Motorola Mobility, a Google company, is building a 3D printed modular phone, and has partnered with 3D Systems for commercial fulfillment. More »
The Captured Dimensions pop-up studio was located in the Smithsonian Castle and featured approximately 80 digital cameras all connected to 3D software. More »
Microsoft expanded their support for 3D printing by launching a Windows 8 app called 3D Builder. It includes a library of objects you can edit and 3D print. More »
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the availability of the Sense 3D scanner, the first 3D scanner designed for the consumer and optimized for 3D printing. More »
With rumors circling that 3D Systems will be purchased by IBM, the stock soars. We look at why IBM might be interested in the 3D printing giant. More »
Yearly Archives: 2012
With Sites Set on LEGO, 3D Systems Cubify Launches Robot Toy Line
3D Systems’ consumer brand Cubify has announced a new toy line called Cubify robots. This move follows the acquisition of My Robot Nation and launch of the Cube consumer 3D printer.
We have published several features about the toy industry and how 3D printing will disrupt it, including the father who printed the Rosetta stone for toys.
Now 3D Systems is taking a page from LEGO and other popular toy manufacturers by making collectable toy robots whose parts are interchangeable.
From the 3D Systems press release:
3D Systems Corporation announced today the immediate availability of its new Cubify® toy robots designed specifically for printing on Cube®, the world’s first home 3D printer. The entire collection can be downloaded and printed at home on your Cube 3D printer.
Starting at just $4.99, Cube printed robots are also available for home delivery through Cubify and come individually packaged or in sets of three with exciting options to choose from like ray-guns and rocket-packs.
Cubify® robots are moveable, poseable and printable in colorful, lego-like plastic. Printed parts can be snapped together, swapped and colors mixed to create an amazing new robot, or an entire crew. With thousands of possible combinations, Cubify robots provide hours of educational and creative fun for kids and adults alike.
“We are thrilled with these cute, playful new Cubify robots. Kids of all ages can collect the entire series as they create unique configurations to amaze their friends,” said Cathy Lewis, Vice President of Global Marketing for 3D Systems. “Our excitement continues to build with each new toy and app we make available to our growing Cubify community.”
Stratasys and HP Part Ways on 3D Printer Manufacturing
Stratasys and HP have discontiued a manufacturing and distribution agreement for 3D printers. This either means that HP is preparing its own line of 3D printers, or is opting out of the 3D printing market entirely. Stratasys does not see this as a hit to their financial projections, but the market reacted by initially lowering their share price.
From the Stratasys press release:
Stratasys, Inc., a leading manufacturer of 3D printers and production systems for prototyping and manufacturing applications, today announced that Stratasys and HP have agreed to discontinue their manufacturing and distribution agreement for 3D printers, effective at the end of 2012. Stratasys does not expect the termination of its agreement with HP to have a material impact on its financial results for the current year and intends to work closely with HP to ensure a smooth transition for customers.
“Stratasys has enjoyed a productive relationship with HP, and moving forward, we will continue working towards our goal of achieving broader 3D printer usage worldwide,” said Scott Crump, chief executive officer and chairman of Stratasys. “As the market for 3D printing technology grows, Stratasys is focused on further developing our independent channel distribution initiatives to expand our distribution reach even further. Our recently-announced merger with Objet will help grow customer awareness of the many opportunities to deploy 3D printing and rapid prototyping techniques and will allow us to implement an even broader distribution channel with a more extensive geographic reach.”
Under the terms of the definitive agreement signed in January 2010, Stratasys developed and manufactured for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM(R)) technology. Later that year, HP began a phased rollout of the 3D printers in the mechanical design (MCAD) market in select European countries.
HP CEO Meg Whitman photo by TechShowNetwork used under Creative Commons license.
3D Printed Fractal Art Turned Into Beautiful Jewelry and Sculptures
We are always on the hunt for designers who are using 3D printing to make things more that are more beautiful or exquisite than can be made by traditional means, and wow did we find one.
Designer unellenu has an innovative approach to creating 3D printed designs. 3D fractal art is used as the source for models, sculptures, homewares and jewellery. The result is truly unique.
unellenu has shops on Shapeways, i.materialise, and Etsy. Designs ready to 3D print are priced at less than $15 while others are priced up to $1000. We are impressed by the blend of mathematics and aesthetics in these products.
Video: MIT’s Neri Oxman and Biologically-Inspired 3D Printed Systems
MIT Media Lab researchers Neri Oxman and Steven Keating are creating biologically-inspired 3D printing systems.
Oxman explains the mission of their lab, “Our goal here is to explore processes for digital fabrication like 3D printing that are inspired by nature with the belief that we are going to emerge on the other side generating and making things that are more efficient and more effective.”
An MIT news piece covering their work describes how nature can inspire better industrial design:
To illustrate this, Keating uses the example of a palm tree compared to a typical structural column. In a concrete column, the properties of the material are constant, resulting in a very heavy structure. But a palm tree’s trunk varies: denser at the outside and lighter toward the center. As part of his thesis research, he has already made sections of concrete with the same kind of variations of density.
The video below includes interviews with both Oxman and Keating.
Neri Oxman photo by poptech used under Creative Commons license.
Bringing Woolly Mammoths and Dinosaurs Back to Life With 3D Printing
Marguerite Humeau is using 3D printing to give a voice to creatures from long ago, specifically from the prehistoric era.
Thanks to the heaps of dinosaur bones scattered across the globe, paleontologists have a vague idea of what dinosaurs looked like when they roamed the earth millions of years ago. But what they sounded like is a tougher nut to crack. Vocal chords are made of soft tissue and cartilage, which means they don’t fossilize. The roars and squawks we hear in movies aren’t exactly made up, but they certainly aren’t based on scientific fact. Marguerite Humeau has spent the last two years working with paleontologists, zoologists, engineers, and doctors to recreate the noises our scaly forebears might have made.
Humeau has chosen to reimagine creatures from three vastly different prehistoric eras: There’s Ambulocetus, or the “walking whale,” a Cetacean that could swim and walk over 50 million years before our time. Entelodont (also known as *shiver* Hell Pig) was a massive omnivore that roamed more than 20 million years ago. The youngest is Mammoth Imperator, the species of giant mammoth that Humeau recreated for her graduation show in 2011.
Using a combination of her artistic intuition and scientific data, Humeau is creating the voice boxes of these creatures, and subsequently building a new library of animal sounds never before heard in the modern era.
The video below, entitled “Proposal for resuscitating prehistoric creatures,” sets up the rebirth of cloned creatures, their wandering and their sound epic.
Via Co.Design.
