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Friday, April 29. 2011

Friday Finds: 3D Printed Designs From the Shapeways Community

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Just in time for the weekend, your dose of 3D printed inspiration has arrived, courtesy of the Shapeways community.
And remember, you can always check out these community member's shops, or the "It Arrived" section of our forum for more! 

gibell's carefully engineered Five Tetrahedra


Clercy Sophie's Labyrinth Lamp is amazing, just make sure you don't get lost…


unellenu's  "Spiralling Spirals" Pendant is exquisite for fractal lovers.


thefuturefuture's simple, striking Textured Rod Necklace


Posted by Ana in Art, Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 20:20

Theo Jansen's 3D Printed Strandbeests

Comments 8
 

Theo Jansen is a Dutch kinetic artist, since 1990 occupied with creating new forms of life. He is father to the "Animari" beach creatures, or "Strandbeests", made of PVC tubing, that walk the beach powered by the wind. As time progresses the Beests evolve, with the ultimate goal of living their lives on their own.


Now Theo Jansen's Strandbeests have found a way to multiply by injecting their digital DNA directly into the Shapeways system. From now on several small strandbeests are available from his shop . Next to being a great abstraction of the inspiring work of Theo Jansen, these strandbeests are also an example of what 3D printing is capable of. Right after birth from the 3D printer these models will work straight away and do NOT require any assembly.

Designing the Beests this way proved quite the challenge. They consist of at least 76 separate moving interlocking parts. Multiple prototypes were used to come to the first viable solution, "Animaris Geneticus Parvus" #5. But the evolution process continues with evolutions #6 with lightweight bone structure and #7 with pointy feet.


3D printing is very suitable for rapid design changes, and as time goes by the Beests will evolve and new types of DNA will be added to the store, while others are removed. Expect more evolutions and variations in the future, with possible variation in size, shape, material or means of propulsion.

Also worth mentioning, a big brother to these Strandbeests is the limited edition "Animaris Geneticus Parvus XL", which is only available from Theo's Dutch Gallery Akinci

Animaris Geneticus Parvus is a joint project of Theo Jansen and Dutch Designers Bo Jansen and Tim van Bentum.

Check out the models in Theo Jansen's Shop.


Posted by Bart in Community, Inspiration, What's Hot at 13:57

Thursday, April 28. 2011

Introducing Image Popper, a new way to easily 3D model and 3D print

Comments 9
 

Hello again! Today, I'm proud to announce two new developments in the way Shapeways enables your creativity: the remodeling of our creator page and a brand new creator to go with it!

First, our new creator page…Shapeways is constantly looking for new ways to help people who do not know how to 3D Model to design and create new things. We do this via our Creators and Co-Creation Platform. Over time, we have accumulated a lot of different creators and variations, and our Creator page has gotten a bit crowded. This week, we've cleaned it up a bit. Hopefully this will make it easier to use and understand. 

Speaking of ways of helping you create, we are also happy to introduce our Image Popper! The concept is simple, upload a black and white JPG, or draw your own right on screen (currently the draw your own feature only works in Google Chrome). Then tell us how big you want it, how much you want to raise it, etc. and watch your design upload directly to your shop. 



Got feedback? Let me know on the forum.

What can you make with this?


Continue reading "Introducing Image Popper, a new way to easily 3D model and 3D print"

Posted by Nancy Liang in Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, Software, Tutorials, What's Hot at 11:24

Shapeways at Public Knowledge 3D/DC convention

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Today I am heading to Washington DC together with an impressive collection of the who-is-who in the 3D printing industry in the US. Shapeways is - amongst others - joined by Makerbot, 3D Systems, Fab@Home and Makergear for the Public Knowledge 3D/DC convention.

The Public Knowledge 3D/DC convention is organized to give US policymakers a peak inside the 3D printing revolution which starts to happen. In the book "Where Good Ideas Comes From" Steven Johnson makes a great case that any disruptive technology revolution takes about 2 decades to go from invention to mainstream. 3D printing has been around for quite some years and we are well into the second decade. You could argue that this disruption is of a bigger scale than for instance HD television or the fax machine and it will take more time. I think we just past the 'second decade'. The next decade has the potential to change the world on a scale of which we have not seen since the internet going mainstream in the late nineties. It makes me wonder if we will get a 3D printing / making bubble similar to the dot-com bubble?

Any major technology disruption comes with pain because business models change and existing businesses need to adapt. Incumbent industries unwilling to change will resist. Just look what happened to the music and media industry and the advent of the internet, mp3 and ipods. The same will apply to 3D printing. Just imagine people copying, extending or modifying existing products to make them better or last longer. Are you allowed to reverse-engineer your car engine and improve parts of the engine? And what about giving the design to a friend? Or maybe start selling it (at cost) at the auto club? Or maybe offer it for sale commercially?

Continue reading "Shapeways at Public Knowledge 3D/DC convention"

Posted by Robert in Shapeways, What's Hot at 03:43

Tuesday, April 26. 2011

How strong is 3D Printed White Strong & Flexible?

