Tag Archives: Tinkercad

Top 3D Printing News Last Week: Michael Ian Black, Materials, Startups

Top 3D Printing News

3D Printing News

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from May 13 to May 18:

Monday, May 13

Wednesday, May 15

Thursday, May 16

Friday, May 17

Saturday, May 18

 

Photo by lizzk used under Creative Commons license.

Tinkercad Acquired by Autodesk: Free 3D Design Software Lives On!

Tinkercad Acquired by Autodesk

Tinkercad Acquired by Autodesk

In what will be great news to Tinkercad fans across the globe, the free 3D design software has found a new home at Autodesk. Autodesk has a suite of pro design software and its own free software such as 123D and 123D Catch for iPad.

Tinkercad is free, online 3D design software that is popular among 3D printing enthusiasts. The team announced they were shutting down Tinkercad in March 2013.

Now, in a change of course, Autodesk has acquired the software and website.

Here’s the memo from Founder & CEO Kai Backman:

I am happy to announce that we have just signed a deal where Autodesk will purchase the Tinkercad site and core technologies. This is a great day for all Tinkercad users, Autodesk is an very enthusiastic and capable steward. There are two main impacts of this deal: the site is fully operational and Autodesk has some very exciting plans for Tinkercad.

The shutdown plan has been rolled back and effective immediately new users are again able to sign up for the site. Even better, at the request of Autodesk, we have supercharged the free plan. You can now create unlimited designs, all import and export functionality is enabled and ShapeScripts are turned on for free accounts. We have automatically upgraded all existing free accounts to this new powerful plan. This account will be offered for a limited time only so make sure you sign up as soon as possible.

Before signing the deal the we spent a lot of time talking to Autodesk engineers and product people about their vision for Tinkercad. We were impressed by the deep insight the Autodesk team had into the Tinkercad interface and the underlying technology. There is also a strong alignment on topics like furthering education and the vision of making design more accessible. But most of all we are very excited about the roadmap Autodesk has drafted for Tinkercad.

As our team continues working on Airstone I’m pleased to see Tinkercad find a safe and welcoming home. I can speak for everyone when I say that we are looking forward to using Tinkercad for a long time to come.

Yours sincerely,
Kai Backman
Founder & CEO

Infographic: 3D Printing and the Future of Manufacturing by Sculpteo

3D Printing Infographic Future of Manufacturing

3D printing service Sculpteo published a great infographic called “3D printing is the future of manufacturing.”

Highlights:

  1. The Third Industrial Revolution
  2. What is 3D printing?
  3. Manufacture in one click
  4. The range of 3D printing materials
  5. What does it change for your VC or CEO?
  6. How to integrate 3D printing into your business today? Invest in 3D printing or integrate a cloud solution
  7. New markets have access to manufacturing
  8. New major players
  9. And your consumers
  10. A case study: 3DPCase

3D Printing Infographic Future of Manufacturing

 

Via Sculpteo blog.

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.

NPR Interview: 3D Printing Without Limits, Body Parts, Sharing Culture

NPR Science Friday 3D Printing

NPR held a special radio feature on 3D printing during their Science Friday program. Ira Flatow interviewed industry consultant Terry Wohlers, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis, and Cornell Associate Professor Hod Lipson.

What if you needed a new toothbrush and all you had to do was hit print? What if doctors could print out transplantable organs and pastry chefs turned to a printer, not a kitchen, for their next creation? Ira Flatow and a panel of guests discuss 3D printing technology, how far it’s come and what a 3D-printed-future could look like.

Topics ranged from basic background information to detailed questions. Read the highlights below and then listen to the full radio program.

What is 3D printing? What is the MakerBot?

Terry Wohlers and Bre Pettis gave a nice overview of what 3D printing is. Here is Bre’s explanation of what the MakerBot does.

The MakerBot replicator uses one of two plastics. You can either make things in ABS plastic, which is what LEGO is made out of, or you can use PLA, which is the plastic that’s made from corn. And then you get your plastic on spools, and it kind of looks like a big spool of spaghetti.

And the spaghetti goes into the machine, and it draws a picture in plastic, and then it goes up a little bit, and layer after layer, it creates your model, and you can really create anything.

All the tools for designing things are becoming democratized. So 3D printing is getting democratized, the tools that make things are getting easier. You can use things like Tinkercad, which is free and online, and you’re off to the races and making things.

Will everyone have a 3D printer?

Comparisons were made to inkjets and microwaves. When first introduced into the market, these products were expensive and unfamiliar, but now they are common home appliances.

Even if, in the future, everyone does not have a 3D printer in the home, the experts suggested that people will have access to a 3D printer and will buy parts manufactured locally by a nearby 3D printer.

Can body parts be 3D printed?

It will happen in our lifetime. We are already 3D printing a replacement knee meniscus and have prototyped bone and organs.

Are there any limits to 3D printing?

For the first time in human history, making something complex with details that cannot be manufacturing through traditional processes is as simple as making a paperweight.

Current consumer machines are limited in size. MakerBot can print objects up to the size of a loaf of bread. But there are professional printers that can make much larger objects.

Hod Lipson’s team has a goal to print a robot, batteries included, that can walk off the printer.

The experts agreed that 3D printing will let us think about new breakthroughs in product design.

Culture of Sharing

The 3D printing community is very collaborative and are building off of each other’s successes. This allows for continuous innovation through a culture of sharing.

 

Via NPR.

Science museum photo by chooyutshing used under Creative Commons license.