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.

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from March 11 to March 17:

Monday, March 11

• Kickstarter 3D Printer – re:3D Crowdfunded Large Format 3D Printer

At SXSW, 3D Systems showed off their Cube 3D printers in a creative way: by strapping 3D printers to people and walking around the conference while printing.

In the video below, a man from Cubify demos 3D printing from with a Cube attached to his body.

Photo by Luc Van Braekel used under Creative Commons license.

The 3D printing future is bright. That was the consensus of industry leaders on a panel at SXSW this year in Austin, Texas. The show kicked off with MakerBot’s Bre Pettis unveiling the new MakerBot Digitizer 3D scanner and closed with 3D printed toys producer MakieLab winning the SXSW Accelerator top prize.

CNET’s Rich Brown hosted a panel on “The Future of 3D Printing“, featuring 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental, MakieLab CEO Alice Taylor, and Bespoke Innovations founder Scott Summit.

The panel discussed three topics:

1. Business opportunities
2. IP and copyright issues
3. General thoughts about the industry

Key takeaways

Reichental discussed how 3D printing is already powering major industries. He noted that hearing aids are manufactured using 3D printing, many dental implants are 3D printed, and parts used in military jets and drones are created using 3D printing as well. 3D Systems has a partnership from the military to increase the number of 3D printed parts to 900 for the next generation jet.

While 3D Systems is a large public company, Taylor and Summit represented their experience in their respective startups. 3D printing enabled them to get manufacturing intensive businesses to market without incurring dramatic capital expenses. The things that kill startups – time to market, upfront costs, and inventory costs – go away with 3D printing.

Intellectual property concerns were somewhat dismissed by the panel, suggesting that piracy is simply a demonstration of market demand and loyalty. Summit argued that a larger risk for piracy is the counterfeit mass production of goods in China.

Likewise, the hype around 3D printed guns was suggested to be overplayed by the media and not a real risk. Taylor suggested it will continue to be easier to buy a gun than print one.

Looking to the future, the panelists commented on 4D printing (3D printing with functionality) and 5D printing (voxel manufacturing) as revolutionary directions the technology could go, while also acknowledging that there are real limitations with respect to materials and cost today.

The panel also suggested that prices of consumer 3D printers would fall as competition increased.

Tweets

Wow, deep “we lost a generation to video games, buy your kids a 3D printer and they’ll become a rocket scientist by college” #ftr3dprint

— Jake Frick (@JakeFrick) March 11, 2013

We won’t continue to see few design for millions. With 3D printing, we’ll start to see millions designing for themselves. #FTR3DPRINT #SXSW

— Sarah Schultz (@schultzse) March 11, 2013

Original panel description from SXSW

Photo by William Hertling.

3D printed toys company MakieLab won the SXSW Accelerator top prize for the entertainment and gaming technology category this year.

Based out of London, MakieLab creates Makies™, the world’s first customisable and poseable 3D-printed doll.

Following a live pitch by MakieLab’s CEO, Alice Taylor, the Shoreditch-based start-up joined the winners’ circle from what judges agreed was an extremely strong field in this year’s competition, which highlights companies with fresh ideas, strong creative vision and exceptional business potential. Over 500 total submissions were received for the 2013 SXSW Accelerator, culminating in awards for seven of the web’s most exciting new innovations across Web, Mobile, Social, Entertainment/Gaming, News, Health and Music categories.

“We are delighted, humbled and grateful to the wonderful people of SXSW for this award,” said Taylor. “We’ve had the most amazing five days here, and this finale is the icing on the cake. It seems to be the year of 3D printing: Bre Pettis keynoting, Bruce Sterling wearing a 3D-printed Bruce Sterling around his neck… it’s fantastic, and we’re very much enjoying being part of this movement!”

Over 20,000 unique digital Makies have been created at www.makie.me. In February, Makies became the world’s first 3D-printed toy to earn the CE mark, certifying them as safe for kids aged 3 and up. Makies Doll Factory, MakieLab’s free build-a-doll app for iPad, was released earlier this month and is available now in the App Store.

MakieLab launched in May 2012 and raised $1.4 million in funding in June 2012.

To learn more about MakieLab and Makies, visit www.makie.me or www.makielab.com.

Photo by MakieLab used under Creative Commons license.