July 12, 2014
Vancouver, Canada based startup Shapeit has just launched a crowdfunding campaign, in which gamers can bring their favorite game characters to life as 3D-printed figurines shipped directly to their door.
Gamers often spent a lot of time customizing their game character to perfection through upgrades, in-app purchases, and they also like to have some cool looking character art that would look great as figurines on their desk. But none are available for purchase.
Shapeit, a talented team of passionate developers and 3D-designers is currently developing a unique in-game API for game developers, through which gamers can select, customize, order, and manufacture real-life 3D printed figurines. As part of their crowdfunding efforts, supporters of the campaign can order their very own custom 3D-figurine in different sizes and options. By providing a series of screenshots and specifications, supporters can immortalize their favorite game characters by pledging their support directly to the developer.
Here is the process of building your own custom figurine:
Step 1: Take and Send screen captures of your character
Step 2: Shapeit turns screen captures into 3D model
Step 3: Shapeit 3D prints your gaming figurine
The Kickstarter campaign will run until August 14th and the funding goal is $50,000 CAD. The backer tiers ranges from $1 CAD to $219 CAD, and all tiers above $1 will get their own custom figures.
Shapeit is offering figurines in three sizes: 4" (10cm Large), 2.75" (7cm Medium), and 1.5" (4cm Small). The large figurines are made of a gypsum-based powder (Fullcolor Sandstone) with Z-Corp printers and come in full-color. The Z Corp 3D printer produces detail objects by incrementally layering and bonding successive cross-sections of a fine powder. Accuracy for full color objects is very good at 600 x 540 dpi with layers as thin as .0035" or .089 mm.
The smaller sizes are in one color of your choice or entirely plain and made out of high-quality plastic for extra durability. The smaller figurines are especially well suited for board gaming, and the larger full-color figures can be used as props.
"Be aware, that all figurines are hollow, so there will be some little escape holes usually at the bottom." notes ShapeIt.
You can check out the campaign introduction video below and find more info on their Kickstarter campaign page.
Posted in 3D Printing Services
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Wonder how they're handling copyrights of the characters
The Object Shop wrote at 7/12/2014 7:05:00 PM:
We are really excited to have teamed up with ShapeIt for the printing! It is awesome so see small companies working together like this instead of shopping it out to a larger company (our prices are lower than any of the major companies out there anyways ;D)