# Amazon & 3D Printing



## Devor (Jul 28, 2014)

There aren't really any interesting options yet, but Amazon just opened a 3D printing store. 3D printing is going to be the next big thing that shakes up the world, and I think there's a chance that might include fantasy writing.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Design Your Own Lego Swords

In the next ten years or less, it'll be not just possible but affordable to include a 3D model of your characters and make them available for fans to print, maybe with rules for using them in a d20 system. We know that there's a tremendous potential for overlap and merchandising between novels, games, miniatures, and so on. And 3D printing is on its way to making some of that affordable to the average writer.

Do you think it'll make much of an impact?


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## stephenspower (Jul 28, 2014)

I think 3D printing is a huge new industry of the future. It'll probably follow the copier model: stores (which already exist) where things can be 3D printed from designs brought in or furnished by the store; home printers that grow cheaper because selling the plastic for the printing makes more money; a battle over IP so people because people want to recycle their own plastic for use in printers but the printer makers want to prevent anyone from cutting into their plastic business.  There will be a brief flurry of newstories on college students in computer design majoring in 3D printing to service the industry.

The question is: what needs to be 3D printed? I've long thought it will be little houseware doodads like the knob on my air conditioner.


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## Devor (Jul 28, 2014)

stephenspower said:


> The question is: what needs to be 3D printed? I've long thought it will be little houseware doodads like the knob on my air conditioner.



The reason I mention it is the big impact it's having on gaming.  There's been a constant flow of kickstarter projects featuring beautiful fantasy miniatures that have been 3D printed. You can even have your Warcraft character 3D printed. There are places where you can step into a machine, have a body scan taken of you, and your own mini-me produced. That's what's happening already.

What's going to happen in the near future, however, is software support for this technology making it easier for you to have your own characters and models designed to be 3D printed. For instance, the lego-compatible sword above.  If you click "Personalize Now," the options for designing your sword are endless.  You're going to see that technology leveraged to a tremendous scale, until the point where it becomes easy for even a rudimentary artist to create or modify their own templates and create a custom miniature tailored to match, say, the figure in your cover art, or the unique monsters that attack your heroes.

It's not hard to imagine buying a book that has two or three character miniatures wrapped inside and rules for slipping them into a d20 system. Or self-published authors that are supported not just by book sales, but by online merchandising orders. Or at the Mythic Scribes store, being able to order not just a coffee mug with the logo, but having a 3D-Printed copy of the Mythic Scribes Black Dragon available to order.

These things are going to become _common _in the next five to ten years. They're already available for most popular franchises, and it could possibly end up next on the list, similar to Cover Art, as a common publishing expense. It's going to be the next overhaul of the shape of the fantasy publishing industry.


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## stephenspower (Jul 28, 2014)

I would add one thing: my wife and I no longer print pix at home, arguably the only reason to have a color printer. We get better, more lasting quality from the Walgreens a half mile away, the cost isn't much more, and we can send the pix to Walgreen on the internet for pick up in a few hours. In other words, we're back to sending our film at the fotomat. Will Walgreens get into the 3D printing business too?

That said, it's rare that we want or need a physical picture (almost always as a gift). Maybe I'm wrong above. If we're moving to a world where printing is a novelty rather than a practicality, maybe it won't ever enter the home market or be co-opted by chain stores. Maybe it'll always be small-scale and for specialty stores.

Yes, I'm going to get a copy of my character for painting.


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## CupofJoe (Jul 29, 2014)

I was in a Games Workshop Store a month or so ago and over heard a kid [12/13?] stating/boasting to his mate that he was going to scan and then print an Eldar Dreadnought-something kit [that cost about Â£60] with the 3D scanner and printer he got his birthday. He had worked out he couldn't do the whole thing but he could do the pieces individually. This may have all been bluff and bluster but I think it shows a trend that will treat everything "copyable" as "free".

Before Xmas there was an article on-line that stated a white good manufacturer's intention to re/design much of the products to make many of the small breakable bits [I'm guessing latches, handles, feet and the like] 3D printable and charge a nominal fee for the plan. They reckoned that it would save them money by removing the need for a supply chain for low value goods. I think it was Beko.
And I kind of like the idea of a mod-ed Fridge...

I love the idea of creating figures for characters in my stories... but as many of my characters are coded versions of people I know... there could be problems...


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