FINAL FANTASY XIV Player Character[ACTION FIGURE]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MilkieTea

that’s an impossible request. even if they were 3d printed, they’d have to mold a 3d model in a specific program, and 3d print this model (which takes about anywhere from 10-70 hours), clean the model up, hand paint it, etc etc. they’d have to do this on command for EVERYONE who ordered this, and because it’s an artistic endeavor rather than something that can be manufactured and trained, each model would have imperfections and slight differences to each other in terms of quality depending on who painted the model, who cleaned it up, etc etc.

and if it weren’t 3d printed that means it would have to be hand molded, which would be hundreds of hours of manpower per player character.

---

Can confirm this is the reality. I have a ton of experience working with 3D printers (I have 3 currently in my house). It would be a ton of work for whoever got handed the task because they'd have to:

Create the model first
Send it to the printer
Pray to everything holy that the print/printer doesn't fuck itself up during the actual printing process and cause you to restart
Clean it up (i.e. remove all of the excess plastic sticking out of places)
Paint it & finish it

I doubt SE would pay people properly for these efforts either. Also, it would probably be more than $100 for each figure in my opinion, since they'd be charging for plastic costs, manpower and they also have to make a profit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoke to someone else who is more in the business than I am (ironically enough was here working on a print) and he said that it would 100% cost more than $100 and for the detail that we would want, Square would have to use liquid resin rather than normal printing plastic and is also extremely expensive. So, you're probably looking more into the $500-1000 range for everything once all is said and done.

Heroforge can do something similar for a reasonable price.

What you need are the STL files for a 3d Printer and it should be possible for SE to provide this.

Looks like I'll just have to commission something...
Ah well, that's never a bad option.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

There was a thread on this forum that ran for a number of pages done just after ARR's launch that requested official 3D printed minatures of player characters, and SE responded that the idea was intriguing and that it would be forwarded onto the development team... but alas nothing further came of it so I can only assume it was quietly abandoned as "too costly/difficult to implement."

Which is a shame as I would so pay for a minature of Enki in WHM or PLD AF at the very least, if not wearing her current PLD glamour. :D (I tried looking for the thread but it's a difficult proposition).

EDIT: found the thread in question, it's listed here: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ank-you-please.

---

Thanks for finding the post, maybe we can spark up enough interest to get an answer :D

I know WoW has (or had) something similar through Figureprints, but the wait times were pretty long with them being custom made. It wasn't an official Blizzard service either. I'd imagine it'd be a bit simpler in house to set up but it would still be very time consuming and resource intensive.

You best best is a lot of work. You could use freelancer sites to request a 3D modeler to render and pose your character, and have them export it as a stl or other file that a 3D resin printer can use. This step can be very expensive depending on who you use. Then use a 3D printing service of your choice. Then either paint it yourself or find someone else to do that part too. It will most likely set you back $500 or more easily unless you want to do a lot of it yourself.

The raw character files in game aren't really friendly for assembling into something useful for 3D printing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doki

You best best is a lot of work. You could use freelancer sites to request a 3D modeler to render and pose your character, and have them export it as a stl or other file that a 3D resin printer can use. This step can be very expensive depending on who you use. Then use a 3D printing service of your choice. Then either paint it yourself or find someone else to do that part too. It will most likely set you back $500 or more easily unless you want to do a lot of it yourself.

The raw character files in game aren't really friendly for assembling into something useful for 3D printing.

---

I agree, quality always requires a lot of work and I would be definitely willing to compensate for the work accordingly. That being said, I'd much rather purchase something official from Square Enix.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LianaThorne

Can confirm this is the reality. I have a ton of experience working with 3D printers (I have 3 currently in my house). It would be a ton of work for whoever got handed the task because they'd have to:

Create the model first
Send it to the printer
Pray to everything holy that the print/printer doesn't fuck itself up during the actual printing process and cause you to restart
Clean it up (i.e. remove all of the excess plastic sticking out of places)
Paint it & finish it

I doubt SE would pay people properly for these efforts either. Also, it would probably be more than $100 for each figure in my opinion, since they'd be charging for plastic costs, manpower and they also have to make a profit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoke to someone else who is more in the business than I am (ironically enough was here working on a print) and he said that it would 100% cost more than $100 and for the detail that we would want, Square would have to use liquid resin rather than normal printing plastic and is also extremely expensive. So, you're probably looking more into the $500-1000 range for everything once all is said and done.

---

I hear what you're saying, but Hero Forge exists.

Someone did this and posted it on reddit 2 years ago.
https://i.imgur.com/wA4P5ej.jpg

They (HewieAlbino) said it took them about 5 months to do in their spare time.

Link to reddit post
Link to imgur that shows multiple angles and their process

Hewie also did one of their friends PLD too:
https://i.imgur.com/TUGIyD9.jpg
Link to reddit post
Link to imgur that shows multiple angles
Link to imgur showing the process

Sinclair_Faye posted this 1 year ago on reddit:
https://i.redd.it/fdqypry5qxa31.jpg

They had it commissioned for about $850 (the 3-D modeler cost $400, 3D printing it cost them $250, and $200 for someone to assemble and paint it) and it took 6 months.
Link to reddit post
Link to imgur