3D Printing and Modeling: What's in the future for us???

In my interview with Valdimir from Eduard, he believes that it won't be as popular as many think. The cost of the printers has come down, but really good ones are still very pricey. Couple that with the cost of the software necessary to create the 3D drawings, most will shy away from them both.

The comments by the rivet counters out there will only compound when their peers start producing parts and assemblies on 3D printers of lower quality versus those high end that major manufacturers are using such as Eduard.

Sure the younger generation will be more computer savvy, but unless the cost of software comes down and is intuitive to use, I see but a handful of modelers jumping into 3D printing. I see no more than the same number who are now producing aftermarket resin bits today.

I can easily see this revolutionizing the model building hobby! 

I fear change...

Phooey to it...

We've already seen in the past what happened when Sikorsky went nuts over seeing their name on eBay, what's going to happen when we have all the various parts all over the world for nothing?  Being someone who follows the Intellectual Property saga closely and the fits and misfits of the court cases around Trademarks and Copyrights, I can foresee a huge problem on the horizon.

Imagine...  Pirate Ships.. Made-up entirely of pirated parts..

As a modler who casts a lot of parts from existing parts, I'd hate to see a bunch of pirated parts for sale anywhere... Granted, I've given other modelers replacement partslike seats, yokes, cowls, or the occasional figure set or aircraft canopy, which I've cast or vac-formed from original kit parts, but the key word is given ...  I don't charge a nickel for any of them, and generally ask the modler that received the part or parts to "pay it forward"... 

I don't see 3-D printing revolutionizing the industry though... At least, not in my (remaining)modeling life-time..  I think it'll make after-market parts even more expensive as well, at least for the first "generation" of modelers that get involved with it initially... It'll be the modelers that're over 45-50 years old, with lots of disposable income for the stuff, that make the most use of them... 

I DO however, see it as yet one more way for some folks to "buy" the Gold Medal at contests... And that it will drive the final nail into the Gizmologist's coffin... Hell, even now many modelers are using so much after-market in their builds that nobody even bothers to scratch-build or kit-bash anymore, and the "Oohs & Ahhs" just keep coming.. Contest Judges are starting to forget that "Scope of Effort" even existed as a major part of the judging criteria...

That said...

The only "good" I can see coming from the technology is that maybe some heretofore unavailable kits will be easy to get, and companies that utilize it will offer kits at far cheaper prices, since the mold-making process would be virtually nil when compared to what it costs today to make new molds... If they offer 1/35th M1008/M1009 CUCVs for 25.00, or 1/48 GMC or M35A2 Duece & a Halfs and staff cars for 15.00, then I'm all for it! 

But, they'll probably try to recover the costs of the printers with the first couple kit releases...

Phooey to it...

You can now use a modified Microsoft Kinect device to scan stuff into 3D files, it requires some programming skills along with the Kinect and an Arduino microcontroller and of course a Makerbot 3D printer. There is a book on Amazon on how to get it working..still might be cheaper and eaier to buy a 2nd kit.

BOOK-Making Things See: 3D vision with Kinect, Processing, Arduino, and MakerBot

Is there a technology for a sensor to "read" the demensions of a part and auto generate the drawing? That software, if cheap enough would bridge the gap i suppose..

Im only 31 so I'll wait and see,

It is one thing to duplicate a part by actually making a mold around that part.  But getting a cad file of a part is something else.  I am certainly not aware of model companies publishing CAD files of the parts in their kit, so I am assuming if you want to make a part you would have to draw the file yourself.  Thus, it seems to me that these printers are of more use to someone doing scratch building than someone wanting to duplicate a part. It is probably easier to make a mold than a 3D CAD file.  I have never heard of a scratch builder being hauled into court on a copyright or patent violation, so I don't think this will be much of an issue.

Borg R3-MC0

professordeath

Yeah. But those were last week. Gotta get in the weekly 3D printing thread sometime before Saturday.

professordeath

Yeah. But those were last week. Gotta get in the weekly 3D printing thread sometime before Saturday.