow to get more out of it.
He was talking about a corporate scale. Injection molding is objectively better than 3D printing and likely will pretty much forever. The only real advantage of 3D printing is you don't need moulds which means you can turn a profit even if the production run is very limited, ie. you can make custom miniatures.

Outside of custom miniatures there is no real advantage. If you want to personally make miniatures you are still better off recasting than making your own 3D models, buying a 3D printer, and printing them off.

>>51152194
I just bought a new (honestly brand-new manufactured in 2016) dot matrix printer to replace our 35-year-old dot matrix printer.

You know how hospitals require medical records to be sent via fax, not email? Same sort of situation.

>>51152309
bureaucracies man, they have some WEIRD BONERS for keeping old style equipment...

>>51151512
Are you retarded? I work with hobby level 3D printers and they can produce some seriously sturdy and accurate stuff.

>>51152707
WRONG.

He saw a post about it on /tg/ so he knows more about it than you.

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>>51151718
>3D-printing can and most likely will become consumer-friendly, but it's at the very least 10 years away, and realistically, it's more like 15.

That wasn't even a realistic assessment of the industry five years ago. Consumer-friendly 3d printing is already present in the market and competitively priced with high-end shops like Forge World, the only limitation is the quality of your render - but that's no more a limitation than the difference between the quality of any sculpt. Crappy 3d prints are over-represented in the marketplace because it's easier for crappy sculptors to bring them to market.

>>51151260
The only question is whether or not the community will embrace open source principles, and whether or not the companies will be scummy enough to target them for it. I'm sure you'll be allowed to get away with modeling & printing WH40k minis, the question is if you'll be allowed to share it online for everyone else. And whether or not you'll be short sighted scum enough to charge people for it, which will only make the community DOA.

>>51151718
It's a lot more like 5 - 10 years

A 3D scanner already exists and the software is there.
I am excited to have a Monster manual with files that allow you to print minis for each encounter. It beats using a model that is sort of correct.

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Anyone else a fan of this book?

>>51153208
>I am excited to have a Monster manual with files that allow you to print minis for each encounter.
...I'd pay an extra $20 or $30 for a CD packed with these with a monster manual...

now imagine an armory book where every piece of equipment is in a software add-on that pre-builds a series of snap-able weapons that coincide with the programs that come in the player handbook.

for EXTRA CRAZY SUPER GM FUN
a 3D printer that recycles it's creations...

so once you're done with the printed miniature you can dump it in the bin and re-use it later for other minis

>>51153444
The numbers are with you!
I hope your vision becomes truth!

No need to store hundreds of put modes metal models

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>>51153319
I've never read a bad book by Cory Doctorow.

>>51153615
Well, if you haven't read it, it's a slightly outdated but still extremely fun read about THE COMING AGE OF 3D PRINTING.

>>51153079
They deal with the hassle so you don't have to. Seriously how much more consumer friendly can you get.

Personally I think this is better than needing a big and bulky 3d printer at home.

>>51153444
Don't let me dream...

I work at a 3D printer manufacturer. Current tech is nowhere near the fidelity of injection-molded minis, but this is changing. Traditional-technique 3D prints are becoming better and better all the time, especially if you sand them down. In the future we hope to make a machine that can automatically sand the print for you.

For something like Warhams this is vastly cheaper. You're already going to prime and paint, so why not sand? It won't be quite as good but there's no packaging, no shipping, no GW markup. It's very very cheap.

>>51151260
>not many people can 3D model
The software is only going to get easier.

>The price of 3D-printing
Use your local library's printer and pay a few cents for PLA and a few dollars for print time. You don't need to own a 3D printer to use one.

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digital tabletop is a much bigger threat to previously existing games than 3D printing. this is coming from someone who 3D prints all of his gaming pieces, too.

once someone makes a truly great digital roleplaying engine, traditional tabletop will take a huge blow.

>>51155053
Idk dude, the table top aspect of the game seems to be the draw for a lot of players. People like painting, building and showing off. The physical presence is important.


Magic online didn't kill card collecting.

>>51155135
it didn't yet. it's in the process of doing so. wotc is in trouble if they don't digitize. blockbuster vs netflix.

>>51155135
>The physical presence is important.
THIS

I regularly play online and in person tabletop games (MtG, Warhammer (on vassal and roll20), and a shit ton of RPGs) and i prefer in person hands down.

The kinaesthetic element is a huge part of the satisfaction for card, board, and war games and it is essential for the full immersion around a tabletop RPG.