- Upload a new design to Shapeways with the tag iPhone5_3D by 5pm EST Friday October 19th 2012.
- Upload a description of your design specifying the use/context.
- Make it awesome.
Terms and Conditions:
- Free prize draw, closing date, 5pm EST Friday October 19th 2012.
- Winner will receive $500 worth of 3D Printing from Shapeways.
- The winner be notified in writing by October 30th, 2012.
- No purchase necessary.
- Multiple entries allowed.
- Entry must be a new design uploaded after September 13th, 2012.
- Entry must be on display to public to be eligible
- All IP for all entires remain property of the designer as per standard Shapeways terms and conditions.
- All entries, images, renders and 3D prints may be used by Shapeways for promotional purposes
- By entering this competition, entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the conditions.
- No cash or other alternative prizes available.
- The prize draw is not open to Shapeways employees or their families.
- The promoters decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into.
- Promoter: Shapeways LLC, 419 Park Ave South, New York, NY 10016, USA
The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation
Entries from October 2012
Saturday, October 27. 2012
Recommend A Friend this Weekend and We Will Share the 3D Printed Love with You
We are really, really close to signing up our 200,000th Shapeways community member and we know that word of mouth/social networks are the way most people find out about Shapeways 3D Printing in the first place.
We would love for you to help us spread the word so we can connect with our 200,000th Shapeways community member and as an incentive, we will contact the 200,000th member, ask them how they found out about Shapeways, and if you recommended them we will share the 3D printed love right back to you by delivering some special 3D printing to your door.
So this weekend, spread the word far and wide, recommend a friend to Shapeways and we will share the love right back to you.
PS. if the 200,000th person randomly found us, we will contact the 200,001st etc. until we find a social sign up.
Friday, October 26. 2012
Top 10 Most Popular 3D Printed Designs at Shapeways This Week
Every Product Page on Shapeways has a Favorite button to the right so that you can let designers know just how awesome they are. The Wishlist Button helps you to keep track of the 3D Printed goodness you want to have and hold. Clicking either button will send love to the Feed, so everyone can see what 3D Printed products are popular at any one point in time. Let's take a look at the 10 most popular 3D printed designs for the past week in order of popularity from number 10 up to number 1.
10. Death's Head Hawkmoth Skeleton
Read More »
Thursday, October 25. 2012
Shop Owner Holiday Tips Series: #1 Master the Basics
Can you believe the holiday season is only nine weeks away?! Fall snuck up on us, it's almost Halloween, and that means that the holiday shopping rush will soon begin in full force.
Shop Owners, we're here to help! We've prepared a nine part series of tips and tricks to help you get your shop ready and make the most sales in the busiest time of year.
Here is what's in store:
1. Master the Basics: Making your shop shine
2. Function & Form: Which materials for which products?
3. Discovery: Getting found in search
4. Personalization: Put a name on it!
5. Merchandising: Design for the occasion
6. Promotion: Go where your audience is
7. Fan Engagement: Put down the bullhorn and have a conversation
8. Data is your Friend: Statistics, Tracking and Analytics
9. Pay for Play: An introduction to the advertising world
#1 Master the Basics: Making your shop shine
There are three key elements to getting your shop ready for an influx of sales: (1) cleaning up your shop, (2) telling a story, and (3) taking great photos.
Read More »
Tuesday, October 23. 2012
10% Off Smooth Colored 3D Prints at Shapeways
With the launch of our new, smooth 3D printed colors last week at Shapeways we are also offering a 10% discount on our new colors until October 31st.
We are really excited about the increase in quality of surface finish with our new colors and we want you to get your smooth, bright 3D prints into your hands as soon as possible.
Please be sure to enable your models in the new colors if you have not already done so and we LOVE to see photos of the new colors in your product pages of your shops.
Being smooth, colored 3D prints they are so much easier to photograph than white nylon (WSF) 3D prints. Check out the photography tutorial if you need any pointers.
Thursday, October 18. 2012
Factory of the Future: Our Plan to 3D Print 3 to 5 Million Unique Products Per Year in NYC
Shapeways Director of Industrial Engineering Kegan Fisher (@keganfisher) shares our vision for the future of manufacturing as we cut the ribbon on our NYC Factory of the Future.
