【Kurt Meinicke】

In Skylanders Imaginators,Kurt Meinicke players have the ability to custom create their own Skylanders for the first time. Now Activision confirms that they'll be able to buy 3D-printed versions of those creations as toys.

The feature is made possible by the newly announced Skylanders Creator app, coming to Android and iOS on Oct. 12. Players create their character inside the game and then beam it into the app using an audio code.

It's similar to a QR code, except it relies on sound rather than an image. The game spits out a series of bleeps and bloops -- think R2-D2 -- and the app listens, then converts that sound into your character data.

Once that info is in the app, you can then beam it over to whatever storefront is responsible for selling you your figurine. All 3D-printed creations will be affixed to a base and wrapped in a plastic dome, and they're fully functional with Skylanders,

Players also have the option of having their Imaginatorscreation turned into either a T-shirt or a collectible card. Like the toy, the card can be used with your SkylandersPortal to activate the character in the game.

The Creator app's 3D printing option comes as a surprise, after Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg suggested at E3 that the technology wasn't quite there yet.

"You can't not connect those dots, right? Obviously ... we wish that every house had a 3D printer or that it could be fulfilled on a much larger scale more quickly than it can today," he told Mashable. 

"But technology moves fast and if this thing takes off it's something we'll keep looking at."

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