Here is a roundup of the top 3D printing news from last week.

We are at CES 2014 in Las Vegas this week, where the 3D Printing TechZone is a crowded affair. You can read our CES preview and watch exclusive video interviews with 3D printing executives, such as Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot.

Last week, 3D Systems announced the acquisition of Gentle Giant Studios, an experienced Hollywood design firm with retail connections to bolster 3D Systems’ capabilities for the toy market.

Be sure to read our 3D Printing Year in Review 2013! It includes the top stories by month for 2013 and five predictions for 2014.

MakerBot, the darling of the desktop 3D printing world, announced three new 3D printers at the show.

We caught up with Bre Pettis, Founder and CEO of MakerBot, for an exclusive video interview and tour of the new announcements. Watch the full video below.

First, Bre Pettis showed us the MakerBot Replicator Mini, which sells for $1,375.

“You can make great collectibles with it,” said Pettis. The build area allows for objects 4” x 4” x 5”.

Pettis also suggested that the Replicator Mini 3D printer would be great for schools. MakerBot recently announced an education initiative called MakerBot Academy with a goal to put a 3D printer in every school in the U.S.

This is also one of the next generation of MakerBot 3D printers that are smart, explained Pettis. They know when they need more filament and say “feed me.”

MakerBot seems to be taking an Apple strategy, creating a desktop 3D printer for everyone’s needs. Instead of the iPad, iPad Mini, and iPhone, MakerBot has the Replicator Z18, the Replicator Fifth Generation, and the Replicator Mini.

“If the Replicator Mini is the consumer machine, the MakerBot Replicator [Fifth Generation] is the prosumer machine,” said Pettis.

Bre was especially product of the knob on the Replicator interface, modeled after high-end stereo equipment. This interface lets you browse and select projects to print and the 3D printer can connect to the Internet via Ethernet, with Wi-Fi coming soon. The Replicator sells for $2,899.

Pettis also showed us the Replicator Z18, a large-size 3D printer with a 12” x 12” build volume and a heated build chamber to keep models dimensionally stable. This monster of a 3D printer sells for $6,499. Pettis said he’s really excited to see what people create with such a large build area.

Back to the education initiative, Pettis – who is a former teacher – thought that the Replicator Z18 might be great

It’s Also About Software

While the MakerBot founder was really proud of the new desktop 3D printers, he was quick to emphasize that the software is also new and improved.

MakerBot announced this week the availability of the MakerBot desktop application including a digital store, the MakerBot mobile app, and the MakerBot PrintShop application that lets you design bracelets and other items.

Thanks to Bre Pettis for the interview!

Public stocks for 3D printing companies rose over 350%, beating the S&P 500 and Dow Jones by 10X or more.

(3D printing stocks in 2013; click to enlarge)

There were acquisitions, both large and small. 3D scanning technology came to market in a big way. And we saw great new materials used in 3D printing, from bioprinting to metals to sugar.

To celebrate 2013, On 3D Printing has put together a Year in Review, highlighting the biggest stories in the 3D printing ecosystem.

3D Printing Year in Review 2013

January 2013 – 3D printing was a big hit at CES in Las Vegas. MakerBot announced the Replicator 2X, recently merged Stratasys and Objet were showcasing the Mojo 3D printer, and 3D Systems won best in tech for the Cubify 3D printer.

February 2013 – President Obama mentioned 3D printing in his State of the Union address, calling the technology revolutionary. The President said, “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”

April 2013 - In a groundbreaking first in the medical field, a team from the University of Hasselt created a method for using 3D printing to fabricate a functioning titanium jaw implant that rescued their patient from a massive infection.

Also in April, thousands of 3D printing professionals and enthusiasts gathered for the Inside 3D Printing conference in New York City, where a keynote speaker said that 3D printing was in its “Apple 1 moment.” Read our full recap.

May 2013 - 3D printed guns were a big topic of discussion earlier in the year when libertarian activist Cody Wilson published his plans for the Liberator, the world’s first 3D printed gun. A few days later, the US government forced those plans to be taken down. The mainstream media jumped on the 3D printed gun story, which elevated the profile of 3D printing in general. Cody Wilson has moved on to focus on opportunities in Bitcoin, and it seems that most people have moved on from worrying about 3D printed guns.

June 2013 – Desktop 3D printer pioneer MarketBot was acquired by 3D printing giant Stratasys for $403 million, marking the first major acquisition of a consumer 3D printing company. For Stratasys, this was a major competitive play against 3D Systems who had launched the Cube desktop 3D printer. MakerBot had been founded in 2009 by Bre Pettis and had sold fewer than 25,000 3D printers by the time of the acquisition.

