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
Top 3D Printing Headlines from Last Week: Education, M&A, WSJ, Hollywood, Toys
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from April 9 to April 15.
Monday, April
- Improving Education: 3D Printing Lab Equipment to Help Poor Schools
- Explaining the Future: The 3D Printing Revolution by Christopher Barnatt [Video]
Tuesday, April 10
- Old Refrigerators Recycled to 3D Print Modern Furniture [Video]
- 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) Acquires Startup My Robot Nation
Wednesday, April 1
- Winners Announced in Global 3D Printing Design Competition by Stratasys
- Wall Street Journal Features 3D Printing [Video]
Thursday, April 12
- Futuristic Shopping Experiences: 3D Printing Transforms Retail [Video]
- The Motley Fool Reviews the 3D Printing Market
Friday, April 13
- Will 3D Printing Disrupt the Lucrative Toy Industry?
- Shapeways’ Friday Finds Showcases the Best of 3D Printing Design
Saturday, April 14
Featured Design: 3D Printed Japanese Laquer Containers
Our featured design comes this week from nendo:
A small container created using a 3D printer that cuts, stacks and pastes sheets of paper one by one. We finished the surface with lacquer. The lacquer adhered thickly to the edges of the accumulated paper, and pulled at the paper’s surface, resulting in a mysterious texture like wood grain.
View all images of the design.
Hollywood’s Storytellers Turn to 3D Printing [Video]
Hollywood’s storytellers are starting to turn to 3D printing for solving problems that CGI can’t solve. In the movie Iron Man 2, Oscar-nominated effects studio Legacy Effects partnered with Objet to produce some of the high tech suit worn by Robert Downey Jr.
CNET interviewed Jason Lopes from Legacy Interactive, “I think it’s starting to infiltrate more in Hollywood, and more and more people who know what comes out of our studio are seeing how this technology can assist any industry.”
Watch the video below to see more about 3D printing on the set of Iron Man 2.
Via CNET.
Shapeways’ Friday Finds Showcases the Best of 3D Printing Design
Looking for some impressive examples of 3D printing? Check out Shapeways’ Friday Finds. These are a curated collection of designs from the Shapeways community.
More on the Shapeways blog.
Will 3D Printing Disrupt the Lucrative Toy Industry?
LEGO Star Wars kits are currently selling on Amazon.com for hundreds of dollars. Even small components come with a hefty price, such as a V-wing Starfighter that measures 9″ when full assembled and costs $20.
Enter 3D printing and open-source design package LeoCAD. If kids could design their own LEGO-style building kits and print them out on their home 3D printer, why wouldn’t they? Hey, even LEGO is training kids how to design online with the LEGO Digital Designer.
With the price of toys so marked up, it’s within reason to think that kids will turn to generics or pirated designs to fill out their toy chest after parents tap out the budget at retail.
Look back at the music industry. The only way to buy music in the late 90s was to purchase the full album at retail. Then Napster and other P2P sharing software came along and allowed consumers to download individual mp3 songs, albeit pirated. When iTunes launched with individual song pricing and a more reliable service than the P2P networks, consumers flocked to the legal alternative. The retail music industry died but the digital music industry was born.
Perhaps in the next 5 years we’ll see the retail toy industry collapse and be replaced by a digital successor. The question is whether we will see a digital toy black market in the interim. In our view, that will be up to the toymakers and their willingness to disrupt their current model.
Some references are from MIT Technology Review.
