Category Archives: News
Only 3 Days Left to Enter CGTrader’s 3D Printing Competition
Competition Ends June 30 – Win an Ultimaker 3D Printer from CGTrader
As we reported in may, 3D model marketplace CGTrader is hosting a 3D printing competition, looking for innovative 3D printable models. Winning submissions will receive great prizes, including two Ultimaker 3D printers, 3D prints, gift cards from Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash, as well as an opportunity to sell designs in 3D printing store iMakr in London
In order to participate, designers need to create 3D printable models in .STL format and upload them for sale or download to CGTrader. Further information on the competition is available here: http://www.cgtrader.com/
The competition ends June 30, so submit your designs in the next 3 days!
Want to learn more? Read our full interview with the CGTrader team published in May 2013.
Tesco Hints at 3D Printing Coming to Retail
Will Tesco Introduce 3D Printing?
Retail giant Tesco is giving hints about its potential entrance into 3D printing.
In a blog post by Tesco Innovation Ambassador Paul Wilkinson, he shared his enthusiasm for 3D printing technology and hinted at how it could be introduced at Tesco.
So what does this all mean for Tesco then? Well I’m making no promises, but there are a few things I can predict for the future. We already print photos and posters in many of our larger stores, so why not other gifts and personalised items? How about letting kids design their own toys and then actually being able to get them made. What if we had a digital catalogue of spare parts for items that you’d bought? They could be printed on demand and ready for you by the time you’d finished your shopping. You could even take a broken item in to store; we could scan it in 3D, repair it digitally and make you a new one. The potential for 3D technology to revolutionise the way we view stores and what we can get from them is vast.
We’re pretty excited about 3D printing and we’ll be working hard to see how we might be able use it to make things better for customers. We won’t stop there though and as always we’re constantly seeking out the genuinely ‘next big thing.’ Up next I’ve got a trip to Silicon Valley – the heart of the technology industry, where as well as meeting some of the big names I’ll also be getting together with lots of start-ups and trying to find that idea or product that might just change the retail world. Watch this space to find out more about what I get up to.
With Staples already embracing 3D printing and many other retail shops introducing 3D printers and 3D printed goods on their shelves, will Tesco be the next to join the movement?
Photo of Paul Wilkinson’s desk from his blog post.
NASA and Made in Space Launch 3D Printing Space Experiment
3D Printing Coming to an International Space Station Near You
In the world of 3D printing, some of the most amazing and seemingly far-fetched ideas that have been dreamt up relate to how 3D printing could be used in space. We have published stories about research to 3D print a lunar base or repair a spacecraft.
Well, there’s more. NASA has partnered with Made in Space, Inc. to launch a joint initiative for the first 3D microgravity printing experiment to the International Space Station.
“As NASA ventures further into space, whether redirecting an asteroid or sending humans to Mars, we’ll need transformative technology to reduce cargo weight and volume,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said during a recent tour of the agency’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. “In the future, perhaps astronauts will be able to print the tools or components they need while in space.”
If successful, the 3D Printing in Zero G Experiment (3D Print) will be the first device to manufacture parts in space. 3D Print will use extrusion additive manufacturing, which builds objects, layer by layer, out of polymers and other materials. The 3D Print hardware is scheduled to be certified and ready for launch to the space station next year.
NASA is a government leader in 3D printing for engineering applications. The technology holds tremendous potential for future space exploration. One day, 3D printing may allow an entire spacecraft to be manufactured in space, eliminating design constraints caused by the challenges and mass constraints of launching from Earth. This same technology may help revolutionize American manufacturing and benefit U.S. industries.
“The president’s Advanced Manufacturing Initiative cites additive manufacturing, or ’3D printing,’ as one of the key technologies that will keep U.S. companies competitive and maintain world leadership in our new global technology economy,” said Michael Gazarik, NASA’s associate administrator for space technology in Washington. “We’re taking that technology to new heights, by working with Made in Space to test 3D printing aboard the space station. Taking advantage of our orbiting national laboratory, we’ll be able to test new manufacturing techniques that benefit our astronauts and America’s technology development pipeline.”
In addition to manufacturing spacecraft designs in orbit, 3D printers also could work with robotic systems to create tools and habitats needed for human missions to Mars and other planetary destinations. Housing and laboratories could be fabricated by robots using printed building blocks that take advantage of in-situ resources, such as soil or minerals. Astronauts on long-duration space missions also could print and recycle tools as they are needed, saving mass, volume and resources.
