The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation
Entries from July 2012
Tuesday, July 31. 2012
Want to Contribute to the Shapeways Blog?
So, you know about 3D Printing, can write engaging stories about design, technology and the people who make awesome things while making everyone and everything look perfect, then we need you.
If you are interested in contributing to the Shapeways Blog send a sample post, with Title, Body, Links & Images (640 px) to Duann at Shapeways dot com
Also include a one paragraph bio about yourself and why you want to contribute to the Shapeways blog.
Take a look at existing posts to get an idea of the tone and the length of the posts along with quality of images. There is so much going on around Shapeways 3D Printing we need help to capture it all and spread the word.
We are looking for regular contributors that can post consistent, interesting posts that will entertain, educate and engage the thousands of people who read the Shapeways Blog every day...
Monday, July 30. 2012
Shapeways at SIGGRAPH next week!
Shapeways is excited to travel to Los Angeles next week for the annual SIGGRAPH conference
It runs Tuesday 7th August through Thursday 9th August and showcases the products, techniques, ideas and inspiration that are creating the next generations of computer graphics and interactive techniques.
Shapeways will be in the Exhibit Hall at Booth 1131 in Hall J. Stop by and say hi!
MEETUP IN LA
We're excited to be on the West Coast again and we want to hang with Shapies in the area, as well as provide a way for you to meet each other so we're doing a pre-SIGGRAPH meetup on Monday the 6th August!
Come grab a drink with us at the Redwood bar downtown, just RSVP for the MeetUp
Last but not least, we've got 100 FREE PASSES to SIGGRAPH to give away
Just follow this is unique registration link for Exhibit Hall Entry to get them while they last!
Hope to see you in L.A!
Wednesday, July 25. 2012
Learn to Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways: More Classes in NYC
If you want to learn to Design for 3D Printing and you are in NYC then we have a range of classes to get you started over the next couple of weeks. Come along and try your hand at making your ideas for real with 3D printing in a relaxed, friendly environment..
Squishy Football 3D-Printing Workshop for Beginners
Taught by Kevin Wei
Wed, Jul 25th, 2012
7:00 pm
Modeling for 3D Printing with Shapeways
Taught by Aaron Trocola
Mon, Jul 30th, 2012
7:00 pm
Frisbee 3D-Printing Workshop for Beginners
Taught by Kevin Wei
Tue, Jul 31st, 2012
7:00 pm
Intro to Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways
Taught by Duann Scott
Wed, Aug 1st, 2012
7:00
Solidworks User Group NYC
We had a great time at the Solidworks User Group NYC thanks to Matt Rohr for inviting us to come along, drink beer, eat pizza and talk 3D modeling with engineers, artists and experts at the VERY cool Kingsland Design & Engineering Lab.. We talked a little about how good Solidworks is for outputting 3D models for 3D Printing with Shapeways. Some had already used Shapeways in the past such as Mary Wallis for her sculptural lighting works...
If you have a group you would like us to come and talk to please let us know, we are always happy to meet more people interested in making their ideas real with 3D Printing.
Tuesday, July 24. 2012
Acoustabowl: From Idea to Reality
Michael Williams, Shapeways forum moderator, had an idea one day...
It started one slow day at work. I wanted to sit my phone in a way that I could see the screen, charge it, and listen to a podcast. I set it up against my scanner, and the charger would make it fall over. When I put the phone in a cup I instantly noticed the sound being amplified. I could see the screen, hear the phone, and charge it! But I could not touch the screen as practically half the phone was in the cup. So I looked for something I could put my phone in that would solve this. I put it in a bowl, and was instantly sold.
So I decided to prototype my design using 123D Make. I tried some different versions and even made a paper model. I ended up making one out of cardboard using the stacked slices option. This option will make a fully solid model. So you will have more pieces to cut, but if you are using scissors as I was, it will make it so you do not have interlocking pieces that would be hard to cut out. After a few hours of cutting the paper, tracing onto the cardboard, cutting the cardboard, and hot gluing the cardboard, I had my prototype!
It worked great! With my prototype I noticed I was not able to hook up my charger while it was in the Acoustabowl. So I raised up the stand, and moved it out so that it would still hold phones leaning back and would now be able to hook up a charger.
I 3D modelled two versions for two different materials and ordered in Glossy Black Ceramic and Polished Alumide. Now I have 2 sweet phone stands for smooth music listening!
Check out the video to see the prototype progression and hear the Acoustabowl in action...and get one for yourself in his Shapeways Shop!
How a Handy iPhone Charger Wrap Came to Life Across Continents with 3D Printing
Today Michiel Cornelissen is introducing the US/Canadian version of The Wrap, a little accessory that attaches to the USB end of the iPhone charger. It mirrors the charger's prongs, to create a convenient way to store the charger cable.
There is a little story behind how the European, then the US version of the Wrap came into being.
I originally designed The Wrap for the European iPhone charger, simply trying to get rid of an annoyance I'd been experiencing myself. Of course, the European iPhone charger is very different from the one in the US and other countries, so on the web page, I put up a note, saying that if I received 100 e-mails requesting a US/Canadian version of The Wrap, I'd try to design one. I thought that, at most, a trickle of e-mails over a few months would amount to the 100 e-mails.