Comments 8
 
I was hanging out with some friends over the weekend, and we were throwing some Shapeways items around. They asked me "how strong is this material anyway?" "Well," I responded, "what better way to find out than to test it out yourself?"

Here are the results..



BAM! (thanks to Nervous System for use of their Reaction Vase)

Do you have a materials torture video you'd like to share? Let us know!
Posted by Nancy Liang in Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, Tutorials, What's Hot at 08:47

Monday, April 25. 2011

4000 Items Sold from Woody's Minifig Customs Shop

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Congratulations to Woody's Minifig Customs on reaching 4000 sales from his Shapeways shop.

Group in Black Detail (coated)

Woody designs a range of Lego Mini-figurine accessories inspired by historical items from the late 17th and 18th century with nearly 500 items in his Shapeways store and he also offer to do custom items upon request via his Facebook page and check out some of his images on his Flickr page.

SCR-300 and Scottish beret

We are beginning to see more and more micro-businesses built upon Shapeways, using Shapeways to handle the financial transaction, production and distribution so that designers, artists, makers can concentrate on the fun stuff... Designing and making....


Let us know how we can help enable your business, what can we do to make it easier, what are we doing wrong, and if you have a business you are running off of the Shapeways site, let us know how your business is powered by Shapeways?

Posted by Duann in Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 23:06

Sunday, April 24. 2011

Vessel Pendant 3D Printed in Sterling Silver

Comment 1
 
If you wanted to get an idea of the level of quality we can now achieve with Shapeways' 3D printed sterling silver, take a look at Nervous System's Vessel Pendant.

Vessel Pendant in sterling silver

Vessel Pendant in sterling silver

Vessel Pendant in sterling silver

It is a fantastic example of the quality of polishing we can now achieve with the silver process so you can get absolute professional results from the Shapeways service. Please be sure to share your items when they arrive, we LOVE to see what you make.. 
Posted by Duann in Art, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 23:50

Friday, April 22. 2011

Friday Finds: 3D Printed Designs From the Shapeways Community

Comments 7
 

Now for one of my favorite parts of the week: a round up 3D printed goodness from our community. And remember you can always check out these community members' shops and the It Arrived forum too!

henryseq's steampunk style Knotted Cog:

vertigopolka's paper thin Implicit Surface Q in White Strong Flexible:

Magic's mathematically playful anti-dodecahedron:

Action_N's sweeping Swirl Ring:

Posted by Ana in Art, Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 21:33

Thursday, April 21. 2011

Introducing 3D Printing of new smooth, ultra detailed material

Comments 29
 
Hello, I'm Nancy, the Product Lead of Materials & Content, and I have some exciting news! One month ago, we sent out a survey in which we asked people what they wanted in Shapeways material. We found that the top 2 qualities people were looking for are higher detail material, and smoother material. As you know, our number one priority is our customer, so we quickly went to work. In under a month, we found a new material! Starting today, we will be introducing this new materials in two different settings: Frosted Detail and Frosted Ultra Detail. See for yourself what is possible...

click on the pictures to enlarge
Frosted Ultra Detail vs. Frosted Detail Frosted Ultra Detail painted Frosted Ultra Detail vs. White Detail

As you can see from the pinwheel photo above (the first picture on the left), Frosted Ultra Detail is a crisper, clearer material than Frosted Detail. Also, the thinner pinwheel walls survives printing in the Frosted Ultra Detail material, while the same walls breaks off in Frosted Detail wheel (the wheel on the right).

This is also an improvement over our current detail offerings. First, we will allow interlocking parts with this material, which will enable more complex and interesting designs. The material is also smoother, and less yellow than the current detail material (especially the Frosted Ultra Detail, see the comparison photo above). Lastly, because the support material is easier to clean, less parts will get rejected. In the past, hollow parts with tiny holes were very difficult to clean and would sometimes get rejected, in the Frosted Detail materials, the support material is melted out, simplifying the cleaning process, so upload those complex models and off to the printers they go!

We will be offering Frosted Detail materials on a trial basis for 8 weeks. If the community response is positive, we will keep this material permanent, so be sure to give us plenty of feedback on your experiences (both good and bad) with this and our other detail materials.

Continue reading "Introducing 3D Printing of new smooth, ultra detailed material"

Posted by Nancy Liang in Community, Shapeways, What's Hot at 13:45

Wednesday, April 20. 2011

Shapeways Community Earns $100,000

Comments 15
 
From the truly-amazing-department: you guys have earned over $100,000 with your Shapeways shops, counting from the moment Shapeways started back in 2008. That's true earnings, not just revenue. I think that deserves a round of applause! How about we aim for another $100,000 in just 6 months from now? ;-)

(Picture: record shipment of 136 orders in one day, last month. From left to right: Egbert, Petra en Ramon)
Posted by Bart in Community, Shapeways, What's Hot at 23:44

Tuesday, April 19. 2011

Every Day Should Be Mother's Day

Comments 3
 
This super sweet design, Mother and a child by Signs is a perfect gift this mother's day with the amazing price for a bespoke piece of jewelry of only $7.50 in Stainless Steel or $40 in Silver......

