Do you mean, you want to use 3D printing to create copies of your master figure? I don't know how much you might pay if you went through an commercial outfit like Shapeways, but I don't expect it's nearly as much as it would cost you to buy your own 3D printer and the materials.
If you eventually want to produce a lot of copies of many different masters that you create, then it might be worth it to buy your own printer and the materials, than to pay someone else.
As far as a comparison to casting in white metal or resin is concerned, again, it depends on how many different figures you plan on making, but at the very least, mold compounds and resin aren't too expensive. Here is Micro-Mark's catalog page for casting and molding supplies, for example:
https://www.micromark.com/hobby-supplies/casting-molding-supplies
You can probably find sources for these materials at lower prices, if you look around. Same goes for the resin, or for white metal. I bought about 70 pounds of linotype metal, maybe 25 years ago, and I still have about half of it left. I cut it with lead from old tire weights, fishing sinkers, etc, to lower the melting point and get a softer alloy, depending on the molds I'm using (I use a lower percentage of lead, when casting with metal molds).
There are outfits that will make rubber molds for you, too. I used to get molds made by RLJ Castings, who was last in Erie, PA. But I haven't seen him in years, since he stopped coming to the shows. It was worth it to me to pay him to make molds from masters I sent him, rather than to make my own molds.
I don't know if that answers your question. If you're talking about plastic, too, versus resin, then I have no idea. I only know about casting with metal, and with resin.
Hope that helps, though, prosit!
Brad
So.....that means my figure producing idea.....must be good too?
