Reply To: "This technology will DISRUPT miniature companies." says Maker's Muse

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@ced1106 the printing press did disrupt the book publishing proces when it was invented.

dotmatrix/Inktjet/laser printers didn’t do so at the consumer level, because books moved to the digital realm.
However we did get print-on-demand services, which was impossible to imagine a few decades ago.

And although we can play games in a digital setting, the rest of our hobby still requires physical objects.
We may have less reason to actually paint as 3D printing at full colour becomes a realistic option (the tech exists at an industrial scale).
Heck … even the simple fact that manufacturers can print painted minis is kind of a gamechanger.

We’ve already seen the quality of boardgame minis move from wooden meeples (in premium boardgames) to high detail plastic (CMON Zombicide and others).

It’s already having an impact on the design phase of projects as developers can see their designs in real life without having to wait for the prototype to arrive from China.  They still need to wait for the mass-production examples, but I wouldn’t be surprised if indie developers started selling 3D printed variants instead of resin or metal simply because the tech to do so requires less specialised skillsets. I can definitely see 3D printed minis used as for mold making.