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Guddamn. I don't want to get optimistic that this technology will be feasibly available to consumers (either directly or indirectly) on a time scale short enough to matter for the issues in this thread. But it definitely is cool as hell.
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Mar 19, 2015 20:40
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I would like a machine that LITERALLY grows tyranids
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Mar 19, 2015 21:26
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I can't even begin to understand how that machine works.
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Mar 19, 2015 22:38
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Wow, living in the future is weird
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Mar 19, 2015 22:57
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Admiral Joeslop posted:I can't even begin to understand how that machine works. UV light cures layers of liquid polymer in layers that are formed upside down. The polymer also requires oxygen to cure and by controlling the cure rate you can achieve high levels of surface finish.
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Mar 19, 2015 22:59
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:UV light cures layers of liquid polymer in layers that are formed upside down. The polymer also requires oxygen to cure and by controlling the cure rate you can achieve high levels of surface finish. indeed
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Mar 19, 2015 23:00
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I think I can help. This machine.... BURNS PRIMORDIAL OOZE WITH THE RAYS OF THE SUN BRINGING FORTH A LIFE OF SELF-ORGANIZING CARBON TO STAND FREE IN THE AIR OF A HARSH UNIVERSE, DEFIANT OF ENTROPY. Honestly, that's more or less it. It's also got the added bonus of no mistakes. Unlike the real god. 
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Mar 19, 2015 23:03
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:UV light cures layers of liquid polymer in layers that are formed upside down. The polymer also requires oxygen to cure and by controlling the cure rate you can achieve high levels of surface finish. sort of. uv cures the liquid to hard it. normally it would stick to the bottom but the glass it sits on is oxygen permeable, so a little layer of oxygen sits between the liquid and the bottom which stops it from sticking. This means that instead of having to manually unstick it all the god drat time you can just pull poo poo out of the magic puddle.
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Mar 19, 2015 23:03
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Provided the poo poo you want can be 100% resin, and can be supported from the top without folding or collapsing, and of course, the resin is super-pure, and the oxygen layer is perfect, and the device is sitting on a perfectly level surface, and I wonder about cleaning? It's amazing. It's also a one-off prototype looking for $50M in funding. Very, very cool. Not for making miniatures in the next ten years, but after that... maybe.
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Mar 19, 2015 23:48
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Leperflesh posted:Provided the poo poo you want can be 100% resin, and can be supported from the top without folding or collapsing, and of course, the resin is super-pure, and the oxygen layer is perfect, and the device is sitting on a perfectly level surface, and I wonder about cleaning? Yes, agreed. This technology will never be viable for any real use. Furthermore, there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. They are, after all, room-sized monstrosities of tubes and wires only fit for calculations that the average household will have no use for. *reclines in chair, listening to victrola* e: I mean, I get that this machine specifically probably won't be available for home use, but you've been almost comically down on a technology that is already finding its way into homes. TheChirurgeon fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 00:01
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moths posted:Remember when 2D printing destroyed books? This is from a few pages ago, but printing Certainly revolutionized books, made pamphlets and posters practicable and put Scribes out of business. And turned books from Jewel-Like Objects of Wonder (often literaly, with gems and gold leaf) into something affordable for the masses. Now, with print-on-demand, anyone can publish a book- even if it sells 5 copies in a year. Just because a state-of-the-art 3D printer won't be in every reasonably well equipped workshop next to the power-tools, doesn't mean they won't change the way things work permanently. Leperflesh posted:Provided the poo poo you want can be 100% resin, and can be supported from the top without folding or collapsing Stop banging on about 'overhang' - I'll print my mini in 2 bits and stick it together. Renfield fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 00:19
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TheChirurgeon posted:Yes, agreed. This technology will never be viable for any real use. Furthermore, there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. They are, after all, room-sized monstrosities of tubes and wires only fit for calculations that the average household will have no use for. *reclines in chair, listening to victrola* It's frustrating to post gobs of information about a technology, caution that it's not a panacea, and have that interpreted as being "against" it or "down on it." Even after I explicitly showed that my wife is actively using the technology. I'm reacting to something I've seen all over the place, but especially on SA, and occasionally in this thread: unrealistic expectations and enthusiasm about a nerdy technology. 3D printing is awesome, this new thing is awesome, but no, it's not going to be a household appliance any time soon, for the vast majority of households. The people who boost it constantly are just as tiresome as the Games Workshop fanatics who will not countenance criticism of their beloved brand.
