Tag Archives: Sculpteo
Win an Ultimaker! 3D Printing Competition at CGTrader
3D Printing Competition at CGTrader
3D model marketplace CGTrader is hosting a 3D printing competition. The company is looking for innovative 3D printable models and are giving away great prizes, including two Ultimaker 3D printers, 3D prints, gift cards from Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash, as well as an opportunity to sell designs in 3D printing store iMakr in London.
In order to participate, designers need to create 3D printable models in .STL format and upload them for sale or download to CGTrader. Further information on the competition is available here: http://www.cgtrader.com/
We talked with CGTrader’s Dalia Lasaite about the competition and the marketplace.
On 3D Printing: What is CGTrader and why are you running this competition?
Dalia Lasaite: CGTrader is a designer-friendly 3D model marketplace for artists and designers. We aim to offer the best conditions for both sellers and buyers of 3D models – the authors on our marketplace receive over 90% of royalties, and can interact directly with the buyers, thereby landing additional jobs or establishing relationships. On the other side, the buyers enjoy direct contact with the sellers, low prices, as well as high quality of the models. Our aim is to make sure that talented designers can make a living off creating and selling professional-level, high-quality 3D models. The 3D models traded on CGTrader are used in a variety of fields, including games, visualizations, ads, architecture, simulations – and now, increasingly, in 3D printing.
The 3D printing industry is rapidly developing, and we noticed increasing interest in this technology from both buyers and sellers on our marketplace. In order to encourage our designer community to step into this exciting field, we decided to start this competition and challenge them to create 3D printable models. While majority of 3D designers have primarily worked in digital domains, they typically have very strong 3D modeling skills and unlimited creativity, but may have not tried using a 3D printer or designing for 3D printing – so this competition was a natural step and had a very positive reception.
On 3D Printing: We’re not quite halfway through the competition yet. Are you seeing any submissions that excite you yet?
Dalia Lasaite: We’re always amazed by the creativity of the 3D designer community! The submissions started rolling in recently, but we’ve already seen a whole spectrum of models from useful to beautiful to crazy. Steampunk-based alphabet letters, parts for coffee machines, Escher sculptures, graffiti spray gun, cars, characters, toys – you name it! And of course, there is the Robohand, whereby you can actually print the whole prosthetic hand – definitely changing the world for the better. There are a few submissions representing the first 3D printable model of designers – and it is great to see how willing they are to learn and pick up this technology.
On 3D Printing: You’re giving away an Ultimaker 3D printer. Why that 3D printer?
Dalia Lasaite: Yes, and not one – but two 3D printers! We’re very excited to work with Ultimaker for this competition. Ultimaker printer is one of the best printers on the market right now. It has a large build volume, is very fast, and delivers high-quality prints. When organizing the competition we discussed it with several experts, and all recommendations pointed to Ultimaker – so it was fairly easy to choose.
We also have other awesome sponsors – including 3D Print UK, iMakr, Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash – the winners of this challenge will be very lucky!
On 3D Printing: What’s the future hold for CGTrader?
Dalia Lasaite: CGTrader aims to be the largest 3D model marketplace for professional level, high-quality 3D models. It is hard to say how the 3D printing industry will develop during the coming years – but our goal is to help designers monetize their creations, and provide the buyers with a wide selection of 3D models directly from designers. At the same time, we hope to contribute to the growth of the industry by providing a place to trade 3D models and encourage more designers to try their hand in this field.
Thanks to CGTrader for this interview!
Enter the CGTrader competition before June 30th to qualify.
Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York – A Retrospective
Inside 3D Printing Conference
In a context that felt a bit like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, this week 3D printing went to New York for the first ever Inside 3D Printing Conference. Over two full days at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, a broad array of industry leaders, innovators, academics and analysts gave keynotes, led seminars, and showed off their latest products to over 3,000 conference attendees. For many in the crowd, this was a crash course on a technology that has been exploding in the public consciousness over the past two years, and for others it was a chance to network, hear from big names in the industry, and get a sense for where 3D printing will go next.
In a role that seemed fitting given his company’s leadership in the industry and status as the conference’s primary sponsor, 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental opened the conference with the declaration, “Complexity is free” in a 3D printed world. Never before, he underlined, has a manufacturing process been indifferent to geometric complexity, and to him this is the single biggest reason 3D printing will continue to grow and expand into sectors ranging from education to medical devices to automotive and aerospace.
