Tag Archives: design
Leopoly Brings Fast, Easy, Crowd-Sculpting Design to 3D Printing
Design for 3D Printing on the Web or in Virtual Reality with Leopoly’s Creative Suite
Design for 3D printing is hard. You can go buy the MakerBot Digitizer for $1,400, or you can use some free software like Autodesk 123D Catch. But what if you want to design something creative, from scratch?
Leopoly may be your answer to the fastest and easiest way to make a novel design in minutes.
Leopoly is a web-based product that lets you sculpt in 3D. You literally start with a digital ball of clay, and push it and pull it until you have something you like. It was created by Leonar3Do International, a 3D tech startup company, founded in 2010 and based in Budapest, Hungary. The company has become a pioneer and award-winning provider of 3D solutions aimed at the educational, healthcare, gaming industry and general business market.
Here is a sophisticated design of an alien bust, created in Leopoly and ready to be 3D printed.
Leopoly has a key innovation: crowd-sculpting
“The idea behind the software is to give the easiest 3D sculpting tool and a community-based game experience to the makers of the 21st century,” said Daniel Andrassy from Leopoly. “This new way of virtual sculpting is but a part of evolutionary modeling, where all users can share creative designs and further shape ones pieces of art.”
To put this simply, you can start with a ball of clay, or you can start with someone else’s design and extend it. Community is at the heart of the online service.
“With Leopoly we break down boundaries. Leopoly narrows the gap between hardly reachable level of proficiency and novice enthusiasts in 3D design and printing” said Roland Mányai, Director of Sales and Marketing. “Our goal was to make this project on a web based platform, to open doors to anyone and make it reachable literally anywhere for a wider community of makers and to make 3D modeling fun.”
And here is a Shrek design that might need a few more iterations in the crowd.
Here is a video demo of the Leopoly web tool.
3D modeling in virtual reality
(Photo: The Verge’s Ellis Hamburger trying out the Bird in January 2013)
Leonar3Do also sells software with a 3D immersive mode that pairs with the Leonar3Do VR Hardware Kit. This lets users break out of the 2D approach and work in virtual space using head tracked goggles and the Bird, a 3D mouse which sells for $500 alone or $2000 bundled with software.
Watch the video below for a demo.
3D Printing Your Design
Leopoly doesn’t have it’s own 3D printing service, but you can directly 3D print the objects you create through Sculpteo‘s cloud 3D printing service.
Sculpteo will import your design, give you a choice of materials, and provide a cost and shipping estimate. Sculpteo announced this partnership on their blog last month, saying “All you need to do is to click on 3D print, and you’ll be able to order a print from Sculpteo. With Leopoly, 3D printing is just one click away.”
We gave this whole process a test drive. We were able to create a relatively complex model in just a few minutes on Leopoly, and then send it over to Sculpteo where we could choose from an array of materials. We chose white plastic for $10.57, shipping in 3 days.
If you’d like to learn more about Leopoly or Leonar3Do, visit www.leopoly.com and www.Leonar3Do.com
World’s First 3D Printed Skateboard from Design Competition Winner
Sam Abbott Wins 3D Printing Design Competition, Then 3D Prints Skateboard
Earlier this year, CGTrader and 3DPRINTUK hosted a 3D printing design competition. Sam Abbott won the competition with a portfolio of 3D printed designs, and in turn won an Ultimaker 3D printer.
Soon after, Sam took a more ambitious project, designing and producing the world’s first 3D printed twin tip skateboard.
“There were published more than 250 3D models prepared for 3D printing from the May through June 2013,” CGTrader said in an interview with On 3D Printing. “Sam’s models are various and easy printable. From phone covers, jewelery to statues and other objects. Sam was the winner of 3D Printable Portfolio – that means he had to upload more models than others and the quality very important. He met these two requirements and won his Ultimaker.”
3D Printing a Skateboard
Sam’s next project was a 3D printed skateboard. Here’s a video of his 3D printing and assembly process.
We also caught up with the designer himself, Sam Abbott, in an exclusive interview.
On 3D Printing: How did you come up with the idea for a 3D printed skateboard?
Sam Abbott: I created the Skateboard design out of curiosity after designing many small items for 3d printing things like phone covers, jewelery, light shades etc. I was interested in print costs, print time functionality of the materials for a large design in 3d printing. Also I always loved to skate and so it was just an obvious choice to me to do a skateboard file. The form and aesthetics of the design were inspired from my memories of graffiti and street art from a recent visit to Gent, Belgium. Its 3D Geometry constructed in a way to add grip for grabs and less surface contact for grinds/slides.
