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The printer at the second link is the one I'm looking at. I've already determined every cost associated with the 3d printing side of things, so now I need to know if 3d printers can produce miniatures at the scale and level of detail that I want. Here're examples of what I'm looking for from other companies.
I have two reasons to believe so far that 3d printers can produce models of that quality, though. 1) I spoke to a 3d printer rep and showed him the picture of that Spider-Man model, and he said that his 3d printers could produce models of that level of detail. And 2) There's a company out there that already does similar called FigurePrints. Here's a video of their process and the models they produce.
FigurePrints Video
FigurePrints is an interesting case, because they ONLY deal in World of Warcraft figures (they make 3d models of your World of Warcraft character). And because of the size of the figures, they're only good as display pieces, and aren't really useful for any kind of gaming. Yet despite their horrendous price (I think they charge $100 per figure), they seem to be doing well. How do I know this? Because originally they didn't have the means to meet demand, so they had a lottery system to decide who got their character made. However, they have since done away with the lottery due to being able to expand their production capabilities (buying more 3d printers, hiring more employees, etc).
Think about that. Their business grew despite the drawbacks. Namely 1) You can ONLY get a figure made of your World of Warcraft character, 2) The expense, 3) The size of the figure making it useless for anything other than display, and 4) Limited to a specific art style (WoW style) and only fantasy characters.
Now imagine if you could design your own character? One which could be of anything you dream of, from a fantasy warrior, to a US Marine, to a futuristic sci-fi warrior? Originally I toyed with the idea of having 3d artists work on individual pieces, but for made-to-order figures, the price is way to high. Instead, I need to get my hands on a character creator program. Something that'll allow customers to log into the online store, play with the image creator, and animate their own character. Then they send it off to me and I print it out. For those familiar with MMO's, City of Heroes in particular, I'm thinking a character creator along those lines, with that level of options. For those that aren't familiar with that, here're some images of the kind of variety I'd like such a program to produce. The first batch I made using City of Heroes, while the second bunch I collected from another 3d site.
Now, I can imagine what a lot of you are thinking. That this is a stupid idea. Believe me, I'd think so too if I didn't have a lot of familiarity with the miniatures industry. But there're several companies that're very successful with miniature lines. Here're links to some of their websites. And the last site, while an online store, shows many, many more. Just scroll down the bar on the left to see just how much variety there is when it comes to number of companies producing miniatures.
Reaper Miniatures
Games Workshop
War Machine
The War Store
So miniature companies can and have been successful. Here's the advantage that 3d printing has over the normal miniature making process, though. First off, you need to have a sculptor cast a green. Then you need to cast a mold of that green, and from that mold produce thousands of figures (I.E. Buying in bulk in order to keep down costs).
With 3d printing, however, a lot of those steps are eliminated. The biggest one is the need to manufacture thousands of miniatures in order to get them cheap by buying in bulk, because with 3d printing, you can make the models to order. So there's no overstock. There's no risk of creating a model and ending up with thousands of units sitting in a warehouse unsold, because you only make them when somebody orders one.
And of course, if you've got a program that the buyers can use to design their own model, then you eliminate the need for a sculptor/3d artist to produce each model. Sure, you have to pay for the program, but that's a onetime thing. Eventually that'll pay itself off. And it's definitely worth it, because I'd be able to provide something that NO other company can provide theirs: Customizability. The customers will be able to come up with unique combinations and can figures made of their crazy ideas, and produce something far more suiting to their gaming needs. Add to that figures which are made of a sturdy plastic and which already come painted, and there're numerous benefits to using 3d printers in a miniature production company.
And that's just the beginning. I'd like to thank the FReeper who suggested it, because I've already started reading E-Myth's, and I'm loving that book so far. I've definitely got a heavy dose of the entrepreneur, because I'm seeing NUMEROUS ways in which such a company can expand and grow.