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Mar 20, 2015 00:31
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Renfield posted:This is from a few pages ago, but printing Certainly revolutionized books, made pamphlets and posters practicable and put Scribes out of business. This is the point, really. The effete ultra wealthy rear end in a top hat idea is that a medium is 'destroyed' when just anybody can do it. Printing brought out enough copies of the bible that people were actually able to read it themselves and judge it. 100s of years of indoctrination in churches became the impetus for literacy education which laid the groundwork for the thinkers who came later from humble backgrounds with practical concerns. Instead of dumb pricks with infinite money and no value to society. You know. Nobles. There also *was* a sea change to how reading functioned in society. People *didn't* just read books anymore. They read newspapers and broadsheets. The world of information started to become about who could capture your attention, rather than who had done the most and best research. Anything from political cartoons to the sensationalist journalism that brought into being the 'copy cat murder' in cases like Jack the Ripper, to 'Remember the Maine'. People used to not *know* what was going on, now they had to be told by the state what to believe before someone else invented a story and it was spread like wildfire. As printing got more sophisticated, the idea of reading words became less attractive too. Comics, magazines, and photo journals became important. So when I say GW is hosed because of 3d printing. I don't mean that nobody will mass produce toys for wargames. What I mean is more people than ever before will be involved in making toys for wargames, including private citizens. We have no idea what people will want. Committment to single genres, styles, or companies may become completely passe. It may create an upsurge in the number of people literate in CAD or 3d sculpting--much in the way that the proliferation of cheap paper and implements has made drawing and painting a fixture in the lives of most children. And it might bankrupt a few stupid fucks who've been at the reigns of these kinds of things for TOO LONG. loving nerds. They ruin all my nerdy hobbies. Anyway, leper, stop trying to stifle the revolution. The meeting of the first international 3dists is scheduled for 2018. Don't be on the wrong side of history.
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Mar 20, 2015 00:39
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I think 3d printing alone isn't going to change much, miniatures-wise, too. but what about 3d printing combined with easy mold-making.... maybe the revolution doesn't come in printing a figure, but in printing a mold? Like print in one type of plastic resin and cast in another that can release from the mold you printed?
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Mar 20, 2015 00:55
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I like how you think comrade. We will fill our molds with the viscera of the industrial bourgeosie.
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Mar 20, 2015 00:59
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PlaneGuy posted:I think 3d printing alone isn't going to change much, miniatures-wise, too. I already know a few companies that use 3D printing to make plastic molds. The surface finish problems are still there, but it's a great technology for making certain parts.
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Mar 20, 2015 01:01
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TheCosmicMuffet posted:Anyway, leper, stop trying to stifle the revolution. The meeting of the first international 3dists is scheduled for 2018. Don't be on the wrong side of history. Is it helpful if I say that I completely agree with this latest assessment? I think 3D printing is obviously already being incorporated into manufacturing of miniatures, and agree that the general movement is towards a democratization of tabletop gaming. The same sort of democratization that has happened to pen-n-paper gaming, where a genre formerly dominated by TSR, with a handful of second-run companies competing for the scraps, is now a wide-open playing field where anyone can publish on print-on-demand sites. One major drawback being the already-paltry job prospects of the game writer have become even less viable; nobody will pay you a living wage to do something hundreds of nerds are apparently happy to do for free. I fully expect small-press mini companies to proliferate as mini production in smaller batches becomes less and less prohibitively expensive over time. Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I already know a few companies that use 3D printing to make plastic molds. The surface finish problems are still there, but it's a great technology for making certain parts. Reaper Bones, for one. The reason that one huge skeleton dragon is so huge? Because they sent the 3D file to China, and the factory there produced it 50% too big and then made the mold from that. A major reason why Bones are so cheap is because of the ability to scan a physical sculpt and then email it to a factory for prototyping with a 3D printer. Other companies are doing all-digital sculpts for making mold masters, too.
