Up next in 10
This video is a bit more long-form than usual, If you are a regular viewer, maybe skip to about 00:07:00 - (though I hope you will watch it all anyway to help boost the video and allow it to reach and help more people) But many of you have seen me make this same point over and over in all of my printer review videos. And I've promised for a while that I'd stop repeating myself and make this separate video for the beginners. And now, in future videos I don't need to talk about 2k, 4k, 8k, 9k, 12k, 14k etc being misleading marketing terms anymore YAY! - I can just refer people here, which allows me to spend more time in reviews focusing on a printers features and the results it delivers.
TLDW, please stop comparing printers by their K metric, that measures the screen resolution, not the print quality - we nee something new, please can we call use AVC instead.
All external links in our video description are affiliate links. Clicking these and making any purchase will earn us a commission at no cost to you
*See our reviews below*
Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k - https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-100540162-15455803
Amazon - https://geni.us/PhrozenSonicMini8kS
Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8k - https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-100540162-15455804
Amazon - https://geni.us/PhrozenSonicMighty8k
Phrozen Sonic Mighty 12k - https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-100540162-15455799
Uniformation GKTwo - https://geni.us/Unfomation (Discount Code “FAUXHAMMER")
Amazon - https://geni.us/UniformationGKTWO
See all reviews (Alphabetical Order)
Anycubic Photon D2 - https://youtu.be/vncgc5o0yaQ
Anycubic Photon Mono 2 - https://youtu.be/WAc4paIQAvw
Anycubic Photon Mono X 6k S - https://youtu.be/rmJJI_qAQQ4
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
in case you missed it I'll say it
0:01
clearly 12K printers are irrelevant as
0:05
are any printers with resolutions above
0:07
12K and that's not a joke I'm very very
0:10
serious when I say this and you might be
0:12
watching and thinking but I just bought
0:14
a 12K printer does that mean I wasted my
0:16
money well the potential scenario where
0:19
you're uncertain is kind of the point of
0:21
this video well it's one of them anyway
0:22
and unlike others where I've said this
0:24
video may upset some people well this
0:26
time I'm certain yeah I already know for
0:29
sure that this video will definitely
0:32
upset some people is it you let's see
0:36
I'm Ross and this is fa Hammer videos so
0:39
first off the inspiration behind this
0:41
video is twofold one is because pretty
0:44
much every resin printer I've reviewed
0:46
has a 3 to five minute section of me
0:49
making the same point and my most
0:50
frequent followers are getting bored of
0:52
hearing it and honestly I'm getting
0:55
bored of saying it but also despite my
0:58
incessant repetition on some of my most
1:00
recent videos a few long-term followers
1:03
have made comments which shows they
1:05
still don't get it and I'm sorry to say
1:08
they like the brands are unintentionally
1:10
feeding the fire and leading more people
1:13
to believe completely the wrong thing
1:15
about resin printers so yeah as I was
1:17
saying 12K printers are irrelevant even
1:20
more so are 14k printers or 16 or 20 if
1:24
we ever get there but please let me
1:26
explain because I strongly suspect you
1:28
think I'm going to say it's because the
1:30
quality difference is so small between 8
1:32
and 12K that it makes the upgrade
1:34
redundant well no not at all sorry
1:38
because 8K printers they're irrelevant
1:40
too as our 4K and 2K printers so here we
1:44
go I've done a lot of videos on this
1:46
channel now and as I write the script
1:48
I'm about to reach 4 and a half million
1:50
views which well it's just insane when I
1:53
think about it so honestly I try not to
1:56
but to you the viewer thanks so very
1:59
much for being a part of this journey
2:02
but with that many views can you guess
2:04
what my most viewed video is is it my
2:07
dry brushing for beginners video which
2:09
has got 100,000 views nope is it my
2:13
printing minis in fdm video with 150,000
2:16
views yeah it's not that either so
2:18
obviously then it must be my 3D printed
2:21
boltgun video with almost
2:23
250,000 views yeah it's not that at all
2:27
it's a little short which is no more
2:29
than an outake from my Saturn 2 video
2:31
review and it's got over half a million
2:34
views on its own and regardless of the
2:37
content of that little short the reason
2:39
why people clicked it is because it's
2:41
called 8K 3D printers are irrelevant and
2:45
since well this is a YouTube channel and
2:48
the deal is I want views in exchange for