When we opened the doors to the Shapeways NYC office, we dreamed of building a factory nearby. A factory that would provide the thousands of designers and innovators in NYC a place to bring their products to life.
We are incredibly excited to announce that today marks the beginning of our Factory of the Future in Long Island City. We are cutting the ribbon on our new space with a little help from our friends...including Mayor Bloomberg of NYC and Kenneth Adams, President & CEO of Empire State Development.
Last month we signed a lease, sat down to ideate, and began construction on a massive 25,000 square foot space. Not only will it house 30 to 50 high definition, industrial-sized 3D printers, but it will also be a hub of innovation, research and development, and continuous community exploration.
Historically, the word factory brought up connotations of assembly lines and jump suits and iron and cement. It reminded us of the factory Henry Ford created and has been replicated time and time again.
But today, I am proud to say we are giving the word factory new meaning. One that replaces mass manufacturing with mass customization. One that empowers the independent business, the craftsperson, the hobbyist, and the entrepreneur. We are building a factory that gives everyone the ability to create, where the only barrier to entry is imagination.
Read More »
Launching New Polished Colors Today at 10% Off
We are very excited to share that we have improved our dying processes and quality and are launching new colors in our Strong & Flexible family!
Starting today, you will be able to order 3D prints in our dyed & polished red and purple, as well as two new colors: Royal Blue and Hot Pink. The new dyes are a potent mixture of pigment and dye which saturates both the surface and the interior of the nylon plastic. The results are vibrant and consistent, and means that the colors will last longer and appear brighter.
Most excitingly, all Colored Strong & Flexible plastics will now be polished first. By polishing and then dying, 3D prints look and feel like final products and the quality rivals what you can find in a store. We have gotten great feedback on the quality, consistency, and aesthetic and hope you like them!
This is the first of many more colors we will be introducing. We chose to add blue and pink based on your feedback and we can't wait to see what you design for these colors.
New Colors: Properties and Design Guidelines
The design rules are slightly different as the models have to withstand polishing first. The bounding box for polished colors is slightly smaller at 150x150x150mm and the minimum for unsupported wires is 0.9mm.
For more details, please see the Product Detail page here and refer to the design rules for polished products. Remember, you can still order White and Black Strong and Flexible in unpolished.
Pricing
To celebrate this new addition and help you prepare your shop for the holiday season, all colored Strong & Flexible plastics will be 10% off until October 31st.
Thereafter, the prices will be:
- White Strong Flexible - $1.50 startup, $1.40 per cc - no change
- Black Strong Flexible - no price change
- White Strong Flexible Polished - $2.00 startup, $1.50 per cc
- Colored Strong Flexible - $2.25 startup, $1.50 per cc
What this means is, excluding black, everything over 2cc will now be cheaper. That's right, not only are we introducing new polished colors, we're making them cheaper too!
Your Shapeways Shop: What does this mean for you?
Shop Owners, as of today, you will have the ability to add these colors as a new material option with enough time to get some samples before the holiday season kicks off.
If you currently have colored products in your shop, these will be added automatically enabled, though we will not automatically enable blue and pink. That's up to your discretion.
If you do not have colored products in your shop, you will have the opportunity to add these material options starting today, October 17th.
So try them out! Print your models in these vibrant new colors and get ready to be amazed at the vibrancy and finish! Let us know what you think! What colors would you like to see next?
Wednesday, October 17. 2012
Monday, October 15. 2012
Design an iPhone 5 Accessory to win $500 Worth of 3D Printing at Shapeways
Only a few days left to get your entry in to win $500 worth of 3D Printing at Shapeways.
We have already received some very impressive entries so the bar has been set quite high but it is always worth entering because there is always room for more awesomeness and hey, if it does not win it still might sell if you have it for sale in your Shapeways shop....
To enter the contest:
Very Very Very Small 3D Printed Heads
Shapeways magician Lincoln K used his magical powers to shrink his head and 3D Print it very very small in Shapeways FUD, UV Cured Acrylic resin. Yes that is his fingerprint for scale.....
