I was looking at new 3D printed figures available, Live Resin, Black Snake, Airborne Miniatures, and was wondering how long it would be before I can select an image of a subject, say a HALO jumper, and send it to an AI connected 3D printer to print it in whichever scale I select, and specify the level of detail required, ie fabric texture, facial creases, hair, then, if I have that printer, print one off, or receive it in the post from a commercial printer.
Of course, this could extend to vehicles, too. The limit is how much youâre prepared to pay for that kit you simply must have.
This may be expensive now, but with increasing technology and demand, the price typically comes down. Well, I hope so, anyway.
The tech does seem to make rapid advances all the time. Your post reminds me of this company, Print Fugurunes.
âAny outfit, any face, any pose, any scale.â Thatâs what they say- supposedly you can send them a photo of a pose and they can print it. Iâve only seen their CAD images, not the actual resin so I canât say what the quality is but to me it seems an idea that could catch on. No need to look around for a figure in a particular uniform or pose- just find a pic and get it printed!
Itâs interesting in that the USA is not advancing this 3D printing technology as many of these 1/35 military kits come from overseas. That is not to say that there arenât 3D printed kit sellers in the USA, just that these 3D printed kit sellers print superheroes, wargaming miniatures, and other kits, not realistic military kits and figures.
3D printing for model kits still needs to print clear resin for windows and glass. So far as of 2024, all windows and glass are solid, meaning that we have the âresin paperweightâ vehicle kit that resembles a wargame vehicle.
A human will always be needed in the loop to ensure visual print quality control, flaw detection, and careful packaging of the kit for shipping, AI driven or not.
True, 3D printing will never get to the level of a sprue tree layout of a plastic model kit.
But does it have to? If construction, sanding, puttying, and adding small parts and PE is your forte, then 3D printing is far-removed from model kits.
That is why I donât buy 3D printed AFVs, planes, ships, etc. because they look like blocky one-piece paperweights with no interiors and solid resin for glass. But I do buy 3D printed figures and they are excellent.
This is not to say 3D printing is doomed and many use 3D printed vehicles for wargaming and they sure look decent enough to mimic the game stats.
For certain types of figures, yes, I can see that happening very soon because there are enough data available. For instance, NSFW type of bikini clad females or porn-type of stuff, certainly because the WWW has plenty.
For all others, itâs probably several decades away or may never happen (things like rare historical vehicles without many photos of) because for any AI or program (e.g., any ERP systems like Oracle or SAP or even Excel spreadsheet to be useful) to work, you need DATA. Without the data, the computer programs cannot achieve what is being asked.
Also, many 3D artists do not allow their data to be used by AI to secure their work - thus limiting the data available. As an experienced CAD user and 3D printer, I conclude that AI has long ways to go to spit out a 3D printed model at some touches of buttons. Maybe in the 22nd century?
We shall see.
Iâd respectfully disagree as figure painting is in a league of its own and an elevated art distinct to finishing and weathering a vehicle. Also, itâs far easier to print off a block of resin in a figure shape than a vehicle of potentially many parts.
@joepanzer - while true that 3D printing is transforming our hobby, letâs not go into stuff like âonly scratchbuilders are real modellersâ. Iâve seen too many discussions like that and they mostly lead nowhere.
I think itâs OK to utilize work already done by other people - and we do it all the time by using model kits, AM sets and now 3D printed stuff - and thereâs still enough input for the modeller to call the done model his/her own and unique.
Thatâs exactly what got me into 3D design and 3D printing - a thought that if I scratchbuild something it will only be there for me, but if I 3D draw it, then I can share it with others, who might have a use for it, too.
As for AI - it can already pull off amazing things and it gets better and better fast. But thereâs a saying that goes âto err is human, but to really **** up you need a computerâ - and this is very true for AI. When ChatGPT went live I asked it a few questions about Vietnam War and ChatGPT started to BS me like a student during an exam taking place directly after a wild party.
So how would that suppose to work - you tell AI get me a 1:35 model of a Dozer from a Vietnam War and then AI does research, determines what types of dozers were used, then measures the 1:1 thing, scales it, omits details below minimum printing thickness and divides the model into parts that would be practical⌠These are some pretty complicated tasks. They are sometimes doable, sometimes less but getting there would take some serious $$$ because professionals would have to spend some serious hours to perfect it. I say that money is not there.
But I think AI will very soon be able to help you with some things like adding supports to your 3D model for printing (already happening), or help transform a photo into a 3D model - (thatâs probably also already doable) - or making a 3D model printable by transforming features that are too fragile for your printer (shouldnât be too hard).
The one thing that canât be computerised is the drive, the desire to build something and getting the idea what is it going to be.
Donât let AI print your figures - theyâd all have six fingers!
While AI might be able to design a vehicle if t had enough photos and plans, I doubt itâd get the details right. There are so many incremental variations that only an expert can spot, so the best CAD designs will still need a human, even if that human uses some AI content to help build up the components of the final design. Besides, all the best AI will be busy faking celebrity pornâŚ
Excuse me @joepanzer, but it looks to me you are doing the splitting, Iâm doing the uniting! Weâre all diffrent, and our modelling is different in any case, but we could unite under the modelling flag. And the computers are getting more and more a modelling tool - but you donât have to use it if you donât want to, like you dont have to use airbrush, paint or even glue, if you donât want to. @barkingdigger - you might say AI wouldnât get it right, because it doesnât care. And thatâs the thing that humans have to do and canât be replaced by computers in it - the caring about certain things.
Best greetings, have a nice day
PaweĹ
So⌠lets think back to the 1930âs. What was, might have been, the discussion when injected plastic models first started. The hand made wooden models were being replaced with âprecarvedâ parts. All you needed to do was glue together and paint. Much easier than fabricating your own. If you remember the pine wood derby cars then you got a taste of making your car from a block of wood.
Today I can see where we are going and I myself grumble at âcheatersâ that print an object and all they do is paint it. I know there is more to it than that simplistic view. The prints have their limits in detail and texture. Resin printing is the thing but comes with itâs own issues. There is no free lunches when comparing to injection molding. However the cost to design and print a thing is far cheaper than designing an injected molded kit, molds, injecting machines etc⌠We also grumble that printing has fewer parts so the building portion of the hobby has been reduced. However, the designing portion has increased. I have always considered the 3D printing to be a cottage industry struggling along balancing costs VS price charged VS time on the printer.
Kylie brought up an obvious point that hadnât crossed my tiny mind yet. If you did away with the less expensive home printer and sent your files to a high quality printer somewhere and received your order a week or two later, that is where we are drifting I think. You could order 1/35th door handles or a 1/350 Yamato. It wouldnât matter, just the materials and time would be different. These files once created can be stored and tweaked and be available until the next generation of programing comes along. The quality and scale could be adjusted to meet the customers preferences. As the commercial printers get ever finer detail, higher quality work can be achieved. The injected molded kits will be able to continue to be cheaper than printed kits when it comes to larger runs of the kit. I am guessing (and maybe incorrectly) that once the mold is made, the actual plastic for the kit may be only a dollar or two and at a molding rate that goes pretty quickly. That advantage over years of molding is huge. However for a 17th scale jeep, Printing might be the best choice with only15 parts.
Indeed.
I heard a similar comment from a model builder (1/1250 waterline ships, scratchbuilt âŚ)
who said that those building plastic models were only assemblers, not true model builders.
I heard similar many years ago at a model engineering exhibition - those who used factory-made screws instead of turning their own on a lathe werenât true modellersâŚ