As some of you may have noticed, some of those miniature companies produce miniatures in tandem with a miniature game. Basically a strategy game using the miniatures they produce. Miniature gaming is a distinct possibility. And because overstock isn't a concern, a large library of models could be made available for any kind of gaming. Fantasy warriors for a fantasy strategy game, power armored super-soldiers for a science fiction game, or even historical battles. Spartans and Persians to play out your own Battle of Thermopylae. Or British and Colonial American troops to refight the Revolutionary War. Or German Panzers and American tanks, and you can refight the battle between Rommel and Patton.
Then there's licensing possibilities. In keeping with my appreciation for nerd pursuits, I'd love to produce models for Marvel and DC super-heroes, or for sci-fi properties like Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica. Most importantly, though, I'd like to build ships to scale. For example, I recently ordered display pieces of the Enterprise and Enterprise-D. They look very nice, but unfortunately, they're not to scale. The original Enterprise should only be about the size of the saucer section of the Enterprise-D, yet they're about the same size.
What I would like to do, if I get the opportunity, is build different ship lines at different scales. So for example, there would be three Enterprise models. One would be six inches long, one three inches long, and one one-and-a-half inch long. That way a customer could own a large and detailed version of the Enterprise, but if they wanted to buy the Enterprise and the much larger Omega-Class Destroyer from Babylon 5, than they could get a smaller version of the Enterprise which is to scale with the Omega-Class Destoyer.
Of course, when it comes to licensed models, hiring 3d artists to produce individual pieces would be a prerequisite. However, while it's prohibitively expensive to pay a 3d artist to produce art for a model that you only expect to sell one of, that's not the case when you can expect to sell hundreds of a model, if not thousands. So in that case, 3d artists WOULD be cost effective. In order to defray initial costs, one could also probably pay them a percentage of the miniatures sold, rather than paying an upfront set fee (just a theory of mine, anyway).
And lest you all think this is all only of interest to nerds, I've had other thoughts which I think might be of interest to the general public. Imagine a miniature baseball or football game. It comes like a board game in Toys 'R' Us, where you buy a game board in the shape of a football or baseball field, with the field covered in a grid for moving pieces across it. Here's an example of what I mean.
The game would come with two generic teams that you could play. You could then go and buy boxed sets dedicated to individual teams. NY Yankees, Florida Marlins, etc, with pieces resembling real, current players. And the ingame statistics of the figures are based off of their actual realworld statistics. So a player who bats .334 in the real world would have a figure representing him which is a better hitter in the miniature game than the figure representing another player who bats .296. Think of it like Baseball Chess, except there'd be dice and other accoutrements.
That, I think, would be pretty neat for people. Pull out your baseball or football field board, pick your team, and start playing, moving around game pieces which look like the real life players. Or hell, even trade players, or create your own players and provide game rules allowing those players to improve in skill and talent the more they play and accomplish (I.E. an experience system).
Beyond gaming uses, there's also creating statues and other display pieces. And not limited to people, of course, as terrain pieces are also an option. A small plastic replica of, say, the Parthenon or the Lincoln Memorial would look nice in many a study, as would a diorama recreating important moments in history like the Boston Tea Party or Battle of Gettysburg. And then there's 3d family portraits. What mother wouldn't want a 3d portrait of her baby in the crib on her nightstand or coffee table?
The core business, custom miniatures for the consumer is, IMO, a strong enough market to warrant basing a business around (and I suspect I'm not the only one who's considered it, as Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, appears to be considering it as well). It's a market which has pretty much never been tapped, so I'd like to be the first to mine it. The beauty of this, though, is the potential for growth is immense beyond just that. The possibilities range from licensing to gaming, to home decoration. And then there's the sheer variety of models which can be produced (fantasy, sci-fi, super-hero, historical eras, modern era, people, aliens, vehicles, buildings, etc).
Like I said, a ton of possibilities there. Of course, there's also a lot of questions I need to answer first, but I'm taking things one step at a time. Not jumping head first into anything and trying to spend as little money as possible, as right now I'm just in the exploratory phase. So we'll see how it goes. Still, the whole idea makes my inner entrepreneur giddy with excitement. :)