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
Making 3D Printing Accessible: Interview with Tinkercad Founder
Kai Backman, co-founder and CEO of Helsinki-based Tinkercad, was interviewed by Wired magazine last week. Tinkercad allows mainstream consumers to design 3D models in their web browser for free, competing with traditional professional software costing thousands of dollars. Below are some excerpts from the interview.
What inspired you to create Tinkercad?
Tinkercad was born from a very personal frustration. In 2009, I started researching the new emerging 3-D printing technology and eventually bought my first printer by the end of the year. The device was assembled with great fanfare and my children eagerly looked forward to printed toys while my wife expected jewelry or at least some useful household items. Much to their disappointment it turned out that actually designing anything for printing was extremely hard with the software available. I would spend the evening learning one CAD system after another, only to get very little traction and forgetting most of what I learned before the next session.
In mid-2010 it had become clear the problem was more and more acute for a lot of people, so I quit my job at Google, Mikko my co-founder quit his job, and we started the company. We are still on the same road, our vision is to make 3-D design in general, and the design of physical items in particular, accessible to hundreds of millions of people.
On the Tinkercad Comunity
We let users choose how they want to publish their things and a lot of them use a Creative Commons license. This means the tinkercad.com site has a rapidly growing repository of interesting 3-D designs and an equally rapidly growing base of users.
Asked what Kai’s favorite 3D design is in the community, he pointed us to an historic train station on the Harlem line called Brewster Station.
Below is a video walkthrough of Tinkercad that showcases how it is feature rich despite the fact that it runs in a browser.
Read the full interview at Wired.
Tinker Towne photo by kafkan used under Creative Commons license.
3D Printer Maker Objet Breaks Records by Developing 100+ Materials
3D printer manufacturer Objet has established a new record in the world of 3D printing: the ability to print with over 100 materials. This feat was accomplished by developing 39 “digital material” composites that are derivatives of other materials that can be fed to the printer.
By comparison, most consumer 3D printers can only support one, two or three unique materials in a single model and most marketplaces only support a dozen or so total materials to choose from.
From the Objet press release:
Objet expands material range to 107 including 39 new ‘Digital Material’ composites for the Objet Connex Multi-Material 3D Printing Systems
Objet Connex Multi-material 3D Printers can include up to 14 different material properties in the same model – unique to the industry.Objet Ltd., the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing has announced 39 new ‘Digital Materials’ available with its Objet Connex range of multi-material 3D printing systems. This development places Objet customers at the forefront of additive manufacturing in terms of range of possible printing materials to choose from. Customers can now select from 107 materials ranging from rigid to rubber-like substances in terms of texture, standard to ABS-grade engineering plastic in terms of toughness, as well as from transparent to opaque, in terms of clarity and shades.
90 of the 107 materials made available by Objet are ‘Digital Materials‘, derived by the composite mixing of primary Objet materials. This enables designers, engineers and manufacturers to simulate very precise material properties to closely resemble their intended end-product with the greatest level of realism. The use of the Objet Connex multi-material 3D printer allows users to also combine up to 14 of these materials; such as rigid and flexible, or opaque and transparent materials, at the same time in a single consistent model.
According to David Reis, CEO for Objet, “With 39 new Digital Materials, Objet have become the first 3D printing company to break the 100 materials barrier. Considering that we had half this number just a few short years ago, this growth in material choice confirms our commitment to consistently deliver new and enhanced material properties to our customers,” explains Reis. These new materials will be used by design and manufacturing companies in virtually every industry segment and in every stage of their product prototyping process from form modeling to fit testing and functional verification.
The company has also today launched two new material enhancements. It now offers a new and improved Objet Rigid Black material (Objet VeroBlackPlus) providing increased dimensional stability and surface smoothness for all-purpose rapid prototyping applications.* Objet’s 2011-released High Temperature material, offering the high thermal functionality of engineering plastics will be available on all Objet Connex and Objet EdenV 3D Printers and the new Objet30 Pro Desktop 3D Printer.
