3D printed vs Hand casted

For the moment I put ‘other’ as I have had little experience regarding 3D printed anything other than buying feeding dishes and a hide for my Crested Gecko a few years back. I found their lifespan limited, they warped after a while partially due to being cleaned in hot water, partially due to environmental factors. I know that doesn’t mean much as it depended on the type of plastic used (it was plant based plastics…apparently).

My answer is also based on the findings of a BJD artisan who found a body they’d printed for their own use had split and cracked quite badly after a short period of time. They suspected it was again down to the material used in the printer.

3D printing is still fairly new and experimental compared to casting, there are still many unknowns especially regarding longevity of printed objects and a lot is still trial and error.

Because of these factors I can’t really form an definite preference or opinion as my knowledge is too limited.

 

Most 3D printed plastic aren't that durable. They're prone to warping, cracking, and can break down under environmental factors. Thin parts and edges (fingers, toes, etc) can be translucent and brittle. 3D printed resin can be too brittle and scratch easily, contact/moving points (joints) are prone to powdering and wearing down even with proper fitting.

Most of the downside of 3D printing lies within the designing, testing and prototyping. For example, joints need proper fitting and testing, parts may require sanding and surface finishing, proper curing, etc... So if an artist has already handled all of this, then I think buying a 3D printed doll can be good depending on the price point.

I've held a 3D printed 1/3 doll, and it was noticeably lighter. Otherwise, I couldn't tell much of a difference, but that might have been because the owner spent months perfecting the doll.

 

The structural integrity of 3d printed will always be less then casted resin. The reason for this is because 3d printers cure the resin in layers or filaments, meaning the entire structure is cured at different times. Rather than a solid piece it is actually very thin pieces stuck together. Casted resin is one solid object cured chemically, making it much more durable.

For most situations and casual use the lower integrity isn't an issue. I will mention that 3d printed dolls cannot be dyed. Heat causes the layers to fracture and separate. But 3d printers can provide an array of colors.
UV resin which is what is used by the printers is known for being less hardy and less resistant to discoloration. Overall 3d printed will have a shorter life-span and durability than casted. But the lower cost can offset that, just depends on what you are looking for in your dolls. Longer life or more budget friendly.

 

This right here.
3D printing has the potential to produce extraordinary things (if you watch any trade show videos, there are some amazing things in the works), but it just ain't there yet. Or the sort of 3D printer that would produce the quality comparable to a hand-cast item is enterprise-expensive ($30K USD and up).
Maybe someday 3D printing will match the durability of hand-cast resin, but for now, I prefer hand-casting.

 

Like others have said, 3d printed resin is just not as durable due to the many layers. It also has a more noticeable texture in my experience, again, due to the layer lines. You can sand it down to some extent, but it still makes doing faceups trickier for me, since i mostly like to use pencils instead of paint. This is fine for something small, like the little Dollightful bunny, but for a larger bjd that I'm going to be putting a lot of time and money into it's just not going to cut it for me. For what I've seen people charge for a 3d printed doll, it's not worth the expense given the lack of longevity to me. There's also the downside that 3d printed dolls are considered off topic for DoA, which is where I get most of my bjd information and interaction with the community. I want to be able to blab about my dolls anywhere in the forum, and not just in brigadoon xD (not that i don't enjoy the brigadoon section! i just like chattering lol)

 

I'm moving this conversation to Brigadoon, since 3D-printed dolls are off-topic for this forum.

@Leafieg - you can't post a doll profile for an off-topic doll.

 

3d printed dolls can also be cast later, which I think is the best way to go for 3d sculpted dolls right now - the printed resin is just too brittle for long-time use with the type of resin that is used and with the line-by-line structure. But it's also more accessible than casting services so it makes sense to use for smaller batches or very fiddly small work of course.

Personally, I prefer dolls that can take a bit of a beating I'm also not a fan of the feel/weight of 3d printed resin, but that's very much a me-problem only.