But then Cult of Mac wrote this: http://www.cultofmac.com/169108/the-wrap-an-unbelievably-beautiful-and-elegant-way-to-manage-your-iphone-charger/... and I had my 100 e-mails within 24 hours. I had to get to work, and through the miracle of Shapeways 3d printing, the first US version was ready 19 days later. (And most of that time was spent waiting for someone to ship a US charger to me.)
I did some tweaks, tested it, got the photography and webpage done, and here we are.
Talk Shapeways 3D Printing at Solidworks User Group NYC TONIGHT!!
So you love Solidworks (so do we), you love 3D Printing (so do we) you want to talk about how you can make the second happen with the first (so do we), then join us at the Solidworks User Group NYC TONIGHT!!
AXN-RXN Engineering
78 Kingsland Ave
Brooklyn NY 11222
RSVP via SWUGNYC.ORG
Monday, July 23. 2012
The Shape of What's to Come: Our New Look & Feel
The spark. It appears late at night, in a daydream, while doing a million other things. It often scurries across the forefront of your mind when you least expect it. But that fleeting spark, that spark has the potential to turn into a design, a product, a company, a community.
Starting today, Shapeways has a new look and feel. It starts with the spark - the idea, the laser - and continues with you, and the future that the Shapeways community is making a reality.
Why the change? Just as the 3D printing materials have improved and your designs have increased in complexity and beauty, we started growing out of our old clothes. We felt the need to break out of the box as this future is boundless. We also wanted to show your designs in the best possible light, and alas, our old sad dolphin blue isn't flattering on anyone.
Most importantly, though, we wanted to make sure that the experience you have on Shapeways.com and in the wild has deep roots in our core values.
While we could continue to wax poetic about our inspiration and color theories, hopefully the design speaks for itself. Many thanks to our talented design team and engineers who made this real. And big thanks to the whole team for tirelessly shaping what's to come.
Check out the Shapeways Look & Feel for more.
Following are the icons we will be using in the future in the png format.
Read More »
Friday, July 20. 2012
NYC Designer Soapbox Meetup
Last nights Designer Soapbox meetup at Brooklyn's Berry Park was a success, with talks from Harry of Lightbringer Designs, Erica of Design Erica and Kostika of Spaho Design.
Thanks everyone for coming out for a great night! To hear about upcoming meetups, join the Shapeways Meetup Group.
Thursday, July 19. 2012
Shapeways new 3D printer driving quality to NYC!
Bad puns aside, check out this TINY CAR designed by David Sun....look closely and you'll see it has SHAPEWAYS on its roof!
This amazing level of detail is possible printing in Frosted Ultra Detail...with our brand new 3D Systems ProJet printer located right here in New York!
This car was created for us, but you can get your own tiny car in David's Shapeways Shop!
Stay tuned for more updates as the Factory of the Future takes shape...
Friday, July 13. 2012
Meetup in Minneapolis and Learn the Basics of 3D Printing with SketchUP
Heads up Minneapolis, your next Shapeways Meetup is on August 2nd.. Check out the details and RSVP via Meetup.
For the 4th Minneapolis Shapeways Meetup, I'll walk you thru making a model in Sketchup that can be 3D Printed, upload it Shapeways, and choose a material for printing. This meetup coincides with a Sketchup meetup, which you can read more.
The location is same as our previous Shapeways Minneapolis Meetups: The Mill, 2300 Kennedy Street NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Look for the green building at the end of the building complex at 2300 Kennedy St NE.
The organizer is Marcus Ritland aka Denali 3D Design, a freelance CAD designer specializing in making models for 3D printing.
Thursday, July 12. 2012
3D Printing Elasto Plastic Trial Ends on July 20th!
How Your Designs Go Viral : Case Study of the 3D Printed Rocket Espresso Cup
We have seen quite a few of your Shapeways 3D Printed Products go viral through social media recently which brings a massive spike in traffic to a particular product, their shop and the rest of the Shapeways site. Following is a quick case study of how the 3D Printed Rocket Espresso Cup went viral over the past week.
It all started with an awesome design, the Rocket Espresso Cup by Isohedral which was 3D Printed in Ceramics by Shapeways. On June 30th the designer took some beautiful, warm, well composed photographs of the cup in the context of use, uploaded them to Flickr and tagged them with Shapeways as we suggest to help us find them.
On the 3rd of July I was taking a look at the latest Shapeways tags on Flickr when I noticed the beautiful images of the Rocket Espresso so I shared one to our Tumblr feed.
On 4th of July I checked our Tumblr account and saw that 600 caffeine and rocket lovers online had either shared or liked the image so I quickly posted another image on Tumblr to whet the interets appetite while I drafted a post for the Shapeways Blog.
Here is where things get interesting...
Read More »
Wednesday, July 11. 2012
Shapeways 'Made in the Future' Stickers are Now Shipping
You may start to see a special little something start to appear in some of your packages from Shapeways over the coming weeks as we randomly include our Made in the Future stickers into boxes.
We would love to see where you put your stickers, whether on your laptop, car, bike, well, everywhere...
Shoot a photo of your sticker in the wild and post it on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr with the hashtag #madeinthefuture and we will send out some Shapeways T-Shirts to our favorites...
Here are a few sightings so far....
Even if you see a sticker somewhere else in the wild shoot it and tag it......
