‘Space Engineers’ Construction Game Now Allows Players to 3D Print Their Ships

Those who play Space Engineers, are now able to 3D print models of their ships thanks to a recent collaboration between the game’s publisher, Keen Software House, and BinaryNow, a software publisher come 3-D printing service. Space Engineers is a popular award-winning space-age sandbox game that was initially released in late 2013.

Though Space Engineers is still undergoing development, Marek Rosa, CEO and Founder of Keen Software House, said accessibility to 3-D printed items from the game was always part of the plan. “Apart from implementing new features and developing Space Engineers, we have also been considering of other ways that can satisfy our players, and the option of 3D printing their creations is something that we had in our mind for a long time now. It will make us happy to think a nice 3D-printed spaceship created in Space Engineers is decorating somebody’s room.”

Right now, ‘Space Engineer Prints’ is in beta, and 3D printing is only available for small ships. Later this year, BinaryNow intends to be able to print large ships and other objects. This service is also only available to Space Engineer players based in the United States. BinaryNow is using a 3D Systems’ ProJet 4500 to print the ships, which reportedly are lightweight, slightly porous and have a a “rough, grainy feel.”

Premysl Pech, chairman of BinaryNow said that his company’s service is an important bridge between the game and the gamer. “We use a photo realistic full-color plastic 3D printer to bring space ship models out of a virtual game into the real world. We are turning the actual space ships or other objects that gamers created into something that is physical and touchable to encourage gamer’s creativity.”

For a person to have their ship 3D printed, they must run Space Engineer and export an image of the ship to their hard drive. Then, the user can visit Spaceengineersprints.com, upload the image and pay the applicable fee. Once a design is submitted, BinaryNow’s team manually checks the file to see if it’s printable. They check the wall thickness of the design, wire thickness and clarity of detail, among other things. If the file isn’t printable as is, BinaryNow will work with the customer until things are resolved. Ships are not returnable after they have been printed.

Space Engineer Prints are $80, plus additional shipping and handling charges. They are about four inches tall and are models, not toys. You can learn more about Space Engineer Prints at here. Let us know if you have had your ship printed.  Feel free to post a picture, once received, in the Space Engineers forum thread on 3DPB.com.