2:50
the information I share I'm 100% going
2:53
to use that title again because yeah it
2:55
gets clicks I am assuming that it's part
2:58
of the reason you're here right now but
3:00
the point of that video much like this
3:02
one was nothing to do with the printers
3:06
themselves and for those of you amongst
3:08
my viewership who are wise enough to
3:10
understand the value of Hyperbole and
3:11
you accept how YouTube actually works
3:14
yeah it was no more than a clickbait
3:16
title but the video then went on to make
3:18
what I still believe is a very valuable
3:21
point which is why I'm making a longer
3:23
video about the exact same topic for the
3:25
rest of you just like that vid there's
3:27
the comment section below this video
3:29
please enter your complaint there I
3:30
promise I will read it back to everyone
3:32
else who doesn't want to winge and
3:34
complain if you fancy a laugh go and
3:36
check out the comment section on my 8k
3:38
printers are a relevant short video and
3:40
yeah it's a good laugh it's amusing I
3:43
spend a lot of time there just fending
3:46
off unwise
3:49
responses let's get on with it so the
3:51
point of all these whatever K prins
3:54
being irrelevant is nothing to do with
3:56
print quality it's a complaint about
3:58
marketing still with me I am going to
4:01
share valuable information this video
4:02
it'll be worth it and it'll inform
4:04
future buying decisions and it'll help
4:07
you shut down incorrect information when
4:09
people try to make the same incorrect
4:11
point over and over but please don't be
4:14
rude because you can't blame people for
4:16
knowing no more than what they've heard
4:17
from someone else maybe it was from
4:19
someone they trust and maybe it was said
4:21
in such a way that it then made sense in
4:23
that person's way of thinking about how
4:25
printers work so if you are going to
4:27
correct people especially online try not
4:30
to come across as rude and arrogant
4:32
because then I wouldn't have a job
4:35
that's what I do on this channel sorry
4:38
so yeah there is a lot to learn in resin
4:40
Printing and I actually have some videos
4:42
coming up soon about how difficult it is
4:45
for the beginner that will hopefully
4:46
speed up the process for some people but
4:49
yeah there's quite a lot to take in I
4:51
just want to put a stop to this one
4:54
thing so let's make this point one last
4:58
time and for my usual viewers please
5:00
stick around and watch this because your
5:02
view today tells YouTube to feed this
5:04
content to other people and then more
5:06
people will learn from it so here's the
5:08
point I'm sick of making 8K 12K 14k Etc
5:14
doesn't actually mean anything useful
5:18
and for anyone new before you respond to
5:20
that as so many people did on my short
5:22
what I mean is it means nothing in terms
5:24
of a comparable metric between different
5:27
printers and that's because it does not
5:29
function fun as a simple quality metric
5:31
for any individual printer in fact it's
5:34
an outright stupid value which misleads
5:36
consumers more than informs anyone you
5:39
see just today I was in a live chat for
5:41
my premiere for the Nova 3D Ultra 14k
5:44
printer and someone made the following
5:46
comment the human eye can see a maximum
5:49
of 32k and if you don't already know
5:51
you're all about to find out why that
5:54
statement makes no sense and I'm sorry
5:56
to the person who brought this point up
5:58
I'm not attacking you direct directly
5:59
with the point I'm making it's just the
6:02
most recent and relevant example that I
6:04
can use because anything K doesn't mean
6:08
anything on its own let's just go back
6:11
to 8K as a basic example and more people
6:13
probably have 8K printers the 8K
6:16
resolution refers to a device that has
6:19
approximately 8,000 pixels on the
6:21
horizontal axis at least in marketing
6:23
terms anyway and whilst the recognized
6:26
standard of 8K is four times full h D
6:29
horizontal resolution of 1920 that gives
6:32
us
6:33
7,680 pixels 8K by the marketing
6:37
standards could mean anything from
6:40
7,501 pixels to 8,500 pixels on the
6:44
horizontal axis and this 3D printer
6:47
marketing has been adopted from
6:49
the display industry where well they use
6:51
the K designation to differentiate
6:53
television resolutions in a simple way
6:56
we all know what a HD TV is we all know
6:58
what a 4K K TV is we know that 4K TV is
7:02
better than HD TV because it's a massive
7:04
and often obvious jump depending on the
7:07
size of your screen how far you are from
7:09
it and what content is being played on
7:11
it but when it comes to resin printers
7:13
there are two very important differences
7:15
which is why the K designation just
7:17