Also in June, a new desktop 3D printer, the Buccaneer, raised $1.4 million on Kickstarter.

July 2013 – MIT researchers developed an architecture pipeline, called OpenFab, that aims to dramatically reduce the learning curve and barriers involved in designing for 3D printing.

Also in July, NASA tested a 3D printed rocket engine injector for its space shuttle.

August 2013 – MakerBot announced the availability of their desktop 3D scanner, the MakerBot Digitizer, for $1,400. It has a turntable and uses laser technology to create a digital design from a real-world object in minutes.

Also in August, the UPS Store announced a nation-wide plan to deploy 3D printers in their stores.

September 2013 – Organovo CEO Keith Murphy presented at the Inside 3D Printing conference, showcasing his company’s achievements and roadmap, and presenting the case for a multi-billion big pharma opportunity. Organovo specializes in bioprinting, which involves 3D printing with human cells as ink. This allows Organovo to create human living tissue that can be used to test drug therapies at a very early stage of development, even before FDA trials begin.

October 2013 – German 3D printing firm voxeljet went public, soaring on first day of trading. voxeljet printer systems and services are aimed squarely at commercial applications in the automotive, architecture, aerospace, medical/orthopedic, engineering, and defense industries. The company sold its first 3D printer in 2002 and has installed 52 printers worldwide as of June 30, 2013, with 53% of sales outside of Germany and major customers including Ford, 3M, Daimler AG, BMW, and Hyundai.

November 2013 – 3D Systems launched Sense, a $399 consumer 3D scanner. Sense has flexible scan size and can capture everything from a picture-perfect cupcake to a full-body selfie, processing data in seconds for an instantly 3D printable file. 2013 turned out to be a formative year for 3D scanning, with many new products coming to market. Notable mentions include the MakerBot Digitizer desktop 3D scanner, the Fuel3D handheld 3D scanner, the Structure Sensor iPad add-on.

Also in November, 3D Systems announced that it was partnering with Google to create the new 3D printed smartphone.

December 2013 – Kentucky students successfully launched a 3D printed satellite into orbit. The collaborative team of students from the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University, along with Kentucky Space, launched the KySat-2 into orbit as part of the NASA ElaNa IV mission out of Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Also in December, a new 3D printer, called Robox, raised $300,000 on Kickstarter. The Robox uses precision nozzles to make perfect 3D prints with no bumps. It should debut in 2014 for $1,400.

5 Predictions for 2014

It’s amazing to see the innovation we saw in 3D printing in 2013. But 2014 is sure to be even bigger. Here are a few things to look out for:

1. Fun new materials – Pretty much any material can be constituted for 3D printing, from metals to food to rubber to concrete. Look for these to become more available and affordable.
2. All-in-one devices – We predict the emergence of desktop devices that operate both as 3D scanners and 3D printers. There are already some on the market, such as the Lionhead from Radiant Fabrication.
3. Consumer price drops – Expect prices to come down significantly for consumer devices as competition increases and new innovations come to market. We saw the a 3D printer as low as $100 (the Peachy).
4. 3D printing in Space – NASA plans to put the first 3D printer in Space in August 2014, allowing astronauts to 3D print replacement parts or small cube-shaped satellites.
5. More M&A activity and the big guys enter – We also think 2014 will be the year of big entrants and big acquisitions. Will IBM buy 3D Systems? Will HP launch their own line of 3D printers? Any of these could happen.

Thanks for reading in 2013! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay in touch with the latest news and follow us on Twitter @On3DPrinting.

His email to team@on3dprinting.com started out like most email submissions, with an introduction.

I’m the Founder of a newly incorporated organisation called The 3D Printer Company.

And an ambitious goal.

I started the company with the mission to become the biggest reseller of 3D Printers and accessories in the UK and I have 4 of the biggest global manufacturers on board already.

But then Lewis really stunned us.

The reason for the email, is – I’m 18 years old. I want to become the most successful entrepreneur of the 3D Printing world.

Wow! An 18 year old who wants to become the most successful 3D printing entrepreneur! We had had to know more. So we sat down with Lewis, pictured below on the right, and his partner Deege Carse on the left, both from Somerset in the South West of England, to learn more about their aspirations.

On 3D Printing: Lewis, you are 18 years old. When and how did you first get introduced to 3D printing?