“The 3D Print experiment with NASA is a step towards the future,” said Aaron Kemmer, CEO of Made in Space. “The ability to 3D print parts and tools on demand greatly increases the reliability and safety of space missions while also dropping the cost by orders of magnitude. The first printers will start by building test items, such as computer component boards, and will then build a broad range of parts, such as tools and science equipment.”
Made in Space previously partnered with NASA through the agency’s Flight Opportunities Program to test its prototype 3D Print additive manufacturing equipment on suborbital simulated microgravity flights. NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program offers businesses and researchers the ability to fly new technologies to the edge of space and back for testing before launching them into the harsh space environment.
For this mission, Made in Space was awarded a Phase III small business innovation and research contract from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. After flight certification, NASA plans to ship 3D Print to the space station aboard an American commercial resupply mission. NASA is working with American industry to develop commercially-provided U.S. spacecraft and launch vehicles for delivery of cargo — and eventually crew — to the International Space Station.
For more information about Made in Space, visit: http://www.madeinspace.us
Poppy Launches Kickstarter to Turn Your iPhone into a 3D Camera
Poppy Lets Your iPhone Go 3D
Remember the View-Master? The retro toy that would let you immerse yourself in images of the Eiffel Tower or an African safari. Well there is a new device in town that brings back the nostalgia of the View-Master while embracing our high-tech and social iPhone world.
It’s called Poppy and it’s on Kickstarter
Poppy is the name of the innovative device that lets you capture, share and view images in 3D using only your iPhone. It was created by two serial entrepreneurs Ethan Lowry and Joe Heitzeberg who are also founders of the blog Hack Things. Ethan and Joe describe Poppy this way:
Poppy has no electronics or batteries to babysit, but since it uses iPhone as its brain it’s quite a capable device. You put your iPhone in, and a system of mirrors captures two side-by-side images onto you iPhone’s single camera. Like the Viewmaster you might have played with as a kid, when you look in, lenses bring the two images together into a single 3D image. With retina quality video, the effect is immersive and really quite beautiful. It’s like stepping into another world.
Poppy went live with a Kickstarter campaign today, and as of writing this article, the campaign has raised over $25,000 of it’s $40,000 goal. [Update 6/28 - they've now raised $80K!]
Watch the video below and back the campaign if you like it. (Disclosure: a member of our staff has backed the campaign)
3D Printed Poppy?
Although Poppy is not a 3D printed product, the design and development leveraged 3D printing for rapid prototyping. Below are some sketches of the early designs, some of which were 3D printed for field testing.
We asked the founders why they used 3D printing in product development. Joe Heitzeberg shared his insights with us:
3D printing helped us make Poppy stylish and easy to use by allowing us to iterate the design and get actual usage feedback from real users before committing to the more costly work of tooling for injection molds.
The Poppy team shared some exclusive photos of their 3D printed prototypes with us. Here’s a photo of Zach Hoeken Smith, co-founder of MakerBot, holding a 3D printed prototype of Poppy in China.
And below is a close-up photo of the prototype, held by founder Ethan Lowry. You can see the cross-stitch resolution lines common with 3D printed surfaces.
3D Printed Poppy Kickstarter Perk
If you’re passionate about 3D printing and excited about Poppy, there is a 3D printing Kickstarter perk. Pledge $1,200 or more to receive one of the original 3D printed functional prototypes.
Watershed Moment: Windows 8.1 Offers Native Support for 3D Printing
Windows 8.1 Adds 3D Printing to the OS
In a watershed moment for 3D printing adoption, Microsoft announced native OS support for 3D printing.
Microsoft executive Antoine Leblond demonstrated the new capabilities on stage at Microsoft’s Build conference. Developers will be able to build apps that can export objects to a 3D printer with a single click. Leblond commented that 3D printing will be “just as easy and seamless as printing in 2D.”
Leblond called out two 3D printers that will have native support in Windows 8.1: the MakerBot Replicator 2 and the 3D Systems Cube.
How to learn more about Windows 8.1 and 3D Printing
Microsoft has updated the Windows product development guide to include some documentation about 3D printing.
Windows 8.1 Preview adds support for 3D printing, allowing printers to seamlessly install with plug and play support, to queue jobs for printing, and to be managed by Windows. It also enables Windows Store apps to submit 3D print jobs to these devices.
Digging deeper into the documentation, there is an outline of how to get started. To add 3D printing to your app, you must:
- Be familiar with C++, 3D manufacturing API, and Windows printing.
- Have Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 Preview for Windows installed.
- Have an app to which you want to add printing. If you don’t have your own app, you can download the 3D Print Sample app and use that app.
- Have a 3D-capable printer installed. If you do not have a 3D printer, you can get a sample 3D print driver package from Microsoft’s 3D Printing SDK.
