Tabletop gamers: right now, this is a new and exciting thing using the latest technology. How long until most gaming shops have a 3D printer for exactly this purpose? How long until most homes have one and anyone can do this? The Diamond Age is coming.
: Zubon
Reminds me of WoW’s Figureprints system. Mind you, different tech that got too much load and created a massive backlog of requests. If this goes through…I am going to be a very poor gamer. The possibilities this project has are enormous.
This is… just the future. As a TTRPG player I would totally make my own characters for long standing campaigns.
As prices drop, “long standing” is no longer an issue. Today, those are $20+ miniatures. By the time an in-home 3D printer is the price of a microwave or VCR, those will cost about as much as a microwave burrito or VHS tape.
hmm.. i’m guessing even when the price of the machine comes down the actual printer plastic cartridges will still remain quite expensive
For ABS, traditionally 3D Printers rely on spools of filament, which are fairly inexpensive (~30 USD/kilogram) and highly impractical to monopolize. Some companies have tried requiring proprietary cartridges — XYZPrinting’s da Vinci is the best known — but even they’ve not really been able to keep the prices up. Some of that price comes from unreducable secondary costs like shipping, but the material itself is fairly cheap.
Going to more complicated materials does bump the price.
The harder problem is that 3D graphics tools and design programs are notorious for being a) expensive, b) very difficult to learn or use, or c) both. This Kickstarter is looking to bypass this issue by doing a lot of the 3D-graphics work internally, but that’s not a perfect solution.
Damn, I might have to re-read this book now. Was a couple of years ago when I read it and enjoyed it very much.