A little background on Mother's Day in the USA courtesy of our good friend wikipedia:

Anna Jarvis embarked upon a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday. She succeeded in making this nationally recognized in 1914. By the 1920s, Anna Jarvis had become soured by the commercialization of the holiday. She incorporated herself as the Mother’s Day International Association, trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and was once arrested for disturbing the peace.

She and her sister Ellsinore spent their family inheritance campaigning against what the holiday had become. Both died in poverty. According to her New York Times obituary, Jarvis became embittered because too many people sent their mothers a printed greeting card. As she said,

    A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.
    —Anna Jarvis.

OK, so this year, perhaps forgo the empty sentiment of a printed card and go for a 3D printed gift instead...
Posted by Duann in Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 11:50

Melbourne Meetup April 28th : UPDATE

Comments 3
 

OK Melbourne, it's time to Meetup Shapeways style, now at Beer Deluxe...

After the success ot the recent Sydney Meetup now it is Melbourne's turn to get together and talk 3D printing in the warm glow of beer. Bring along your own 3D printed items, whether Shapeways, Makerbot, Rerap, whaterver, especially if you have any post processing tips you would like to share as we saw some amazing items in Sydney.  Feel free to bring as many friends as you like and hopefully you can blow my beer budget :-)

Also I (Duann) will be in Melbourne all day on Thursday the 28th of May and I am available to give presentations to any schools, universities, TAFE or Hackerspaces.  If you are interested, get in touch duann (at) shapeways (dot) com


I am looking forward to meeting you all and seeing what the 'Cultural Capital of Australia' has to offer.

thinking inside the square

thinking inside the square / Jes / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Posted by Duann in Art, Community, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 03:26

Monday, April 18. 2011

Shapeways Now Supports OBJ File Format

Comments 0
 
An often heard request was support for the OBJ file format. This is an open and rather old format, meaning that many many applications offer really good support for it.

After some quiet beta testing, we're now ready to offer it to everyone. So if exporting your designs to STL, VRML97, X3D or Collada always gave you a headache this just might make your life a little bit easier!

A few things to note:

  • OBJ is a unit-less file format, so you'll have to tell us the scale of your model when you upload it: millimeters, inches or meters. For example, if you select millimeters then 1 unit in your 3D model translates to 1 millimeter in your printed object.
  • We currently do not yet support material/texture files (.MTL) - this is planned for the future, however. NURBS are also not supported. But in our research we found that NURBS are not commonly used by OBJ exporters of 3D software packages.
We'll be updating our list of supported applications over the next couple of weeks, but we can really use your help with that. Let us know if your favorite 3D app supports OBJ - either natively or through a plugin. You can leave your feedback on the forum. Thanks!!
Posted by Bart in Shapeways, Software, What's Hot at 11:53

Friday, April 15. 2011

Re-Think Education with Shapeways & HackThink

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Imagine if your 5th grade classroom had a 3D printer in it. 
If modeling in 3D was something you learned in school, what would you make? Bridges? Models of human hearts? A replica of the pyramids? What if how well you designed an object in 3D was something you were graded on, because it helped show how well you understood how stuff worked? What about your hobbies? Maybe you'd print your own toy cars. Maybe you'd even get good enough to sell them to the other kids... Or their parents!
 
It's because of the amazing potential custom production has to impact learning that Shapeways is sponsoring HackThink. HackThink is a 3 day education hacking competition being held at Pivotal Labs in NYC. The organizers are big fans of Shapeways and 3d printing, and we're really excited at the opportunity to meet, talk, and make something with inspired folks. 
 
If you're a Shapie in or near NYC who wants to help inspire the next generation of makers join us for a challenging, rewarding weekend. The festivities begin on Friday April 22nd at 5:30pm and go until Sunday April 24th at 9:00pm. And if you move fast, earlybird tickets at a reduced price are available until end of day today. We hope we'll see you there!
 

Continue reading "Re-Think Education with Shapeways & HackThink"

Posted by Ana in Community, Shapeways at 22:51

Last Days To Enter ICFF Contest

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We have updated, announced the judges and now time is running short to get your entries in to the Shapeways ICFF Design for 3D Printing Contest.

So far we have Over One Hundred Entries in the contest and more are pouring in by the second (ok, by the minute) so now is the time to get your entries in before 5PM April 17th EST....

Make sure you have your item tagged ICFF11 and that you model is public otherwise it will not show up in our selection gallery.

Items can use any material or combination of materials up to the value of $400 in 3D printed components, you can also have other components as part of the design.

Below is a gallery of just some of the entries so far.... Get your in now for your chance to WIN...


Continue reading "Last Days To Enter ICFF Contest"

Posted by Duann in Community, Contests, Inspiration, Shapeways, What's Hot at 08:41
(Page 1 of 3, totaling 31 entries) » next page

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