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 »
Make Your Own Superhero: Your Face 3D Printed on Batman
Have you always wanted your own superhero action figure … of yourself? Now Firebox can help you fulfill that dream.
Step 1: Take 2 photos of your face and upload them to Firebox.
Step 2: Select a superhero template to personalize, from Batman to Superman to Captain America to Batgirl.
Step 3: Firebox 3D prints your action figure and ships it to you for $128.
Besides the cool factor, we were interested in this novel application of 3D printing. Firebox explains how it works:
Using advanced 3D printing technology your photographs will be turned into a fully-formed 3D version of your noggin – including eye colour, skin tone, hair style (or as close as possible) and hair colour. Accurate? It’ll be like looking in a teaspoon.
Learn more at Firebox.
Hat tip to geekosystem.
Strange Ideas: Eat Your Own 3D Printed Brain [Video]
In the realm of strange ideas, here’s a winner.
One researcher decided to MRI scan his own brain, 3D print a replica, and then use that print as a mold to cast a chocolate version of his very own brain. Then he ate it.
Inition co-founder Andy Millins gave his MRI brain scan data which he had on file after participating in an Imperial College research project. The team got to work by first extracting a 3D model from the sliced-image MRI data which was then 3D printed and used to create a latex mould for the casting of the chocolate brain. After consuming his own brain, Andy Millins, co-founder at Inition said: “I’ve been involved in some weird 3D projects over the years at Inition but eating my own chocolate brain was one of the most bizarre . We hope the detailed how-to on Instructables will give others food for thought.”
While I wouldn’t refer to this idea as world-changing, the attention to detail on this project is impressive. Watch the video below to see Andy Millins’s entire process. Perhaps some of the other chocolate 3D printing teams will be inspired.
Via Inition.
Brain scan photo by Liz Henry used under Creative Commons license.
What to 3D Print: Wired Showcases the Best of Thingiverse
Wired and Thingiverse teamed up to showcase some of the most impressive 3D printing designs that can be printed on your MakerBot.
Above is a genuine Mario Kart Koopa shell racer.
His goal was to build a full-size RC vehicle based on Mario Kart Koopa shells. The Makerbot’s constraints would have stymied a lesser designer, but by breaking the design into small parts, Skimbal created a large, multi-color object, where the resolution is barely noticeable. The project takes over 40 hours to complete, but it’s like being able to print the Mona Lisa in your garage.
Next we have a Lincoln Log cabin. We have covered the disruptive impact that 3D printing will have on the toy industry. Why buy expensive toys when you can 3D print cheap generics?
And finally, we have a novel design called Big Love Heart Gears. This is something that would not be possible with traditional manufacturing processes because the design is printed as one interconnected object.
Via Wired.
Forbes: 3D Printing Will Cause Real Wages to Rise in Global Economy
Will 3D printing be a disruptive change? Sure, but Forbes believes that we may be surprised by the result.
Contributor Tim Worstall poses an interesting counterpoint to some common conclusions about the impact of 3D printing on the global labor market.
First, Mr. Worstall suggests that there will be an experience curve for 3D printing – it will get cheaper over time to produce similar goods.
Which is, as we know, pretty much the way that manufacturing works. Things get designed, dreamt up, and they start out expensive. As we get better at doing whatever it is then prices start to drop: the clearest examples are in the computing and telecoms industries in recent years. Those examples are almost too tedious to recount in fact, they’ve been used so often.
3D printing will go through much the same process and it’s easy enough to see a time in which one has such a printer just as much as one has a paper printer. Need something, call up the part design over the web, pay a buck or two perhaps (and no doubt there will be open sourcers as well) and print out whatever it is that you wanted.
Now the key question is whether this will lead to an elimination in manual labor. As an example, we recently called the impact of 3D printing on the Indian labor market ”mind-boggling” because labor can be reduced dramatically or replaced by additive manufacturing.
But let us go to the extreme and assume that they are cheaper: so much so that manufacturing really does disappear. What does that do to wages? Yup, a fall in the costs of things is equal to, is by definition the equivalent of, a rise in real wages. So if 3D printers do take off it can only be because, by definition, they make us all richer.
Interesting view point, and one that seems to support the belief that 3D printing will be a $5 billion industry by 2020.
Via Forbes.
Factory photo by Just Add Light used under Creative Commons license.
Top 3D Printing Headlines from Last Week: Legs, Bikinis, Disney World
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from May 7 to May 13.
Monday, May 7
- 3D Printed Legs: Giving Amputees the Power of Personal Expression
- Impact of 3D Printing on Indian Labor Market “Mind-Boggling” [Opinion]
Tuesday, May 8
- Stratasys Announces Mojo: Lowest-Price Professional-Grade 3D Printer
- 3D Systems Acquires FreshFiber for 3D Printed Electronics Accessories
Wednesday, May 9
Thursday, May 10
- MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis is 3D Printing’s First Celebrity
- 3D Printed Curves: How the N12 Bikini Fits Your Body Perfectly
Friday, May 11
