Tag Archives: Minecraft

Happy New Year! Top 3D Printing Stories from 2012

Happy New Year! Here are the top 3D printing stories from 2012.

We are excited for 2013 to be the Year of 3D Printing.

5. UP! 3D Printer from China: Viable Competitor to US 3D Printer Makers

UP! 3D Printer from China

 

 

4. 3D Modeling and Design for 3D Printing: Tinkercad, Sketchup and 123D

Tinkercad Chess Set Design Winner

 

3. Why Google Sold SketchUp and What It Means for 3D Printing

Google Sketchup at Maker Faire

 

2. Why 3D Printing Will Be More Fun Than LEGO: Minecraft Video

Minecraft vs LEGO

 

1. 3D Printing Stocks are Hot: Top Public Companies Up 180% Over 6 Months

3D Printing Public Stocks

Top 10 Countdown: Most Popular 3D Printing Stories in June 2012

Peter Thiel 3D Printing

Here are the top 10 most popular stories On 3D Printing brought you in June 2012.

10. The Dutch combine 3D printing and textiles.

9. A review of 3D modeling software Tinkercad, SketchUp, and 123D.

8. People are wondering why Google sold 3D modeling business SketchUp.

7. Still popular: the Motley Fool reviews the 3D printing industry.

6. We exclusively covered 3D Systems’ Cubify at Google I/O 3D printing in San Francisco.

5. UP! 3D printer from China is a viable competitor to MakerBot and other.

4. You can be a superhero; your face 3D printed on a superhero action figure.

3. Facebook investor Peter Thiel backs 3D printing entrepreneur.

2.  Why 3D printing will be more fun than LEGO thanks to Minecraft.

1. 3D printing stock are hot and up over 180%! So was this article.

 

Thanks for reading in June!

Peter Thiel photo by thekenyeung used under Creative Commons license.

Why 3D Printing Will Be More Fun Than LEGO: Minecraft Video

Minecraft 3D Print

As humans, we attach more value to things we create than things created for us (See Dan Ariely’s research to understand what he calls “The Ikea Effect”).

This common psychological motivation is why personalized 3D printing will engender a new generation of toys that are not mass produced. Although toys like LEGO and Lincoln Logs let kids use building blocks to create their own structures, they are still limited to the granularity of the block.

The popularity of the game Minecraft has shown that kids are ready to go beyond centimeter-tall blocks, and want to build entire worlds. One 3D printing enthusiast has demonstrated how to export your Minecraft village and print a physical copy to play with.

Minecraft Village Digital to 3D Print

In the video below, watch as he walks through his digital to 3D printed transformation.

We have reported about this before. This is just the beginning. The toy industry is soon to be turned upside down as 3D printing gains popularity.