doesn't work one is that printer brands
7:20
are frequently operating with the
7:22
generally something K resolution rather
7:25
than going with the industrywide
7:26
semi-official standard values with the
7:29
current claimed 14k printers you only
7:32
get about 2/3 the amount of pixels you
7:34
should get on a true 14k resolution in
7:37
fact the pixel count on these displays
7:39
is less than what a true 12K would be
7:43
and they're actually closer to True 12K
7:46
than any of the 12K printers and the
7:48
other reason to stop using this is that
7:51
the output of a printer is not an image
7:53
displayed on a screen it's a printed
7:55
model and it's the output thing from any
7:59
device that you interact with that we
8:01
need to know the measurable differences
8:03
of and your prints themselves are not
8:06
12K prints that doesn't make sense you
8:09
see on a TV or monitor the output thing
8:12
is an image or series of displayed
8:14
images so in that case resolution works
8:18
because you get the resolution the pixel
8:21
density of the thing being output the
8:23
image being output and in that scenario
8:27
the difference between HD and 4K is so
8:29
big and typically visible to the human
8:32
eye that we can use the K as a clear
8:35
differentiator I mean it's not like you
8:37
see any 6K TV sets do you and whilst
8:40
they exist you don't see many 6K
8:43
monitors either now when it comes to
8:45
printers these resolution differences
8:47
are so small from the earliest 2K
8:49
printers back when this hobby really
8:51
started to Boom to the follow-up 4K
8:53
printers to the 8K printers which have
8:55
all but peaked in terms of printer
8:57
output quality and now the 12K and 14k
9:00
printers neither of which are even close
9:02
to delivering their namesake brands have
9:05
now tripped over themselves by
9:06
concocting so much of this marketing
9:09
and have done it to such a
9:11
degree and attempt to appear better than
9:13
the competitor but it's all become
9:15
meaningless but the problem is beginners
9:18
can still be swayed by this and I want
9:20
to do everything I can to stop consumers
9:23
being misled and the problem which has
9:25
been happening for a few years now and
9:27
the point of that original short video
9:29
that I made is back when the original
9:32
Sonic Mega 8K came out I saw so many
9:35
comments in Facebook groups with people
9:37
shocked that the quality of that printer
9:39
was poorer than the mini 8K now yeah
9:42
they're both 8K printers of course so
9:45
why is the print quality not the same
9:48
well once again it's because we're
9:49
comparing the display resolution from
9:51
the LCD on the printer rather than using
9:53
a metric which defines the print quality
9:56
so for one last time saying a printer is
9:59
8k means nothing okay right fine for the
10:03
naysayers yes it means something but it
10:05
means very little as mentioned 8K just
10:09
seemingly means there's somewhere
10:10
between 751 and 8,500 pixels on the
10:14
horizontal display axis of a printer's
10:17
display now if you have a really small
10:19
printer like the mini 8K with its 7.1 in
10:22
screen which has 7,680 pixels on that
10:25
axis those pixels are tiny so when your
10:28
model is made it's made of lots of tiny
10:31
squares those squares in that printer
10:32
are 22 microns wide and 22 microns deep
10:36
across the horizontal plane of the build
10:38
surface now the Sonic Mega 8K is also 8K
10:42
but because the screen's bigger it has
10:44
the same number of pixels because 8K
10:47
doesn't mean pixels per inch it's a
10:49
fixed value it still means
10:51
7,680 pixels wide and it also has the
10:55
same depth but that's stretched out over
10:57
a larger area so your pixels are bigger
11:00
therefore the rendered shapes or the
11:02
rendered squares on the actual printed
11:05
model are also bigger which results in
11:07
less detail that was the whole point of
11:09
the video but wow again go back and look
11:13
at the comments on that short just to
11:15
have some fun if you understand what I'm
11:17
talking about so as I was saying because
11:19
we're making 3D objects which also have
11:21
a height Dimension the rendered layer is
11:24
determined by your chosen layer height
11:26
which is typically decided by you in the
11:28
slice assess in now if we're measuring
11:31
the output of a printer the printed
11:33
model as we should be then we aren't
11:35
measuring pixels we're measuring what is
11:37
commonly referred to as voxal so going
11:41
back to the example of the Sonic mini 8K
11:44
each layer of a print is made of voxels
11:46
which are at minimum approximately 22x
11:49
22x 20 microns with the 20 being the
11:53
layer height now yes you can make the
11:55
layer height axis smaller but let's just
