Meet Bit Figs: 3D Printed, Pixel-Style Mini Figurines Built with the LEBLOX App

IMTS

Share this Article

bit1

I have experience working with and caring for children, and recently observed children’s attraction to a particular suitcase that sits on a high shelf in a childcare/play room. The room is filled with toys of all kinds, big Legos, Lincoln Logs, train tracks, and Barbie dolls galore. But the thing that really gets the kids’ header-2014bimaginations going is that little suitcase filled with dollhouse trinkets for really small figurines. They set up whole rooms with mini plastic electronic and kitchen equipment replicas, and many would play for hours this way.

I understand the fascinating world of small things. As a child, I loved the Sesame Street “Twiddle Bug Family” — they lived in the miniature world of Ernie’s flower box. As an adult, I developed an unhealthy obsession with these tiny ninja figures that my nephew collected from a gumball style machine. Now, there’s a new mini figurine on the horizon, thanks to the LEBLOX app: Bit Figs!

The LEBLOX team, based out of Paris, made an app for smartphones that fuses art and technology with some old school video game nostalgic imagery. More specifically, it uses the “signature look of the 8-bit characters from videobit2 games” that “could easily be used to symbolize [an] entire generation” — as 3DPrint.com wrote here not too long ago. LEBLOX is an app that lets users make their own “8-bit artwork, avatars and figures.”  You can imagine that this can be quite fun for people who appreciate the technology reference to simpler times inherent in the pixel-based imagery. LEBLOX is partnered with FabZat, and since 2013, the two companies have shipped thousands of 3D printed figures made with the LEBLOX app.

You can imagine all of the cool ways that this app can be used: a best friend’s picture turned into a small figure for her birthday, a selfie, special occasions, no reason at all…

bit3The Onell Design team behind Bit Figs decided to go ahead with this widely successful app and create some pretty fun and entertaining characters they are starting to roll out based on their other more complex video game/figurine series “Glyos System & Passcode Series, and the MADD roster.” Marc Beaudette and his twin brother run Onell Designs, and Bit Figs is one of their projects. (They also run a record label).

The figures are quite small: they are an average of about 1.5 inches, but some are even 1.25 inches small. The catch is that they can be increased in size before printing using the LEBLOX app, which Beaudette informs us about on a Glyos Connection thread.

If you are an avid fan of pixel-based, 8-bit character imagery, or just need a new twist on your obsession with miniature figures, then you should check Bit Figs out!  What are your thoughts on these creations  Let us know in the 3D Printed Bit Figs forum thread on 3DPB.com.

Share this Article


Recent News

Will There Be a Desktop Manufacturing Revolution outside of 3D Printing?

Know Your Würth: CEO AJ Strandquist on How Würth Additive Can Change 3D Printing



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

Featured

Pressing Refresh: What CEO Brad Kreger and Velo3D Have Learned About Running a 3D Printing Company

To whatever extent a business is successful thanks to specialization, businesses will nonetheless always be holistic entities. A company isn’t a bunch of compartments that all happen to share the...

Würth Additive Launches Digital Inventory Services Platform Driven by 3D Printing

Last week, at the Additive Manufacturing Users’ Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago (March 10-14), Würth Additive Group (WAG) launched its new inventory management platform, Digital Inventory Services (DIS). WAG is...

Featured

Hypersonic Heats Up: CEO Joe Laurienti on the Success of Ursa Major’s 3D Printed Engine

“It’s only been about 24 hours now, so I’m still digesting it,” Joe Laurienti said. But even via Zoom, it was easy to notice that the CEO was satisfied. The...

Featured

3D Printing’s Next Generation of Leadership: A Conversation with Additive Minds’ Dr. Gregory Hayes

It’s easy to forget sometimes that social media isn’t reality. So, at the end of 2023, when a burst of doom and gloom started to spread across the Western world’s...