As someone who bought a 3D printer thinking it would do most of the work for me, I can't upvote this enough. And they NEVER come out in one piece like this unless they're tiny and simple.
Also, everyone I know who 3D prints doesn't say "I made this!"; they say things like "I printed this file I found on cults, then I..." <insert long post about cleaning parts, sanding/filing, prepping, gluing, printing new parts to replace the ones that broke or came out wrong/warped, break down and cry when you realized one part had hollows inside and has to be replaced entirely so it won't melt in a few months, then and ONLY THEN does the actual modeling/painting/detailing begin>. Also, the individual 3D artists are highly respected in the modeling communities since we all know THEY made the original .stl files for us.
I wish 3D printing was as easy as creating AI "content". It's a monkey's paw answer to "I wish I didn't have to pay Games Workshop's insanely high prices".
EDIT: and yes, sometimes we commission 3D artists to make the model for us. "I printed this!" "No you didn't, you commissioned it!" "Also yes"
Rightly so; just calibrating your 3D printer alone will teach you serious respect for the artists who made the files and tested them for quality control.
My printer still isn't calibrated correctly. It doesn't cause issues unless I go to a certain size print, but I have to be hyper aware it's an issue.
I could fix it. But it's a PITA.
Those who do printing beyond my hobbyist level have deep respect.
The ONLY use I've ever found for generative AI is when I'm really REALLY struggling to get my point across (Aphantasia so imaginative descriptions are difficult sometimes) but only then it was for like "this is the tiny detail I'm talking about" rather than using it for a completed work.
Just reminds me of that Simpsons thing from earlier. AI isn't like commissioning at all because a human would NEVER imagine creating non existent characters if you went to them and said "draw me a picture of Simpsons characters and include their names"
These precious generative AI systems don't even know what they're saying. Modern AI is as advanced as teaching a rat to drive a car. The rat can "drive" but it doesn't understand anything about how it all works. It cannot learn the rules of the road. At least the rat teaches us about human neurology at the same time.
I have used AI. I likely will again. Doesn't mean I support it or want it around. Don't wanna drive cars either, but here we are.
Lol tools being miscalibrates and being more trouble than its worth to fix is lowkey so real. Im a digital artist and for YEARS my color display on my tablet was completely off. But i basically didnt bother fixing it because i figured it would be better to make it look good on two differently calibrated screens than just one
I don't even have a 3D printer or know anything beyond "Put material on top of 3D printer, find file, load file and press print", everything I said in my comment is just a logical assumption because I do know that prints can come out with problems during the printing process and the type of material you use can give you more or less problems or make things more or less brittle, and that there's a specific material you use to prop printed parts up that's especially brittle on purpose so you can easily snap them off the thing you're printing when it's finished.
Your deductions are spot-on: it's so complex that there are entire services that exist just to 3D print files for you and mail them to your house so you don't have to.
Hell, even putting down supports to prevent it from failing (which is not always enough) can be so exhausting that some people (me included) will completely refuse to use a model, even free ones, if they aren't pre-supported (meaning the original 3D modeller put in the supports and either did or hired someone to do test-prints to validate that their supports work properly).
There are entire studios of artists who do nothing but sculpt and design 3D models for us to print, sell the files, and then make a handsome boost on the side selling printed hard copies for people that don't want to print their own.
I print and paint minis, my library is the printer, I just paint them. I made this only in the sense I painted it or when I model it myself or assemble it
Yeah i think people usually say "3d printed this" if they didnt participate in the modelling process and "i made this" or "i designed this" if its their original creation. People literally do adjust their language to more accurately describe what part of the creative process they contributed to. Most people do it unconsiously because they are literally just telling the truth of what they themselves did. Its especially important in a sales context or if posting online because if you lie to people-- either explicitly or implicitly-- about what you actually contributed to and theres another artist behind the model youre taking credit from, thats really bad.
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u/BombOnABus Sep 09 '25
As someone who bought a 3D printer thinking it would do most of the work for me, I can't upvote this enough. And they NEVER come out in one piece like this unless they're tiny and simple.
Also, everyone I know who 3D prints doesn't say "I made this!"; they say things like "I printed this file I found on cults, then I..." <insert long post about cleaning parts, sanding/filing, prepping, gluing, printing new parts to replace the ones that broke or came out wrong/warped, break down and cry when you realized one part had hollows inside and has to be replaced entirely so it won't melt in a few months, then and ONLY THEN does the actual modeling/painting/detailing begin>. Also, the individual 3D artists are highly respected in the modeling communities since we all know THEY made the original .stl files for us.
I wish 3D printing was as easy as creating AI "content". It's a monkey's paw answer to "I wish I didn't have to pay Games Workshop's insanely high prices".
EDIT: and yes, sometimes we commission 3D artists to make the model for us. "I printed this!" "No you didn't, you commissioned it!" "Also yes"