Much of the conference’s focus was on these different segmentations of 3D printing, and breakout seminars throughout the two days took a deeper dive in a variety of subjects. Some of the more memorable seminars explored integrating 3D printers into K-12 education, topology optimization – a complex but very impressive design tool that appears to be a perfect match for 3D printing, consumer desktop and cloud 3D printing, and bioprinting human tissue for medical applications. Longtime industry analyst Terry Wohlers and Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen also gave keynote addresses highlighting their vision for the industry’s future.
3D Printed iPhone Case from Sculpteo
Outside the seminar room the conference also had a distinctly hands-on element. A bustling exhibit hall hosted dozens of booths showing off a variety of consumer and enterprise 3D printers along with more curious technologies like 3D scanners and novel CAD input devices. 3D printing service companies were also eager to engage with potential customers, showing high quality parts available for remote ordering online.
While many sides of the industry were highlighted at the inaugural Inside 3D Printing Conference this week, the underlying theme was very clear: while 3D printing technology may have existed in research labs and niche applications since the 1980s and ‘90s, it is only now beginning to truly change our lives in meaningful ways. And from the number of times speakers said “Nascent,” “Just the first inning,” or “Only scratching the surface” to describe the state of the industry, it is clear that insiders see the eventual impact that 3D printing will make on the world to be profound, far-reaching, and on a larger scale than most casual observers can imagine today.
Authored by Brian H. Jaffe, founder of Mission St. Manufacturing and contributor to On 3D Printing.
Inside 3D Printing Conference: Day 2 Top Stories
Inside 3D Printing Conference: Day 2
Day 2 of the Inside 3D Printing Conference was exciting and informative. Below are the top stories from the day. (If you haven’t read it yet, here is our recap of Day 1.)
Topology Optimization in Additive Manufacturing: 3D Printing Conference (Part 5)
Topology optimization, a process inspired by bone structure research done over a century ago, is explained by solidThinking designers.
Shapeways Funding: $30 Million from Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon to Join Board
New Shapeways funding! Shapeways announced a new round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Partner Chris Dixon will join the Shapeways board.
Sculpteo Cloud 3D Printing, iPhone Cases, and More – 3D Printing Conference (Part 6)
Sculpteo is a 3D printing marketplace that is innovating on 3D printing services. We spoke with them at the Inside 3D Printing conference in NYC.
3D Printing in K-12 Education: Virginia Leads the Way – 3D Printing Conference (Part 7)
The Commonwealth Engineering and Design Academy in Virginia looks to integrate 3D printing to revolutionize K-12 education.
Shapeways CEO: Become a Creator of the Products You Care About – 3D Printing Conference (Part 8)
Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen delivers an update on his company at the Inside 3D Printing Conference, fresh off of a new round of funding.
Sculpteo Cloud 3D Printing, iPhone Cases, and More – 3D Printing Conference (Part 6)
Sculpteo Launches Services to Grow their 3D Printing Marketplace
Sculpteo is a 3D printing marketplace that is innovating on 3D printing services. Sculpteo was formed in 2009 with operations based in France and San Francisco, CA. The majority of Sculpteo’s sales are outside of the US, but they are growing their US operations.
While much of the 3D printing media coverage focuses on 3D printers, guns, and organs, there are companies who are innovating on the very important concept of how do I 3D print and what can I 3D print today?
We sat down with the team at the Sculpteo booth at the Inside 3D Printing Conference to see their new services.
3D Printing for iPhone and iPad
Sculpteo published a free iPad and iPhone app that lets customers design 3D printable ideas, like iPhone cases and coffee mugs. The company partnered with designers to develop templates that can be easily customized by users. Cases cost $25 to $30 to produce.
The result (shown in photos in this article) are highly personalized and affordable goods that are accessible to the average consumer.
3D Printing Cloud Engine
The power of the cloud is coming to 3D printing with Sculpteo’s white label service, called Cloud Engine. Think of this as a “click to print” service that can connect your designs to a remote 3D printer connected by the Cloud. For users who want 3D printed objects but don’t own a 3D printer yet, this is an option. Websites and mobile apps can also embed the service.
For example, Autodesk embedded Sculpteo Cloud Engine in its 123D Creature app.
Showcase
Below is a photo gallery of custom iPhone cases and more.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: SXSW, MakieLab, Cube, Kickstarter
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from March 11 to March 17:
Monday, March 11
