There's nothing more fun than when two series of posts on this blog collide. Here's a very interesting Kickstarter, from a French company, which, very sadly, just failed to meet its funding target about three hours ago (by the looks of the timescale, I blame Christmas: I gather they're planning to be back for another go...).Essentially, they provide a web-based 3D figure editor (at http://createyourminis.com/), where you can pose and generally equip your model to taste, and then they print it for you for about €5 a figure. Reading between the lines of the FAQ on the website, they're aiming to print in resin using SLA (Stereolithography - LASERS, dudes!), rather than the hobbyist plastic extrusion method (see the stuff PatG printed for me), which gives better resolution.
This is (I think) not the only company doing this, but I did just happen to fall over it, and it's a very neat application of 3D which proves some of what I was saying earlier.
Criticisms (and they're small ones):
- I find the figures a little too lifelike compared to typical 28mm figures, They're more like some of Wargames Factories WW2 offerings (which are also designed via 3D CAD) or perhaps some of Mantic's human Dreadball players, which are more lifelike, but don't quite fit with everyone else's. I'm not sure I'd use the site for (for example) a one-off hero figure to go with a collection of metal or plastic troops. That said, though, part of the beauty of 3D printing is you CAN make things to realistic proportions if you want to.
- The web interface to design your figure is a little clunky and off-putting at first look. I had a play, and it does seem to work, though.
It sounds like the beginnings of what will become a very active field, though. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteInteresting development. Is "disruption" arraving to the wargaming world too?
ReplyDeleteI can see this being popular with fantasy gamers who want figures that look exactly like their characters.
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