On 3D Printing: Tell us about your experience of entering, and winning, the CGTrader competition?
Sam Abbott: Entering any competition is exciting as its a great way to see what others are doing and producing! It has the excitement of a lottery especially when the prizes are as awesome as what was awarded in this one. It has been an unbelievable experience to win the competition held by CGTrader. The competition the members of staff the platform to sell my files from has just been awesome and extremely helpful!
On 3D Printing: What do you plan to do with your Ultimaker 3D printer?
Sam Abbott: I am trained in SLS printing that is my expertise and so there is lots of learning, experiments and fine tuning to be done with the Ultimaker, as it build’s a 3d file in a different method requiring a different design approach. However I have successfully printed many of my rings, a phone cover, some vases, some technical parts for the printer itself and a mini version of my skateboard the size of a usb stick. I am currently working on a design to say thank you to everyone at CGTrader!
We can’t wait to see the next design from Sam.
MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner Goes On Sale for $1400, Video from Bre
MakerBot’s Desktop 3D Scanner Now Available for Sale
MakerBot, the New York-based desktop 3D printer startup that was recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million, now officially has a new product line: desktop 3D scanners.
Their first product is called the MakerBot Digitizer, and is now available for sale. The price tag: $1400, plus an optional $150 for a MakerCare Service Plan. We covered the features of the 3D scanner last week, and here are more details.
“It’s a powerful and elegant tool for turning physical objects into digital designs,” said MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis.”You put something on the turntable, and it turns. Lasers shoot at it,” Pettis explained. “It’s a powerful tool that’s going to give you a whole new way of looking at things.”
Benefits of the MakerBot Digitizer
Professionals can create 3D models without having to start from scratch. Home users can explore the frontier of 3D scanning and then print them on a 3D printer or share on Thingiverse.
You can order the MakerBot Digitizer here.
Here’s a video from CEO Bre Pettis announcing the MakerBot Digitizer.
MakerCare Service Plan
In addition to purchasing the 3D scanner, MakerBot is offering a service option, called the MakerCare Service Plan for $150. MakerCare is designed to make your MakerBot Digitizer ownership experience as smooth as possible. The plan lasts a full year from the order ship date of your MakerBot Digitizer. If anything goes wrong with your MakerBot Digitizer during that time, you can contact the MakerBot Support team to identify the source of the trouble. The Support team will provide any replacement parts necessary, or arrange for you to ship your MakerBot Digitizer back to the company for repair.
Win a Solidoodle 3D Printer at 100% Design Competition in the UK
3D Printing Design Competition Will Award Solidoodle 3D Printer to the Winner
To celebrate the launch of the Home Factory at this year’s 100% Design, the UK’s largest contemporary design event, the organizers are teaming up with iMakr, the world’s largest 3D print store, to offer 5 lucky creatives the chance to have their designs printed in 3D and displayed at the event.
100% Design is officially the UK’s largest design trade event with over 25,000 visitors including architects, interior designers, retailers and designers. The event is held between the 18-21 September and is the biggest event during the London Design Festival. 100% Design is expected to attract over 30,000 visitors in 2013.
The Home Factory is a dedicated 100 square-meter space at 100% Design exploring the potential of 3D printing. It’s a concept living space that demonstrates both the impact of 3D printing in an interiors setting and showcase some of the best 3D printed interiors products. UK 3D print pioneers, iMakr, will produce a concept space within The Home Factory that brings creativity closer to the technology.
Submit Your Design
The contest is open to any design, whether for the home or workplace. You can design anything from furniture to lighting to tableware to technology or an accessory. Submit your designs in 2D or 3D software. If a 2D drawing is selected, the contest organizers will convert it into 3D for you.
Here are some of the current highest voted submissions.
Awards
Judge’s Choice Award
The judging panel including 100% Design Event Director, William Knight will select 5 winners who will:
- Have their design 3D printed and displayed as part of the Home Factory feature at 100% Design
- Have their 3D printed works exhibited in the iMakr store in London for a promotional period
- Earn commission on their design if sold during the promotional period
One overall winner will receive a Solidoodle 3rd Generation 3D Printer worth £800.
People’s Choice Award
In addition to the Judge’s Choice award, the design that receives the highest votes will have their design exhibited at 100% Design.
Learn more about the contest, submit your design, or view submissions at Talent House.
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.