 

i use printer to print my own dolls, the quality of the resin makes the difference, i use resione , its very hard and non brittle. other cheaper, resins are not suitable for bjd because its too soft. yes around the eyes it can be a little bit thin and depending what resin is used translucent, but it depends on the sculpt and how thick the parts around the eyes are. i prefer thinner eye lids, it looks more realistic than the thick one, and mostly when applied eyes and faceup its not noticeable. btw even casted dolls can have "translucent" parts, it depends all on the sculpt and finally what resin is used.
Small dollmakers cant afford often the amount of pieces for casting production. example, i need minimum order 20 full dolls one color, for me as small artist thats not suitable because i want to be flexible in my work. And artist need to pay caster in advance.. so i can understand very well why small artists are better selling 3d printed than casted. just my point from an artist view...and yes the huge difference is the weight and printed dolls can have here and there little bumps (like a garage kit maybe?) , its naturally not as completely smooth like casted and maintained resin. Since i gave my printed heads to an faceup artist, i wanted to know how this works and yes the best methods on printed heads seems airbrush. but all other worked too but its a little bit tricky.
Making a bjd is not a fast thing (working constantly since 3 years on mine) and most artist have alot of ideas for new or better things to improve the doll especially the joints or making accessories ect. But this is impossible when the doll got finally into casting production.

 

I have a 3D printed doll and she's not bad quality but when I compare her to my other dolls the difference is noticeable. Her resin is very different compared to any other doll I own, I physically had to suede her because otherwise the noise of her joints moving against each other was awful and it was scraping both sides quite badly. On the positive side, she's got a lot of joints which fit together and she moves well, she'll stand on her own and, as I said, she is not bad quality especially when I consider than she was about a tenth of the price of some of my other dolls. She's not that delicate either, I mean I wouldn't let a small child play with her but I'm not worried I'm going to snap a finger off.

 

As someone who has been a longtime BJD fan but couldn't justify the cost for many years, 3D printing gave me access to the hobby a lot sooner. My first printed doll was a Kabbit, and I ended up printing it in PETG to use up filament from a different project. This meant that it would be a lot more durable and longer lasting than anything in PLA which is the norm for FDM printing. Its durable as all get out and its been a joy customize and craft items for. I have access to a resin printer as well but haven't experimented with printing a doll on it yet. I don't think you can achieve the same quality with FDM printers, even with a lot of careful processing. Resin printers however, I do think you can come extremely close to achieving the same look as hand cast if not indistinguishable if you know what you're doing. That said I think there will always be a preference for hand casted because of the trusted/proven quality and durability. I also know there are some things that you can only do with casting that you can't achieve with printing. Example, the dream valley bone butterfly. Her bones casted in see through resin limbs is pure hand casting artistry. If you can achieve that with 3d printing and make it look that good as a hobbiest my hats off to you as that seems nigh impossible.

When browsing for .stl files from artists to print I've noticed many offer the fully printed doll that they print and ship to you as an option. Many of them are pretty cheap and aren't a terrible option when getting started just to get your hands on something.

I just bought my first BJD and am excited to start customizing it. I feel confident knowing I have the skills to execute my ideas because I started with something I printed and could screw up, that I felt totally okay with screwing up. I think that is where the 3D printed dolls really shine.

 

I have a 3D printed doll (the one in my profile picture). The artist is my irl friend who's been making dolls in different ways for over a decade.
I haven't noticed any problems described above - no scratching or terrible sounds. Mine is only 30 cm tall though.

 

Ooh I was curious what others thought about this too and planned on eventually making a "printed vs cast" thread in the workshop section. There are a lot of points that can be brought up in depth, but—quick answer—In my experience they can be virtually indistinguishable from one another. I honestly think they are equal in different ways. Both have pros and cons and it just comes down to what matters most to you. As long as the printed resin doll uses appropriate high quality resin and is post processed properly there is very little difference in terms of quality. I'm just not sure how printed resin holds up over the long term.. like decades. That is yet to be determined. My printed dolls are actually heavier that their cast sisters and they do not have a grinding/dusting problem or make strange noises. I've tossed a bunch of cast and printed dolls into the same box for storage and when I pull one out to work on I have to take a second to figure out which kind it is. So I chose "both" on the poll.

