The service users of Popls are the people who are hard-core participants in the "Comiket" as exhibitors. They love manga and animation and actually produce the secondary creation related to them as well as goods and figures, meaning that they are the most sensitive group to quality.
The company admits that this 3D printer has the performance that satisfies these hard-core users.

Before introducing the "3DUJ-553" printer, the company has already operated a 3D printer.
It was a plaster-based 4-color printer that enables color printing, and the company used it mainly to create figures, so it was natural for the company to output colored 3D objects.

From left, Hiroyuki Fujie, Deputy Manager; Miki Nakazawa, Executive Vice-president; and Yuichiro Kodama, Manager

Hiroyuki Fujie, Deputy Manager of the Planning and Public Relations Division of the Planning Department, is a 3D printer operator. He is the man who played a key role in introducing this 3D printer, speaking out that he "wants to challenge a full-color 3D print with a higher definition."
Fujie, who is an illustrator himself, is a 3D modeling artist. Each time the company attends the Comiket, he himself works on production of goods for sale, as a man who knows how creators feel.

Hiroyuki Fujie, Deputy Manager

"I liked a sample cube at the first sight," says Fujie. "The development of colors, from dark to bright, was better than that of other object made of resin, not to mention plaster, and I felt it was totally different," he says of his first impression.

Colorful cube created with [3DUJ-553]

Another key person involved in the introduction is Yuichiro Kodama, Manager of the Planning and Public Relations Division of the Planning Department. He is familiar with the latest technology and printing business enough to serve as a seminar lecturer in "IGAS2018" known as one of the world’s four largest shows of printing machinery and materials.
"Because we used a plaster-based four-color machine, I thought the next one we would buy was ‘3DUJ-553’," says Kodama, who guarantees the product.

Yuichiro Kodama, Manager

The weakness of a plaster-based printer was strength.
"A plaster-based printer takes a lot of time and effort during working process," says Fujie. "The most obvious example is that an object must be handled carefully once modeled and taken out, because modeled objects are easily damaged. They are so fragile that we have to apply coating to harden them entirely, otherwise they cannot be products. Before doing this, there is also an operation that blows off the support material and the powder on the surface," he explains.
"There was also a case where a part of a component was missing when we removed the support material, and we had to create it from scratch," Kodama adds.

Flying powdered plaster makes the working environment less favorable, and plaster objects have the problem of poor weather resistance, so there was a concern where they would be faded or chipped over time after they are delivered to buyers.
Also, the quality created a sense of dissatisfaction, due to graininess in details and the color that could not be represented as intended.

Work created with the "3DUJ-553" printer, left, and the one with a plaster-based printer, right. The difference in smoothness is obvious.

The post process in the "3DUJ-553" requires no coating agent or polishing work, because the support material is already stripped off when an object is completed. The finish becomes uniform and there is almost no failure if data is created solidly, which is another key feature.
As for maintenance, plaster-based printers need to be oiled on a daily basis, and apart from this, flying plaster powder would make daily cleaning a heavy burden.
Compared with this, the "3DUJ-553" printer only requires daily head cleaning, and Fujie says he "was in charge of UV-curable inkjet printers, so I know the maintenance is basically the same." He likes the design and operation familiar to him.

Introduced [3DUJ-553] whose ease of use is also highly evaluated

The company, who has shown exhibits in the "Comiket" event since the first round, is also a regular attender of "Wonder Festival (abbreviated as "WonFes")."
While the "Comiket" mainly offers two-dimensional products at the coterie magazine spot sale, the "WonFes" is an event that exhibits and sells original models and created objects called garage kits.
Naturally, 3D prints are harshly evaluated.

A figure inspired by Halloween

A 3D figure designed by a famous illustrator for sale in "Comiket 94"

Original illustration

3D modeling data

3D figure

As a company that is ahead of its time, it is easily suspected that the company would not want competitors to enter the market, but Nakazawa encourages many companies to join it: "If the number of companies who use 3D printers like us increases to 30 or so, materials will get cheaper and the market will change."
Her underlying hope is that "Buyers belong to a younger generation, so I would like many people to buy at a low price," and that "I wish as many people as possible to realize the fun of 3D."

In a meeting room, the three chat about the future of 3D print cheerfully.

"There is a dream in 3D print," says Nakazawa. "When the 3D printer was introduced, all staff members were more able to see the future, have a dream, and get motivated by just looking at the created figure, instead of attending any kind of meeting. And it is also important for us that we have received attention from the 3D art community and were much talked about. I think that the money we spent buying the printer is well rewarded by the fact that we can show Popls that has further evolved," she says, assuring that introduction has had a positive impact across the company.

Nakazawa says [There is a dream in 3D print.]