Topic: 3D Printing: Designers & Companies, Files & Figures + Discussion

[Victor]

We had increasing discussions in the past few months and weeks about 3D printing and new 3D miniatures - this might very well be the future of the hobby and will gain popularity in the coming years. As I came across some very nice and/or interesting new designs for 3D models in the past few weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to collect them all in one place and to have a thread for discussions.


List of Designers/Companies
Most of the pictures are from www.myminifactory.com - I have picked this site purely for demonstration purposes, as most designers seem to offer their work there. The pictures are chosen examples, but there is usually much more to see.

The list focuses on Fantasy Humans (Miniatures, Scenery)


Reptilian Overlords
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/ReptilianOverlords

Offer: Empire Soldiers & Militia







Last Sword Miniatures
https://lastsword.com/en/

Offer: Empire







Highlands Miniatures
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Highlandsminis

Offer: Empire, Kislev, Bretonnia, Scenery









Heresy Lab
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/HeresyLab

Offer: Empire Citizens, Empire, Kislev and Bretonnian warbands











Monstrous Encounters
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Monstrous%20Encounters

Offer: Bretonnia, Mordheim Warbands, Dungeon Scenery









Lost Kingdom Miniatures
https://www.lostkingdomminiatures.com/en/

Offer: Bretonnia









Raven Twin Miniatures
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Raven%20Twin%20Miniatures

Offer: Bretonnia







Dogs Of War
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Dogs-Of-War

Offer: Empire warband







Dark Realms
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/DarkRealms

Offer: Fantasy Scenery









3D Rune
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/3DRune

Offer: Fantasy Scenery





Feel free to add your findings to the thread.

[Jmash]

Now, as we've mentioned here before - some of these websites only offer the 3D printing files but as I know nothing of the industry are there any ways in which somebody who doesn't have a 3D printer can buy the files and have them printed somewhere?

Are there places that offer purely printing services if you can provide the files? If so what sort of rates are to be expected?

I guess the other thing I would ask is that IF I decided to get myself a 3D printer is there any sort of technical info on what quality of printer is needed, because I'm assuming there are some that are better than others?

[Jmash]

For instance -

A little bit of Googling (just scratching the surface) tells me that 3D printers have varying resolutions they are able to print to, the better resolution the greater detail, and naturally I deduce that an STL file therefore will have a recommended resolution setting. I'm also going to assume here that smaller items i.e. 28mm scale minis for our hobby will likely need quite a good resolution to get the best detail.

However I've looked at the Reptilian Overlords product linked above, and also on their own website as well, but I don't see any technical info regarding recommended resolutions etc. and even some of the 3D printers I've had a quick scan of don't give their resolution range in their tech specs...

Again I stress this is entirely new and I've literally only spent a few minutes reading into this but are these the sort of details that you only find out when you purchase the STL? If so, how do you know whether your printer is up to the job before buying the files???

[Victor]

It's true, most designers/companies only offer the digital files (STL) for download and no physical copies of the miniatures. Some sell commercial printing licenses, which is why you find people offering printed models on ebay for example (with a license presumably). Another site where people offer printed models is etsy.com. There are however some designers, who don't sell any commercial licenses, like Reptilian Overlords, as you have mentioned. In this case you can only try to find someone who will print the miniatures for you. In this case you will have to provide the files. Maybe you could contact some seller with a good rating on etsy.com and enquire about that possibility.

Then there is the option of buying a 3D printer for yourself. Whether that is worth it for you or not depends on how many miniatures you will likely print with it and how 'tech savvy' you are. I haven't tried it myself, but read and heard a bit about it. I'm sure it is no rocket science, but you will have to certainly spend some time to get used to it and to get all the settings right for optimal results. For the miniatures we are talking about here you are looking at printing-layer thicknesses at least 0.1mm ... most likely less than that ... 0.03mm for example if you want highly detailed prints. There are several different kinds of 3D printers (for somewhat different purposes) - only some are suited for printing miniatures.

If you stumble across a good guide and/or recommendations for 3D printers, feel free to share them here.

[Zak]

  whoa

[Victor]

Coming soon:

Fantasy Cult Miniatures:
https://fantasycultminiatures.com/en/





Last Sword Miniatures:





Nocturna Models:
https://nocturnamodels.com/

[Victor]

Another preview from Fantasy Cult Miniatures:

[Victor]

New Empire miniatures from Highlands Miniatures:
Many more can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/highlands_miniatures






They are also doing Kislev (probably better than GW will):









Last Sword Miniatures is - among other things - working on a Steam Tank:
https://www.patreon.com/lastswordminiatures





The designers all seem to struggle a bit with modelling armour. And some things are a bit too clunky in generell. But overall they seem to get better and better.

[GamesPoet]

Hussars on foot?  Looks less than good to me.

[Victor]

New Knights from Highland Miniatures are available - https://www.patreon.com/highlands_miniatures:



Some of their pauldrons are badly designed, but apart from that they are great in my opinion.

[Syphon]

I love Lost Kingdom's reliquary carriers!

[GamesPoet]

Who offers 3D printing files for fantasy figures???

And let us know if you have any experience with them.

Feel free to post places, even if you haven't had experience with them.

Thank you!

[Syphon]

I've gone on https://cults3d.com to buy some STLs  but they were for "Imperial Guard" models.
A quick search for the keyword 'fantasy' yields 9.11 thousand results so I'm sure there'll be something.

[GamesPoet]

Medbury Miniatures has come up with some solid looking fantasy figures recently.

I know of two folks that are printing these ...

1.  https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/collections/medbury-miniatures-alternative-armies

2.  https://www.chrisparkergames.com/shop/

[GamesPoet]

The 3D Printing world is expanding.  It is relatively amazing how much has already begun, and we're probably likely to see way more moving forward.  For those who don't want to mess with a 3D printer, there are folks starting to pop up who are printing on demand.

One guy I know is printing on demand for folks locally and through the mail.  He is doing figures from outfits like Medway Miniatures, Reconquer (formerly Caballero), and Felipe Manivel.  And he is providing these primarily in 28mm or 40mm, but capable of adjusting the size down to 15mm, 20mm, 25mm or up to 28 heroic, 30mm, 54mm, 60mm, whatever a customer prefers.  Turn around time is typically no later than 3 days printing plus mailing time, and he's had to expand from one printer to using three, including one of them for larger prints.

This is going to only get bigger and more variety is certainly going to happen.

I've already purchased 12 English archers (almost completed painting and basing), and have 36 Spanish Levy (archers, javelin throwers, and spear men) ready to prime.

[Syphon]

You know, I kind of want to get into this, but whenever I look at prices, I am shocked. The Anycubic Photon Mono X costs €750 at a retailer that's a big name nationally.That's US$780. I look on another page and it says €444.50. How is this possible? This is insanity.

[GamesPoet]

My friends and I went in on a printer together to get things started, and it was less than 750 E (Euros?), definitely less than 780 dollars.  If I recall correctly, printer and supplies was about $450 combined.  Probably depends on the size of the printer though, because later on when one of them decided to start trying to make some money at it, he bought a larger one to be more efficient in producing the product, and that I suspect cost more money.

[GamesPoet]

Here's a brief video on 3D printing some alternative space marines ...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZv6Gl4D24