New Levels of Mini Piracy

[pixelgeek]

AI slop generates a copy, and people lap it up?

Even with my 'old man' eyes I can see issues with the AI generated print. I suspect that the folks that will use this won't care though

I’m ok with paying GW retail (never mind buying at a discount online), to say a HARD NO to this kind of seller.

I actually bought a GW product last night. I picked up the High Elf bolt thrower box to add to my Oathmark forces. I was reasonably priced for a GW release but some of the other prices still made my eyes pop.

There are quite a few good alternatives available from sculptors at quite good prices so there isn't really any reason to resort to this sort of thing unless you are adamant about using a GW mini. That said, this isn't a GW mini so I don't get it from that perspective either.

[pixelgeek]

I think mini sculptors are going to have to go to a subscription based library of .stls  in the same way that music and cinema became streaming services.

Not quite the same thing but there are several subscription services based on Patreon and My Mini Factory that gives people access to sculpts as part of a monthly fee

[anevilgiraffe]

that's annoyingly impressive considering... it's a shitty rip off and there are glaring differences, so I don't think that will pass muster at a tournament, but it's scary what it's done. I've never knowingly bought recasts (had my suspicions after the fact on some Nick Lund metals) and won't, this is no different... but sadly it's going to get to the point where it will be harder to tell even in hand and people will see a bargain and buy it...

[Gunbird]

Next up, RFID tags in models so at tournaments they can scan what is real and what is not? (of course, those can be counterfeited too.....)

[Tactalvanic]

Genetic tagging.

GW will require financial payment and in blood to gene mark your purchases.

Bio scans at all future tournaments to prove them little bits of plastic are genetically matched to you.

Bonus for GW, major impact on reseller market.

Will cause total confusion in historical tournaments when they implement it and scanners keep finding multiple gene doners on all the copper wire spears...

[Rick]

Genetic tagging.

GW will require financial payment and in blood to gene mark your purchases.

Bio scans at all future tournaments to prove them little bits of plastic are genetically matched to you.

Bonus for GW, major impact on reseller market.

Will cause total confusion in historical tournaments when they implement it and scanners keep finding multiple gene doners on all the copper wire spears...

That's fine. Most of my mini's already have my blood mixed in with them - I've lost track of just how many of them l've cut my fingers when trimming or converting them!  Only a few AREN'T genetically tagged at this point. 

[YPU]

I have to admit that I'm rather dubious of the original claim.

Its true that 3d model generation just from pictures has come a long way, but it still has a number of significant flaws. The actual mesh structure tends to be very poor and the sharpness of edges etc quite muted. Whats more grooves and engraved details of the kind that make a figure easy to paint really don't show up well at all. Many of these programs do map the picture onto the model as a "texture" so the colors etc match and the shading from the pictures can create the illusion of depth when there isn't any. Ironically render textures are anything but an actual texture.

On the model shown above, there are a bunch  of small details which are very sharply defined on the original model and have an entirely different shape on the 3d print. And not in the way AI misinterprets stuff either. There is also a bunch of stuff in positioning, proportions etc that doesn't match at all on closer inspection but doesn't look wrong perse. To me that suggests  that either it was AI generated but them cleaned up and pollised by a human afterwards before printing. Or more likely it was entirely sculpted by a person after all. There is definitely a bit of a subculture of sculptors who will be rearing to go the moment a new GW sculpt is revealed, racing trough the sculpting process to be the first person to have finished files ready.
Its a new level of piracy maybe, not not nearly as AI powered as is being suggested here, in my professional estimate.

[Waffles_vs_Tacos]

I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, stealing someone's intellectual property is inexcusable and wrong.

On the other hand, using this technology to one day to bring your own art to life in minature form would be really cool. Or artists using it to make their own 2D art come to life in miniature form, would be cool. Minis for periods no one makes designed would be cool.

It has good and bad sides. Stealing GWs IP as in the OP is a bad side.

[Basementboy]

Its a new level of piracy maybe, not not nearly as AI powered as is being suggested here, in my professional estimate.

I really hope you're right, but I honestly doubt it'll be long before there's AI good enough to pull this off somewhere out there. Cults3d and MyMinifactory already host AI generated designs for people to print, and I'm more and more worried about the real sculptors out there being muscled out of the picture by the sheer level of slop that AI can pump out.

[Easy E]

In a few years, I look forward to someone coming out with a game and miniature line that was 100% developed using AI, all in one "game" Universe.

[FinnN]

I really hope you're right, but I honestly doubt it'll be long before there's AI good enough to pull this off somewhere out there. Cults3d and MyMinifactory already host AI generated designs for people to print, and I'm more and more worried about the real sculptors out there being muscled out of the picture by the sheer level of slop that AI can pump out.

I think there’s a tendency to underestimate how quickly these things are developing - this took literally about 40 seconds with 1 picture of the mini at the top of the thread. Not as good as the version generated up top, but certainly in the ‘close’ zone and the geometry is usable. It’s done a sensible go at generating the reverse too. You can certainly imagine it being fine for a downsized model - say 32mm to 10mm/epic scale.

I don’t doubt that someone can generate something similar to that shown originally with the right knowledge. There are also AI tools now for adding missing details to 3d models. A few months ago this wouldn’t have been possible (at least not without a lot of work) - a year or two from now I expect the quality will be better and the workflow easier (although it doesn’t get much easier than uploading an image and hitting go).

[FinnN]

Even with extremely poor input images something interesting can pop out - hair is bad, and there’s a chunk of arm missing but it shows the potential for things other than straight piracy, and for a 3d modeller interested in churning stuff out rather than quality these would be not too hard to correct. Personally I think many aspects of these tools are unethical, but I think it’ll be hard to avoid the impact.

[mikedemana]

In a few years, I look forward to someone coming out with a game and miniature line that was 100% developed using AI, all in one "game" Universe.

There are already people having AI design their scenarios, create their character's background -- everything but sit down at the table and roll the dice for them...!  Maybe I'm different, but for me gaming is a creative outlet. What's the point of letting AI do the creating for me?

Mike Demana

[Rick]

There are already people having AI design their scenarios, create their character's background -- everything but sit down at the table and roll the dice for them...!  Maybe I'm different, but for me gaming is a creative outlet. What's the point of letting AI do the creating for me?

Mike Demana

Agreed. I don't see the appeal, quite frankly.

[HerbertTarkel]

Even with extremely poor input images something interesting can pop out - hair is bad, and there’s a chunk of arm missing but it shows the potential for things other than straight piracy, and for a 3d modeller interested in churning stuff out rather than quality these would be not too hard to correct. Personally I think many aspects of these tools are unethical, but I think it’ll be hard to avoid the impact.

I like that polyester look … burn, baby, burn: disco inferno! Disco Electric Boogaloo (2), Rise of the AI.

Watch the hair, ma! Ma: I spend a LOT of time on the hair…


I so love everything about disco.