Friday, March 8, 2013

The Future of Miniatures

Playing Around with SketchUp, this image is (C) Matt Darnell
New technology is spreading, at it will change humanity forever. Or at least us miniature gamers.

Surely you have heard of 3d printing technology... I firmly believe that with refinement and proliferation, this technology will replace the need for us to shell out our hard earned money to buy somebody else's idea of toys. It'll be like art, or books... you'll buy the examples you like, but you could always write your own if you want, or paint your own picture.

In the future, we'll be making our own miniatures.  Printing them will be as easy as printing a page.

I figured I'd get a head start on the 3d modelling software so I could start making the kind of models I always wanted. Today I took my first steps, learning how to use SketchUp 8 (which is free). The program is very easy to use, but difficult to master. The model I made above doesn't hold up to a 3d printer's needs, but it taught me a lot about the program itself.

Soon I hope to be moving on to models that can match a 3d printer's limitations. The sky's the limit, and I feel it calling.
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1 comment:

  1. Nick von CoverApril 4, 2013 at 9:00 AM

    3D printing is going to cause a huge disruption in the miniatures industry, especially for those companies that produce historical miniatures of equipment (it's just harder to model realistic people). In my current chosen domain of WW2, somebody will post good models of all the tanks, guns, planes etc., and this will have a tremendous negative impact on the current suppliers of miniatures. Most will not survive.

    Fantasy and Sci-fi will be different. Companies that create original content have legal remedies to protect their turf. While I am not a fan of their behavior, this is exactly what GW is doing. I have to wonder if they are not behaving as they do because they know what is coming and want to get their defenses in place early. (Unfortunately, this is what smart companies will have to do).

    I think that we, the gamers, will end up being the winners here. I think people will create models, either by old-school green-stuffing up a model then scanning it or else designing it electronically, and then sell it electronically to the public. So our choices will go through the roof and we may actually get to customize the figures (weapon choices et al) before they are created. No assembly or actual modelling skill required.

    Just as the arrival of computers, laser printers, and the internet hugely benefitted the gaming public, the gaming public will win again here. Some manufacturers are definitely in for hard times though. We will see companies that have run for decades fold. The businesses of creating and supplying miniature figures will be changed forever.

    Nick blogs at Spotting Round, a blog dedicated to 15 mm WW2 miniature wargaming.

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