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Mar 20, 2015 01:07
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Leperflesh posted:Is it helpful if I say that I completely agree with this latest assessment? I think 3D printing is obviously already being incorporated into manufacturing of miniatures, and agree that the general movement is towards a democratization of tabletop gaming. The same sort of democratization that has happened to pen-n-paper gaming, where a genre formerly dominated by TSR, with a handful of second-run companies competing for the scraps, is now a wide-open playing field where anyone can publish on print-on-demand sites. One major drawback being the already-paltry job prospects of the game writer have become even less viable; nobody will pay you a living wage to do something hundreds of nerds are apparently happy to do for free. Good. Now. Give us the names of the people who have tried to get you to betray the Revolution. I will help you. Gavin Thorpe Tom Kirby Jack Kirby William Kirby Kirby Gregory Tell us of their crimes, comrade.
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Mar 20, 2015 01:39
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I'm already slowly practicing 3D modeling for the end year release of Flames of War Cold War. You wouldn't download a car, but what about a God-less commie T-72?
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Mar 20, 2015 02:14
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Leperflesh posted:One major drawback being the already-paltry job prospects of the
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Mar 20, 2015 02:44
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http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2015/03/operation-game-collection-rogue-trader.html I did a mega post covering one of my favorite games! 2nd ed Warhammer 40K! Let's get nostalgic! This is the 40K I loved and still want to keep playing! This is what got me into 40K big time. This is when GW wasn't the total wanker group they are now. (They were just Lite Beer wankers. Now they went FULL GUINNESS level of wanker.) This is what was cool and got people into the game. I want these days back goddamnit.
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Mar 20, 2015 05:28
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I'm a professional writer. There's money in writing. You just have to focus on nonfiction. I write software manuals - I don't get paid what programmers do, but it's still a decent income.
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Mar 20, 2015 06:40
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I was being facetious. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Media-and-Communication/Technical-writers.htm There aren't many of y'all. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/writers-and-authors.htm There are about double the non-technical writers working out there right now, but the growth is significantly less in the next few years but, overall, about 170k people from 365ish million are going to be employed in those two areas, where there are going to be about 50k openings, so I can't really bet on either of those because of the extremely limited number of open slots, especially when "young adult" schlock like Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey are the kind of fiction that are bestsellers and I have a proclivity for awkward alliterations and multilayered clauses. Cyberpunkey Monkey fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 06:55
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osirisisdead posted:I was being facetious. I uh... "writers and authors" includes (and I'll wager is mostly) non-fiction. Marcomm in particular (although I suppose you could argue marketing is fiction, har har), but also journalism, and a broad category called "business communication" that covers a lot of different roles. Lots of people who become technical writers have communications degrees, although increasingly, a degree in either the specific specialization (e.g., computer science for software technical writers, or a science field for science writers, etc.) or a degree in technical writing (which is what I have) is an advantage. That said, I'd wager there are two or three orders of magnitude fewer writers making a living writing novels, than writers making a living in non-fiction careers. Do pursue your dreams, though! But if you're considering a creative writing degree, I highly recommend a minor in communications or something marketable like that. e. I'm not actually sure if we're having some sort of disagreement? What I said before was basically that people doing game writing for free are undercutting the already abysmal compensation of people who write pen & paper RPG stuff for money. Professional writing is a skilled career that people without specialized training cannot do (well or at all); there is a shortage of good technical writers in the SF Bay Area, we have trouble hiring skilled candidates, and the high compensation is actually driving significant offshoring over the last decade. It's not really a comparable situation. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 07:12
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To be fair, games as an industry has always been the land of crushed dreams and death without many savings. Doesn't matter if its digital or table top.
