Option to share or sell the 3D Models of our characters

[NersoBatatola.5721]

The thing is, for all of those into 3D printing/modelling, or simply everybody that would love to have a 3D model of he´s character at home...would be an interesting idea for ArenaNet to, somehow, selling or sharing, make our models available to the community. Im saying this cus, i started 3D printing recently and, being a Gw2 lover, having a 3D printed model of my character would be something really nice. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Teknomancer.4895]

Interesting idea. I don't have a 3D printer myself, but I can see how that might be cool to have.

Not sure how exactly they would do it, but Star Trek Online has a similar feature that lets you buy models of your ships done that way.

[Randulf.7614]

A very interesting idea

[Parasite.5389]

in terms of Selling models of in-game assets, please refer to https://www.arena.net/en/legal/content-terms-of-use#_Toc_General specifically section II (§) 3: Can Fan Projects be monetized or used for other commercial purposes?

[Chichimec.9364]

7 minutes ago, Parasite.5389 said:

in terms of Selling models of in-game assets, please refer to https://www.arena.net/en/legal/content-terms-of-use#_Toc_General specifically section II (§) 3: Can Fan Projects be monetized or used for other commercial purposes?

An important legal point.

40 minutes ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

Interesting idea. I don't have a 3D printer myself, but I can see how that might be cool to have.

Not sure how exactly they would do it, but Star Trek Online has a similar feature that lets you buy models of your ships done that way.

An interesting way for Anet to monetize this without any fan project issues.

8 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

A very interesting idea

If Anet were to offer this as an option, it would be a very interesting idea indeed. If the price were reasonable, say in the $20-$30 U.S. range, I'd buy one or two myself. If it were in the  $100+ range though, forget it.

[Teknomancer.4895]

8 minutes ago, Chichimec.9364 said:

If Anet were to offer this as an option, it would be a very interesting idea indeed. If the price were reasonable, say in the $20-$30 U.S. range, I'd buy one or two myself. If it were in the  $100+ range though, forget it.

They've already done some statuettes of NPC's like Rytlock and Peitha, included with premium-priced collector's editions of the game, so we already know the statuette concept isn't out of line with anything they've done before. The pricing would definitely be the big consideration, but the STO partner vendor has options starting around $35 USD, so it's not too far off. If you want bigger and/or more detailed, then the price goes up. I'm sure something like that would be in play here as well.

[Teknomancer.4895]

5 hours ago, NersoBatatola.5721 said:

would be an interesting idea for ArenaNet to, somehow, selling or sharing, make our models available to the community

It might just be a phrasing/ESL thing but I read that as asking ANet to do the selling or sharing. OP, if I'm interpreting that correctly in that you just want this for a personal collection and not to sell (because @Parasite.5389 definitely raises a strong point), then I suggest editing the thread's title for clarity.

Replacing the phrase "share or sell" with the phrase "download or buy" instead would more clearly convey what's being asked for here.

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

they can always seek a partner who specializes in selling 3D prints, but considering that GW2 isn't that popular, I'm not sure if it's worth their time.

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

This would literally PRINT money.  A nice high quality resin print.  Plenty of artists in the community too, could give them a way to earn income painting those same models.  Let's see car payment OR high quality painted resin model, decisions, decisions.....

[Teknomancer.4895]

4 hours ago, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

they can always seek a partner who specializes in selling 3D prints, but considering that GW2 isn't that popular, I'm not sure if it's worth their time.

Possibly, but popular or not I'd think the target market for something like this would really be current, long-term players who have worked on a character over time, building a signature look until it's in the "just right" Goldilocks Zone. That's the kind of player this would appeal to, so the game's popularity (or not) might not necessarily be a factor. 🤷‍♂️

[Kiki.9450]

I would love to have a resin model of my mesmer. Especially if I can paint it.

[SweetPotato.7456]

WARNING BRIGHT WHITE BARS  KILLING ME EYES

[NIGHTHUNTER.5139]

I like the idea of having a statue of my character 3d-printed and I found some files on thingiverse that are created with some ingame screenshots and a 3d-scanning software. You snapshot your character from different angles at a location with a pretty clean background (you could do it in a guildhall and build a "3D-Photo-Studio" with some of the decoration elements for example). Then you use the 3d-scanning software to render a model (stl) of your character. Then you have to clean up that model with some 3d-modelling software (123cad, fusion360...) and repair some of the parts that where scanned incorrectly because of the character movements while taking the screenshots. All in all, this will take a few days ^^ 

Since every character looks slightly different, you would have to make a new .stl file every time, then slice it and finally print it. I just checked the model "GW2 Caithe Sylvari" on thingiverse and it would take 12 hours to print. That's a lot for a statue only 16cm in height. When I scale it up to 26cm (the height of the Rytlock statue from the collector's edition), the printing takes 28 hours. And you will have to remove a lot of support without breaking the statue... I could not do this for under 100€, considering energy costs, material costs (ok, this is the least expensive thing here) and all the hours of work to finally have a model to print. 

But how can Anet sell these statuettes of Rytlock and Peitha for a quite reasonable price? Well... first they are not 3d-printed but casted and second they are produced in a rather large quantity (compared to a single character statue) . Making a casting form is very expensive, so the production of casted models gets cheaper the more statuettes you sell. Problem here is that every character looks different. So casting is not an option. And 3D-printing services would not be allowed to make profit with these models unless Anet cooperates with them. So I don't see a chance for us to get character statuettes in the shop yet. 

