Post by wyvern on Jan 3, 2014 4:14:27 GMT -9
Yesterday (2014 Jan 2), I visited a new print and design shop that has just opened in my home town in England. They're not a new company, having two other units already established elsewhere in the local area. What caught my attention was they leafleted all homes in the town in December, which suggested they were willing to take on any task, from one-off print jobs to large-scale commercial design and printing operations. Naturally, this raised in my mind the possibility of high-quality printing for paper minis, terrain and maps, up to poster size, so I went along to enquire if this was realistic and affordable.
As one of the day's few callers in-person to the shop, I had quite a long chat with the MD, from which it seems practical for me to turn up with (or e-mail) JPEG or PDF files with the required materials on, and they'll do the rest, for a price which is competitive when contrasted with the only similar print-shop nearby, and at a quality level somewhat better than is available there. So, I'm planning a trip back to try a test on a couple of maps I'd like at poster size!
But that's not what I'm writing about here. During our discussions, I was introduced to a material called "Foamex", which the company can print directly onto. Foamex is basically a higher-density type of foamboard/foamcore, just as some of us use already for backing floortiles and card models. It's similarly lightweight and easy to cut with a good modelling knife, but its greater density means it's much harder wearing, and more rigid, than the "softer" conventional foamboards. It also comes in comparable thicknesses, of three or five millimetres (five millimetres is about two-tenths of an inch). Indoors, it should last indefinitely, and even outdoors (bearing in mind the British climate is not exactly benign) tests have shown it can last for two to three years.
My immediate thought was this would be a way to create durable gaming and modelling baseboards. The finished (printed) surface of the sample I saw had a mildly satin sheen, and would be wipe-clean, so to an extent water-resistant, which could create problems for gluing, but as the board can be cut easily, that should not be a great problem, and the cut (unsurfaced) sides should be as easy to use glue with as ordinary foamboard. In terms of cost, I was cited a ballpark figure (obviously, every job would be priced separately, partly dependent on the quantity required, since as normal, the greater the number of identical items printed, the lower the cost for each individual piece) of roughly 20 Pounds Sterling per square metre for a one-off job. At the current exchange rate, that would be about 30 US Dollars per square yard, give or take a little. That seemed very reasonable to me, given that such boards might be best used for convention, group or display use - you could create a robust "HeroQuest"-style basic dungeon floor layout board this way for repeated use, for example.
Further points of interest were that, at no extra cost, the company would provide the whole printed board (of whatever size) with laser-cut rounded corners, or square ones, or with the edge cut in any shape required (which has interesting potential for anyone wanting to make tiled boards with interlocking edges, a topic that's come up on the CWF before), and if needed, also with laser-cut holes near the corners (for example) to be used as mounting points, so the board could be fixed to a wall or display stand, say.
Of course, I'm not sure how transferrable these options might be to similar print and design studios outside the UK, but perhaps it may give some ideas to explore more locally, if such pro-printed materials might be of interest.
As one of the day's few callers in-person to the shop, I had quite a long chat with the MD, from which it seems practical for me to turn up with (or e-mail) JPEG or PDF files with the required materials on, and they'll do the rest, for a price which is competitive when contrasted with the only similar print-shop nearby, and at a quality level somewhat better than is available there. So, I'm planning a trip back to try a test on a couple of maps I'd like at poster size!
But that's not what I'm writing about here. During our discussions, I was introduced to a material called "Foamex", which the company can print directly onto. Foamex is basically a higher-density type of foamboard/foamcore, just as some of us use already for backing floortiles and card models. It's similarly lightweight and easy to cut with a good modelling knife, but its greater density means it's much harder wearing, and more rigid, than the "softer" conventional foamboards. It also comes in comparable thicknesses, of three or five millimetres (five millimetres is about two-tenths of an inch). Indoors, it should last indefinitely, and even outdoors (bearing in mind the British climate is not exactly benign) tests have shown it can last for two to three years.
My immediate thought was this would be a way to create durable gaming and modelling baseboards. The finished (printed) surface of the sample I saw had a mildly satin sheen, and would be wipe-clean, so to an extent water-resistant, which could create problems for gluing, but as the board can be cut easily, that should not be a great problem, and the cut (unsurfaced) sides should be as easy to use glue with as ordinary foamboard. In terms of cost, I was cited a ballpark figure (obviously, every job would be priced separately, partly dependent on the quantity required, since as normal, the greater the number of identical items printed, the lower the cost for each individual piece) of roughly 20 Pounds Sterling per square metre for a one-off job. At the current exchange rate, that would be about 30 US Dollars per square yard, give or take a little. That seemed very reasonable to me, given that such boards might be best used for convention, group or display use - you could create a robust "HeroQuest"-style basic dungeon floor layout board this way for repeated use, for example.
Further points of interest were that, at no extra cost, the company would provide the whole printed board (of whatever size) with laser-cut rounded corners, or square ones, or with the edge cut in any shape required (which has interesting potential for anyone wanting to make tiled boards with interlocking edges, a topic that's come up on the CWF before), and if needed, also with laser-cut holes near the corners (for example) to be used as mounting points, so the board could be fixed to a wall or display stand, say.
Of course, I'm not sure how transferrable these options might be to similar print and design studios outside the UK, but perhaps it may give some ideas to explore more locally, if such pro-printed materials might be of interest.