11:56
keep them as close to equal as possible
11:58
for for the sake of Simplicity yeah so
12:00
we can explain this point so as I said
12:02
before if you've got a printer with a
12:04
larger 8K display like the Sonic Mega 8K
12:07
the horizontal resolution is still 7,680
12:10
pixels and they are square pixels on
12:12
both printers but because of this
12:14
printer's 15in screen which is over
12:17
double that of the mini 8K 7 in
12:20
approximately then the pixels are now 43
12:23
microns in size which is also pretty
12:26
much double so in that case your best VX
12:29
size from this machine is approximately
12:31
43x 43x 40 microns and again that 40
12:35
microns comes from the layer height so
12:37
the point is the output print quality
12:40
from the Sonic Mega 8K for example can
12:43
only be half as good despite it also
12:46
being 8K just like the Sonic mini 8K so
12:49
in that regard yeah 8K printers are
12:52
irrelevant because just like 12K 14k or
12:55
anything K the metric is absolutely
12:58
irrelevant relevant to anything that the
13:00
printer outputs without also knowing the
13:03
screen size of the printer so the K
13:06
metric is irrelevant in case you haven't
13:09
quite got the point yet and I'm sorry to
13:11
be so arrogant with it but I just want
13:13
to make sure for once we don't have to
13:15
talk about this ever again let me just
13:17
give you an analogy it's like someone
13:19
saying I've got a 2.8 L engine in my car
13:22
suggesting that that means that car is
13:24
more powerful than a car with a 1.6 L
13:27
engine now for power output we actually
13:30
use horsepower per kilogram and that's
13:33
because we measure and compare the
13:35
relative output of a thing the car
13:38
rather than the value of a single
13:40
component within it the engine size and
13:43
yes if you want to be pedantic in this
13:45
example it of course is not the only
13:47
relative metric when comparing vehicles
13:49
but it is the most common one that the
13:51
Layman would quote whilst the efficient
13:53
AOS would then go into further detail
13:55
about various aspects to nail down
13:57
overall performance but even then you
13:59
won't know the difference until someone
14:01
actually gets them on the road next to
14:02
each other and tests them practically in
14:04
the same environment and circumstances
14:07
now the same's true of 3D printers but
14:09
here's where we get to the whole point
14:11
of the video I want to change this I
14:13
want to change this marketing crap I
14:16
want to change the whole face of how
14:18
resin printers are advertised and that's
14:21
for the sake of us all and I need your
14:23
help to do it now I've pretty much
14:25
screamed for over a year we need to stop
14:27
looking at k and I also hope we can
14:30
begin to openly but politely object to
14:33
Brands and people who continue to
14:36
publish and talk about this metric now
14:38
that's step one step two is agreeing a
14:41
metric that we can use a metric which
14:43
infers the quality of the things that
14:45
the printers output rather than just a
14:47
component inside and something that
14:50
forces Brands to conform to a comparable
14:52
standard that we can all use together
14:55
now whilst I already talked about this
14:57
and put a poll on my YouTube channel and
14:59
Facebook group the suggestions that came
15:01
back were actually quite good and we
15:02
were limited in that poll because what I
15:05
want is something that limits the brands
15:08
from all the they tried with
15:10
the release of these 12K screens because
15:12
many of them initially tried telling us
15:14
the pixel size was 19 microns when in
15:17
fact the pixel size was only 19 microns
15:20
on the x-axis because on the Y AIS they
15:23
were still 24 and they actually tried to
15:25
get away with that and people like vogan
15:27
did a good job by calling it out in his
15:29
video now we could say they should
15:31
follow what companies like GoPro did
15:33
with their 5.3k resolution which
15:36
actually is
15:37
5,320 pixels but the problem is if we
15:40
did that the 8K printers would all
15:41
suddenly be called 7.6k printers and the
15:44
12ks they'd probably be called
15:46
11.5k the thing is we already use K for
15:49
display screens and doing this would
15:51
become more confusing not less now I can
15:55
already hear people screaming at this
15:57
video just use DP
15:59
but the thing is DPI is dots per inch
16:02
and we aren't printing with dots now yes
16:04
we could use PPI or pixels per inch but
16:07
again we aren printing pixels that
16:09
refers to the screen components not the
16:12
output products and again it also
16:15
doesn't limit the brands from claiming
16:16
BS numbers on different axes forcing the
16:20