Edited October 29, 2023 by NIGHTHUNTER.5139

[NersoBatatola.5721]

On 10/29/2023 at 7:45 AM, NIGHTHUNTER.5139 said:

I like the idea of having a statue of my character 3d-printed and I found some files on thingiverse that are created with some ingame screenshots and a 3d-scanning software. You snapshot your character from different angles at a location with a pretty clean background (you could do it in a guildhall and build a "3D-Photo-Studio" with some of the decoration elements for example). Then you use the 3d-scanning software to render a model (stl) of your character. Then you have to clean up that model with some 3d-modelling software (123cad, fusion360...) and repair some of the parts that where scanned incorrectly because of the character movements while taking the screenshots. All in all, this will take a few days ^^ 

Since every character looks slightly different, you would have to make a new .stl file every time, then slice it and finally print it. I just checked the model "GW2 Caithe Sylvari" on thingiverse and it would take 12 hours to print. That's a lot for a statue only 16cm in height. When I scale it up to 26cm (the height of the Rytlock statue from the collector's edition), the printing takes 28 hours. And you will have to remove a lot of support without breaking the statue... I could not do this for under 100€, considering energy costs, material costs (ok, this is the least expensive thing here) and all the hours of work to finally have a model to print. 

But how can Anet sell these statuettes of Rytlock and Peitha for a quite reasonable price? Well... first they are not 3d-printed but casted and second they are produced in a rather large quantity (compared to a single character statue) . Making a casting form is very expensive, so the production of casted models gets cheaper the more statuettes you sell. Problem here is that every character looks different. So casting is not an option. And 3D-printing services would not be allowed to make profit with these models unless Anet cooperates with them. So I don't see a chance for us to get character statuettes in the shop yet. 

My idea was for Anet to share the files and then each person does wathever they want. But its true that would not be that good bcus of the privacy policies of the company.

[Baddxian.3851]

Years ago there was a small 3D printing outfit that would create small (3"-4") models of your WoW toon; I think they even came painted.  Of course the price was ridiculously high, but the drool factor was intense...

[Kiki.9450]

3 hours ago, Baddxian.3851 said:

Years ago there was a small 3D printing outfit that would create small (3"-4") models of your WoW toon; I think they even came painted.  Of course the price was ridiculously high, but the drool factor was intense...

I remember ads about this. Must have been during TBC or WotLK.

One thing I know folks could do with WoW is export character models (via WoWModelViewer) into Blender and use that as a basis for producing their own figures. I understand why GW2 doesn't allow exporting to Blender or other software though, and I think part of that at least has to do with a complexity to how the GW2 player models are built?

[Sakiri.4809]

18 hours ago, Kiki.9450 said:

I remember ads about this. Must have been during TBC or WotLK.

One thing I know folks could do with WoW is export character models (via WoWModelViewer) into Blender and use that as a basis for producing their own figures. I understand why GW2 doesn't allow exporting to Blender or other software though, and I think part of that at least has to do with a complexity to how the GW2 player models are built?

Pretty sure wow doesn't exactly allow it either. 

[Barraind.7324]

On 10/28/2023 at 9:50 AM, Chichimec.9364 said:

 

If Anet were to offer this as an option, it would be a very interesting idea indeed. If the price were reasonable, say in the $20-$30 U.S. range, I'd buy one or two myself. If it were in the  $100+ range though, forget it.

 

For price comparisons: Custom minis made through HeroForge will run you $20 for the absolute lowest end unpainted plastic figurine and $50 for higher quality painted plastic.

 

GW2 minis would likely not be any cheaper than that. 

[Taclism.2406]

On 10/28/2023 at 4:50 PM, Chichimec.9364 said:

If the price were reasonable, say in the $20-$30 U.S. range, I'd buy one or two myself. If it were in the  $100+ range though, forget it.

thats not how production scale / pricing works
You want a mass produced figurine of some well known character (or using the exemple cited above,of star trek ships), yeah 20$ is more or less the expected price.
For a custom, single print of your character, even 100$ may be cheap if the figurine isnt too small, and that's not adressing packaging & shipping (which must also be customised since the weight and shapes of different armors & gear would alter the figurine's balance & sturdiness)

Economics aside, if you truely want one, just ask your local artists / 3d modelers what are their fees for that sort of commission, they'll deliver way faster - and possibly at a cheaper price depending on where you live.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Taclism.2406

[NIGHTHUNTER.5139]

On 11/2/2023 at 3:19 PM, Taclism.2406 said:

Economics aside, if you truely want one, just ask your local artists / 3d modelers what are their fees for that sort of commission, they'll deliver way faster - and possibly at a cheaper price depending on where you live.

considering you'd have to pay them for their working time, this won't be cheap either. Even if you consider that the finalized model does lack some details, it would take several hours for an experienced artist to finalize a model that is printable. When I create models for my company, it usually takes me several hours or even days to build it, depending on it's complexity. A character statue would even take longer to create if you want it to look good and somehow accurate. If you can't do it yourself, you'd have to pay a LOT for it. Such things only get cheaper if you can either customize them easily or if you mass produce them to split the engineering costs on the final products.  A truly "unique" figurine  will never be cheap.