Objet released a whitepaper listing the 10 reasons to shift to multi-material printing. In that whitepaper is the chart below that shows Objet’s continuous innovation in 3D printable materials.
Below is a video of a 3D printed car being manufactured with 14 different materials in the same model.
Via MarketWatch and Objet.
Nano Rubik’s Cube: Shapeways Member 3D Prints Puzzles in Millimeters [Video]
With the announcement of Shapeways’ $6.2 million funding, we thought we would look back at some of the amazing designs their community has produced.
Community member Evgeniy Grigoriev (aka grigorusha) has designed a number of micro-sized twisty puzzles. These are popular puzzles shrunk down to millimeter size, only made possible by 3D printing.
Here is a video of a customer assembling the Evgeniy Grigoriev’s 12mm Rubik’s Cube. You can buy this and some of his other puzzles at his Shapeways shop.
And, for comparison, here is a video of the smallest Rubik’s Cube made without 3D printing, available at http://tonyfisherpuzzles.net.
Rubik’s Cube photo by athos[hun] used under Creative Commons license.
3D Printing Marketplace Shapeways Raises $6.2 Million Series B Funding
With over 1 million 3D printed products, 150,000 community members, and 6,000 shops, 3D printing marketplace Shapeways has just announced a new round of funding to help fuel growth in creative commerce. Lux Capital led a $6.2 million financing, joining existing investors Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures.
Below is a letter from CEO Peter Weijmarshausen we received about the funding:
On a daily basis, we make thousands of unique products and deliver them to people all over the world. We create an online experience that ignites creativity and increases access to the best of 3D printing, at the lowest cost. We work hard to open manufacturing such that everyone — regardless of technical background or expertise — can create the products that populate their lives.
As you can imagine, this is no easy task. To help us realize our vision and support our community, we’re growing an awesome team, building out the “factory of the future” in NYC, and expanding US distribution.
We’re excited to announce that we have a new partner on board to help us fuel our growth and the rise of creative commerce: Lux Capital. Lux led a $6.2M financing, joining existing investors Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures.
We plan to use these additional funds to help the Shapeways team grow and bring creative commerce and 3D printing to everyone. With over 6,000 independent designers selling their products through our marketplace, Shapeways shop owners are tapping into a new economic model in which their products are created on demand for their customers, at no additional cost. With over 30 material options including the recent launch of colored ceramics and Elasto Plastic, our community members have access to materials that rival the quality and cost of what you can buy in a store. And with over 150,000 community members from all backgrounds using Shapeways regularly, we’re in a really exciting time for 3D printing — you no longer need to know 3D modelling software to make ideas real.
Lux’s local NYC presence and network, as well as its expertise in commercializing emerging technologies, will help us as we expand and in particular, build out our NYC “factory of the future.” Josh Wolfe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Lux shared, “We seek investment opportunities to help turn technical breakthroughs into world-changing businesses, and see Shapeways at the forefront of bringing the magic of 3D printing to everyday consumers.”
We’re moving really quickly to help bring Shapeways and 3D printing to everyone – to make it easier to make anything you want, to make it more affordable, and to make it faster, and faster.
We’re so lucky to have you on board for the ride.
Happy making,
Pete, Shapeways CEO and Co-Founder
Congratulations to the Shapeways team!
Shapeways Friday Finds: Cheshire Cat, Kaleidoscope Clock, Dragon Transformer
3D printing marketplace Shapeways featured beautiful designs in its weekly Friday Finds blog series.
Pictured above is a design familiar to fans of Alice in Wonderland: a Chershire Cat Ring by SG Designs. This ring is designed to be printed in silver and has an inscription on the inside that reads ”We’re all mad here.”
A Kaleidoscope Clock by Made by Wombat. Once you print the two parts, assemble them together and you will have an intricate 9″ hanging wall clock.
Finally, a dragon that can collapse into a cube shape: Dragon Die by Reaper Media. Watch the video below to see how it unfolds.
Via Shapeways blog.
