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 »
The MakerBot Met Hackathon Spreads with Art Derivations
Last week the MakerBot team joined forces with artists to democratize famous works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These 3D designs are now on Thingiverse and ready to be 3D printed. For example, the marble lion statue pictured above dates from 400 B.C. and is now available in digital form on Thingiverse.
As art is being democraticized, meaning users can download and print their own editions of these classical pieces, we are already seeing derivative digital works of art. In the example below, Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Bather was placed in a bath tub and uploaded to Thingiverse.
While this is in early days, it is incredible to now have the raw works of art at our digital fingertips for new creation.
Via MakerBot blog.
Top 3D Printing Headlines from Last Week: Stocks, Art, Architecture, Fujifilm Retail
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from May 28 to June 3.
Monday, May 28
- 3D Printing Stocks are Hot: Top Public Companies Up 180% Over 6 Months
- The Debate Over Artistry and Modern Architecture vs 3D Printing
Tuesday, May 29
Wednesday, May 30
Thursday, May 31
- Winners Announced in Reality Redesigned Contest Sponsored by 3D Systems
- Objet 3D Printing: 16 Micron Puzzle Piece for RAPID 2012 Attendees
Friday, June 1
Fab Lab of the Week: Wanger Family Fab Lab at the MSI Chicago
The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago houses a state-of-the-art digital fabrication laboratory called the Wanger Family Fab Lab, a small-scale workshop for computer-based innovation, design and fabrication. The Fab Lab allows you to dream up, design and make almost anything you can imagine using cutting-edge software and equipment, including 3D printers.
MSI’s Wanger Family Fab Lab is one of about 50 such labs worldwide. They began as a community outreach program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and have spread worldwide to rural India, Africa, Europe and across America. All Fab Labs share software, equipment and core capabilities, so that people and projects can be shared among all sites. Fab Lab users engage in problem-based learning and hands-on fabrication, becoming innovators of new projects and prototypes for limitless use and application.
MSI’s Fab Lab offers the Dream It, Design It, Fab It! program for Museum guests. Interested teens in our Science Achievers youth development program learn advanced skills and have developed prototypes of activities that are featured in Museum exhibits. Shortly after the Fab Lab opened In 2007, MSI hosted Fab4, the Fourth International Fab Lab Forum and Symposium on Digital Fabrication.
The Museum is currently hiring a Facilitator for the Wanger Family Fab Lab.
The Fab Lab Facilitator will be responsible for delivering dynamic programming in the Fab Lab for Museum guests and other program participants. The Facilitator will be responsible for learning and developing proficiency with several consumer design software applications and machinery in the lab. The Facilitator will also support the Fab Lab Manager and Programs Coordinator in leading Lab tours, and facilitating school-group and community group programming in the Lab.
The video below shows the Fab Lab from the point of view of a tricopter during a science achiever program.
The MakerBot Team is Democratizing Art at the Met
The MakerBot team is democratizing the art world. Using an app called Autodesk 123D Catch and the MakerBot Replicator, the team is scanning exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then 3D printing replicas. From the MakerBot blog:
June 1-2, for the first time in history, a collection of brilliant digital artists from the MakerBot Community will be graciously welcomed by the Met in New York City to study, capture, and recreate pieces from the Met’s vast collection of art and artifacts. These artists – stay tuned and we’ll tell you who! – will capture significant works into the digital domain using Autodesk’s 123D Catch, clean up and manipulate the resulting models, and then produce replicas and original pieces of art on our 3rd generation 3D printer, The Replicator.
From The Next Web:
Imagine an art class where you can see the Statue of David right in front of you. Imagine what will happen now that contemporary artists will be able to explore and hack famous works from the past. This is huge for the art community, The Met is absolutely awesome for letting this happen, and I couldn’t be more excited about this.
And in Bre Pettis’ own words:
I was an art teacher in Seattle Public Schools and with my students I could only get them to a museum once a year. Together we would get on a bus, go get a tour of a museum and go back to school.
It was great to go to a museum, but it was limited. I had a wish then that I could bring the museum into the classroom. Little did I know that 6 years later, I would be in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with some of the best artists and designers in the world scanning art and sharing it on Thingiverse for the world to download and make. We’re taking it even farther than that though. I don’t think I imagined that the work could be changed, mashed-up, hacked, and remade. It is truly a brilliant and wonderful future we live in where you can go into a museum that allows photography, take lots of pictures and then use 123D Catch to turn it into a model and share it on Thingiverse.
I’m so proud of the Met. It’s my town’s museum and it’s a brave and bold institution and it is so forward thinking that they’ve invited us in to scan, hack, and make things. When I started Thingiverse, I knew that I wanted the classic sculptures of the world to be in the universal library of things, but I imagined that someone would have to pull off the ultimate heist to make that happen. Instead of having to steal the art, the Met shares the future vision of MakerBot where the greatest artworks of the world are accessible to everyone and they’ve invited us in to make history and share the art with the world.
I’m thrilled about this, but it’s just the beginning. I hope that you will explore and capture and share the great artworks of your town. Together, we can create a great database that will inspire the next generation of artists.
Met Photo by makerbot used under Creative Commons license.
TED Talk on 3D Printing by Lisa Harouni [Video]
2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things — including intricate objects once impossible to create.