 

All I have against printed dolls is that there's often no clear disclaimer about the difference between cast and printed, and the fact that the doll is printed is somewhat of a fine print statement or hugely downplayed. These dolls are generally priced higher than cast ones which feels a bit exploitative to be honest. Sure it's all "artist dolls" but indie sculptors who have their dolls cast from a company have a different kind of overhead to justify higher prices.

 

I prefer cast dolls a little more, but I use 3D printing a lot for when I want a doll but I don't have enough interest to do a casting run (in addition to the current international trade chaos ). 3D printing has some advantages for small batches, but after a certain amount casting is more time effective. Mold gates are a bit less annoying to sand than like the tons of little pockmarks from supports. There's some shapes that are easier to print than mold and vice-versa.

I thought my older resin printers were already impressive, but my newer ones can print even smoother.

3D printed dolls are improving as the resins available for printing improve, as well. I wish more 3D printed doll makers were a little more upfront about which resins they are using because I dislike the grinded-joints appearance and which resin a maker uses can be a large factor with that.

Sirayatech Mecha and Resione TH-BJD perform amazingly. It's less fragile and doesn't grind to powder at the joints. But since TH-BJD is quite new, it's hard to say how well it will compare to like a cast doll at like 5 years old, etc.

Resione is also coming out with a "bronze" skin tone for TH-BJD which I am excited for.

Filament printing has improved a lot, but it always feels like a Pyrrhic victory to print minimal lines with that since the smaller nozzles take 5ever. I like it enough for large objects, but I wouldn't make a final product doll with it.

 

If Eve Studio dolls are 3D printed they're good quality because my 1/12 scale guy has put up with a lot. I've also turned keychain decorations in to doll heads and put jewelry eye screws in a number of things that have survived over the years.

The only trouble I've had was with something that was printed way too thin and probably came down to a design error. It was a miniature version of something that if printed original size or made of stronger stuff would have probably been fine.

 

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of the resin 3D printed dolls I have--with a good sanding, made of the right resin (like Zekarmisama and a few others have mentioned, not all is equal) you can't really tell the difference right away. I now have 3 fully 3D printed BJDs and I quite like them. They're smooth and pose well, and I don't have much issue with grinding/powdering at the joints. Honestly it's a shame they're not on-topic for DoA, because the quality of them has really gotten very good and professional!

That said, I do still prefer cast resin in a few ways. Predictability is probably the main one. I don't own a printer myself, and don't have much interest in printing out entire dolls (yet), but a lot of folks are doing very cool stuff with them and I think they've contributed a lot to the variety of things available.

 

Maybe there should be a separate tab for that!
Expand the fan base and make our community more inclusive! just a humble consideration before the dolly council!

 

As a sculptor, I like the use of 3D printing for inner components for a doll I want to cast later. It means that things like symmetrical shapes can be structured, or the inner workings of a head and cap can be neat and tidy. Then one can work on top of those shapes in clay, and cast the results.

I do know a lot of artists also do all their sculpting in 3D programs and then print, the cast into resin. That's very cool too, and takes a LOT of skills i do not have! I'm a Traditional trained artist who never got training in 3D Software so when I try to use it I end up making lots of little holes in space in accidental dimensions or something.

Dolls that are only 3D printed are cute, and a great way to play with dolls, but them and Resin BJDs are two different things. THe above mentioned issues with printing are a major point to consider, and most printed stuff has lines in it unless you use a resin printer. It is exciting to see how this technology is evolving forward though, and all the cute printed dolls people will make!

 

i would say resin printed dolls are the future. Same for KI generated 3DModels.Since Resione brings out the new Doll Resin we are a step closer to have a printed Doll with stable Resin. in tbe end i would say, the only dufference between the two is, that some ppl could be allergic on the UV inhibitors in the printed Dolls. Except that, both resins are yellowing over time without a uv protection, maybe printed resin could become brittle alittle bit faster then casted resin, or could break because the they are very thin printed. But as an artist, its much more creative freedom to create Things or dolls without sending the parts to a caster and to wait for it long time, besides this we need to order alot of dolls for this, even if maybe nobody wants to buy the finished casted dolls. its high financial risk for small businesses. For real, i love my 3d printer.