Lewis Casserley: Quite recently actually, I think I first heard about it in the early months of this year while I was still studying at school. I remember coming across a statement by Bre Pettis from Makerbot, saying something like ‘you can make anything you want.’ I couldn’t get my head around the idea of literally being able to print a 3D object off just like that! I looked into the whole idea in much more detail and what it will be capable of. I’ve been fascinated and excited by it ever since!

Myself and my business partner Deege Carse started researching the market shortly after leaving school in the summer; everything looked very exciting, so we incorporated ‘The 3D Printer Company’ in October.

I think the beauty of the Desktop 3D Printing industry is that it’s really early days. It’s fast moving, innovative and exciting, plus the majority of people in the industry are also newly established so the barriers to enter the market are still very low. Therefore, anyone thinking about starting a business in 3D Printing, I’d say now is the time to start.

On 3D Printing: Tell us about your vision as an entrepreneur.

Casserley: I have a tendency to think really big! I want to be a big part of a big industry. However I think it’s important to understand that you can’t build a multi-million pound, market leading business overnight. It takes years. I like to think long-term too, so the next few years will be about establishing ‘The 3D Printer Company’ brand within the industry and learning the market inside out, so that when the market does explode, we will be at the forefront of it all.

For me, success in business is about being able to make peoples’ life better and I believe 3D Printing will have the power to do just that. That’s what drives me more than anything.

On 3D Printing: How has 3D printing impacted your life? What have you been most impressed by?

Casserley: From a design point of view, I’ve been most impressed by how quickly desktop 3D printers have started manufacturing objects that people genuinely need; for example, an iPad stand, or a pair of running shoes.

I guess, overall I’d say I’ve been most impressed by how quickly the home 3D printing market has progressed, considering it’s such early days.

3D Printing is becoming a bigger part of my life everyday, but when I try to look 10 to 20 years down the line, I can clearly visualise a world of customised products and 3D Printers in everybody’s homes. I believe, as a mass market we will become reliant on 3D printers; in a similar way we’ve all adopted mobile phones and computers. It’s great to be a part of that evolution.

On 3D Printing: Tell us about your company. What can we expect from you in 2014?

Casserley: We founded The 3D Printer Company with the intention of becoming the UK’s biggest re-seller of 3D Printers. But also to add value for our visitors by providing the latest news, information and guidance on 3D Printing, not to mention the first class customer care. Meaning customers can see very specific information about each product or give us a call or email and ask us a questions about the products, helping them choose the best 3D printer for them.

In 2014 you’ll see us supplying the very best 3D Printers that are available on the market combined with bringing all the newly released, innovative 3D Printers from across the world into the UK, first.

Deege and I are in a very fortunate position in that a very successful entrepreneur, Adam Norris, is mentoring us and financially backing us, which means becoming a valuable asset to the 3D Printing Industry shouldn’t take too long!

Thanks to Lewis and Deege for spending time with us. We are very excited to watch their progress this year. Maybe Mr. Avi Reichental should think about a talent acquisition before they get too big!

Best of luck lads.

Their product is called the Structure Sensor, and the company pulled in $1.3 million from Kickstarter, wildly beating their goal of $100,000.

The Structure Sensor is the world’s first 3D sensor for mobile devices. It gives mobile devices a new sense – the ability to not just capture the world as two-dimensional images, but to actually understand it in three dimensions.

This enables a completely new set of mobile applications, including:

• 3D mapping of indoor spaces for instant measurements and virtual redecoration.
• Augmented reality (AR) games where virtual objects interact precisely with the geometry of the physical world, including occlusions.
• 3D object scanning for 3D content creation with no knowledge of CAD required.
• Body scanning for fitness tracking and virtual clothes fitting.
• Virtual reality games using 3D environments imported from the real world.

Occipital sells the Structure Sensor kits (retail or the hackable version) for $349. You can still pre-order for shipment in April 2014.

The 3D printing community is getting excited about it too

Many of the uses for Structure are related to augmented reality and entertainment, but it also can be used as an object 3D scanner. In the 3D printing world, 3D scanners have had a surge in popularity over the last 6 months, between the launch of the MakerBot Digitizer desktop 3D scanner, a handful of Kickstarter campaigns, and the 3D Systems Sense 3D scanner.

Structure is the newest entrant in the 3D scanning world, and some of the key folks in the industry are sharing their excitement.

“We can’t wait to play with one of these around the MakerBot office,” said Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot.

Josh Levine, VP of Engineering for Shapeways is also excited about the opportunities with the technology. “For me the challenge has been in creating 3D objects. This completely obliterates that challenge,” he said.

Learn more at structure.io.