brands to announce and conform to a
16:21
unified standard is especially helpful
16:25
with things like the current wave of 14k
16:27
printers because they've got the same
16:29
depth or Y resolution as 12K printers so
16:32
what do we use well I've already made
16:34
the argument that the comparable metric
16:36
needs to be voxal related and I hope you
16:39
can agree with me on that much and what
16:41
we need to compare is the largest
16:44
dimension of a single voxal that a
16:46
printer can output now as I mentioned I
16:49
actually asked my community what they
16:50
thought and to give me some options but
16:52
as many pointed out there can be issues
16:54
pixels or dots in a flat area being
16:57
pixels per inch Mak sense both a flat
16:59
term and a flat measurement the most
17:01
obvious term for voxels would be voxels
17:03
per millimeter cubed but once again this
17:06
could be manipulated by Brands this is
17:08
why I want to propose we do something
17:10
which Compares printers by the largest
17:13
dimension of a single printable voxel
17:15
Now by doing that 12K and 14k printers
17:18
would become 24 Micron and 24.8 Micron
17:22
printers respectively and since we
17:24
aren't the only industry that uses voxal
17:26
in things we actually already C terms to
17:29
distinguish what we're talking about so
17:31
no matter what the voxal from these
17:33
machines are never perfectly Square due
17:36
to the height being slightly different
17:37
to the width and depth they never have
17:40
been even the 22 Micron pixels on things
17:42
like the Sonic mini 8K which does have
17:45
square pixels the height layer can't
17:48
also be 22 microns High I mean you can
17:51
set it to that value but its accuracy is
17:53
going to be off so no matter what here
17:55
until the brands do find a way to
17:57
completely nail that down so your x y
18:00
and Zed voxal size are identical we are
18:04
working with anisotropic voxal which
18:07
means the dimensions are irregular or
18:09
unequal and the value we want is going
18:12
to be limited by the largest Dimension
18:14
be that height width or depth so I
18:16
propose we measure and Baseline compare
18:19
all LCD printers by their anisotropic
18:22
voxal constraint or to make it simple
18:25
their AVC and the AVC should be measured
18:28
in microns the same way we've recently
18:29
come to quote as the pixel size on all
18:32
video reviews and this will become more
18:34
useful as pixels continue to get smaller
18:37
because most brands determine their
18:38
layer high in multiples of 10 microns
18:42
even the Mars 4 or the Mars 4 ultra with
18:44
their 18 Micron pixels have an AVC of 20
18:47
microns unless of course you wanted to
18:49
print in 10 Micron layers so I hope that
18:52
makes sense so for this I ask that we
18:55
all start requesting brands provide
18:59
their anisotropic voxal constraint or
19:01
AVC on all resin printers going forward
19:05
and that they also provide a standard a
19:08
minimum step distance so we can actually
19:10
determine how accurate we can get when
19:12
trying to match the X and Y pixel size
19:15
to the Z layer height but yeah that's it
19:18
that's my rant over and I hope everyone
19:20
understands why 12K is irrelevant now in
19:23
that it means nothing without also
19:25
knowing the screen size of a printer but
19:27
even then it's alive because of
19:28
irregular pixels with ABC we now have a
19:31
way to compare printers as a Baseline
19:34
and I sure hope this is adopted going
19:36
forwards it's certainly the metric I'll
19:38
be using in my videos as a rebellion
19:40
against the measurement of K I'd like to
19:43
thank you for watching and if you got to
19:44
the end well done because a lot of that
19:46
was boring Tech talk but hopefully it
19:48
helps people going forward I'd like to
19:50
thank our members who are up on the
19:51
screen now because with their help
19:53
that's what really really does help us
19:55
and fund Us in making these videos but
19:57
it's your comment ments and your
19:58
feedback that keep me going because
20:00
honestly there is nothing better than
20:02
hearing I've helped you in some way or
20:05
just generally that you've had a good
20:06
time watching it or I've learned
20:07
something new so thank you from the
20:09
bottom of my heart genuinely thank you
20:12
if I sound a bit weird in this video
20:13
it's because For the First Time in ages
20:15
I'm sat down and I'm trying a new
20:17
microphone so on that note if you do
20:19
think this is helpful please drop a
20:21
comment down below if you want to hit
20:23
the like button subscribe you know what
20:24
you're doing blah blah blah blah blah uh
20:27
movie quote time this is Sparta until
20:30
next time F hammer
20:32
[Music]
20:51
out