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Mar 20, 2015 07:45
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Free nerd writers are crushing professional game writers despite being terrible most of the time, and that's sad. Imagine hams with writers that manage to create drama and tension without increasing deat count to infinity or resorting to BIGGEST BEST TITAN EVER FOUND IS POSSESED TOO SHITS hosed. osiris, if you want to get into sci-fi without being a smug oval office like Banks, I wish you all the best.
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Mar 20, 2015 09:37
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JcDent posted:Free nerd writers are crushing professional game writers despite being terrible most of the time, and that's sad. Imagine hams with writers that manage to create drama and tension without increasing deat count to infinity or resorting to BIGGEST BEST TITAN EVER FOUND IS POSSESED TOO SHITS hosed. I've got some bad news for you: Most of the paid Warhams writers write exactly like that.
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Mar 20, 2015 09:38
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JcDent posted:Free nerd writers are crushing professional game writers despite being terrible most of the time, and that's sad. Imagine hams with writers that manage to create drama and tension without increasing deat count to infinity or resorting to BIGGEST BEST TITAN EVER FOUND IS POSSESED TOO SHITS hosed. Which Banks? Better not be the M variety, that's fighting talk (just wait till I can 3d print a GSV)  A Culture space battle has wonderful potential for a game, assuming you measured turns in microseconds. Are there any decent space battle rule sets out there? BFG has a good reputation, what were its innovations and mechanics?
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Mar 20, 2015 10:08
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BFG has a good reputation? Every positive thing I've heard is followed by a bunch of qualifiers that basically require you to ignore any factions beyond imperial and chaos
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Mar 20, 2015 10:31
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BFG, Full Thrust, err one other that always gets mentioned alongside Full Thrust, Firestorm Armada v2, Star Wars Armada (unrelated). That might be in order of quality, too.
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Mar 20, 2015 12:44
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Is it true that GW discontinued their paints?
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Mar 20, 2015 12:49
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No? Who told you that?
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Mar 20, 2015 13:12
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Phrosphor posted:Is it true that GW discontinued their paints? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=games+workshop+paints&l=1
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Mar 20, 2015 13:18
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Renfield posted:The whole armour/cover/invun save at the moment is just awful - you get a Full save or Nothing, and being behind a wall doesn't matter unless you have crap armor, in which case your armor doesn't matter. I'm still trying to catch up with the thread, but when my friends and I first started playing 40K we changed it so that when being shot, a unit behind cover took a cover save, then if that failed they took an armor save, then if that failed they took a wounds check. More dice rolls, but it at least made some sort of sense to us, and getting into cover/ assaulting units in cover became much more important.
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Mar 20, 2015 13:39
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MasterSlowPoke posted:No? Who told you that? Some idiot on bbg, sorry for the derail.
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Mar 20, 2015 13:50
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The Supreme Court posted:Which Banks? Better not be the M variety, that's fighting talk (just wait till I can 3d print a GSV) Peter F. Hamilton is a better example of 'How does this guy keeping getting published when I can't?"
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Mar 20, 2015 13:51
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I don't have their old prices memorized, was there a change? (And drat that's a long way to smug over a yes/no question.)
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Mar 20, 2015 14:21
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Moths, serious gaylord. Serious gaylord, moths.
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Mar 20, 2015 14:51
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TheCosmicMuffet posted:And *their* game has an objective which is a diorama of 6mm conversions of hams. Then *that* diorama is playing BFG with 1/144 scale (adjusted to 6mm). The future can't come soon enough
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Mar 20, 2015 16:12
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The Supreme Court posted:Which Banks? Better not be the M variety, that's fighting talk They're (were) the same person.  Or is that  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Banks
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Mar 20, 2015 16:24
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