Tag Archives: 3D scanner
MakerBot Announces Availability of Desktop 3D Scanner MakerBot Digitizer
MakerBot Seeks Real-World Copy and Paste with Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner
3D scanners seem to be all the rage this month. First, not one but two 3D scanner Kickstarter campaigns were launched, and now desktop 3D printer company MakerBot, recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million, has announced it will start selling its Digitizer desktop 3D scanner next week.
We first covered the MakerBot Digitizer in March when CEO Bre Pettis kicked off South by Southwest (SXSW) with a big announcement that his company was developing real-world copy and paste.
In April, we visited the MakerBot store in New York and asked Pettis what’s the next big thing he’s working on? He answered immediately, “3D scanners.”
In June, MakerBot was acquired by 3D printing giant Stratasys for $403 million. Well, Pettis isn’t letting the innovation stop just because he has cashed out.
Next week, the MakerBot Digitizer goes on sale. Here are some of the key features:
- Simple, yet sophisticated software creates clean, watertight 3D models with just two clicks.
- Get a 3D digital design file in just minutes.
- No design skills, 3D modeling or CAD expertise required to get started.
- Outputs standard 3D design file formats that can be modified and improved in third-party 3D modeling programs, like Autodesk’s free software MeshMixer.
- Easily upload your unique scans directly to Thingiverse.com.
Stay tuned for more news about the Digitizer or visit MakerBot’s store for more details.
Artist Joshua Harker Designs Unique Cover for Fuel3D 3D Scanner
Fuel3D reveals unique product casing for affordable 3D scanner
Last week, we wrote about Fuel3D, a handheld 3D scanner for less than $1,000 that has raised over $200,000 on Kickstarter.
Fuel3D Inc. today revealed the design of a unique product casing designed by renowned 3D artist, Joshua Harker. The limited edition casing is only available to pledgers for Fuel3D’s crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter.
Fuel3D is an affordable handheld 3D scanner that delivers high resolution shape and color capture for a range of 3D modeling applications, such as 3D printing, 3D art and 3D game development. Since launching on Kickstarter on July 31, with its initial goal of raising $75,000 achieved within 36 hours, the project has raised more than $220,000, with over two weeks of the campaign still remaining.
American artist, Joshua Harker, is considered a pioneer of 3D printed art and sculpture. Along with his techniques, subject matter and execution, his experimentation in the dissemination of his art through digital media and the internet has garnered him international recognition and acclaim. His work is included in nearly 3,000 collections, alongside such notable artists as Andy Warhol and Ron English.
“I am hugely impressed with the quality of the scans that I have seen from the Fuel3D scanner and am intriqued by the multitude of possibilities such a tool can bring to the table for artists,” said Harker. “The very reasonable price means that more people will be able to use the technology to get creative with 3D images and continue to push the medium in exciting new directions. This access ushers in a new phase of liberated design. To channel forms from one dimension into another is a profoundly powerful ability once only associated with the occult… welcome to our new reality!”
Check out the gallery of this design below.
Only available to Kickstarter pledgers, the unique product casing design, made from 3D printed polyamide and described as an “OUIJA planchette executed in the tangled filigree aesthetic”, aptly demonstrates the potential of Fuel3D to enable the creation of short-run, “special edition” product variants.
“With a product like Fuel3D, the ability to create specialized product designs is made a whole lot easier by allowing easy capture of 3D images which can then be manipulated into product enhancements for 3D printing,” said Stuart Mead, CEO, Fuel3D. “This can then be applied in many different scenarios, for example like the custom product cover Joshua has designed for the Fuel3D, and we think that the potential to apply this approach in the luxury goods sector and for other products is hugely exciting.”
Kickstarter pledgers will have the opportunity to get their Fuel3D with the special cover for just $1,490, but with only 40 being made, they will have to move quickly.
“The Fuel3D scanner with the Joshua Harker cover is available now on Kickstarter for less than the future retail price of the actual product, which is an amazing offer,” added Mead. “The lucky few pledgers who get this will be getting a unique piece of limited artwork along with their Fuel3D scanner!”
MakerBot Celebrates Dads and Grads with 3D Printing Deals
MakerBot Offers 3D Printing Deals for Dads and Grads
Every year, June marks Father’s Day and graduation season, or “Dads and Grads” as marketers call it. If you’re looking for something unique to celebrate the occasion, 3D printer company MakerBot has a few great gift ideas.
First, MakerBot is offering access to their 3D Photo Booth in their NYC store, free on June 9 from 12pm to 6pm.
We visited the store in April and checked out the scanner for ourselves. Here’s how it works:
- You sit in a booth and are surrounded by cameras.
- You line your head up so that it fits in the frame shown on the screen.
- Cameras take multiple photos from multiple angles.
- And that’s it! In a few hours, you have a digital head waiting for you on Thingiverse.
- You can buy a 3D printed version of your head for $20 to $60.
The second offer is for Grads:
We’ll also be celebrating graduates this June at the MakerBot Store. Any recent graduate that brings in a copy of his/her diploma or proof of graduation will receive a free MakerBot 2013 Graduation 3D printed lithopane. If you’ve seen our lithopanes on Thingiverse, you already know about the awesomeness in store. Graduation lithopanes will be available June 1 – 30, so be sure to stop in while supplies last.
Via MakerBot.
