Emerging Topologies is an upcoming exhibition exploring how contemporary technologies are changing our relationship with the architectural space we inhabit.  The exhibition is the culmination of artist Josh Harle's four year doctoral research, informed by degrees in Computer Science, Philosophy, and Sculpture, and completed between the School of Design, COFA, and the Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales.  The artist's practice utilises exotic production techniques and bespoke software tools that map, scan, and visualise the city in contingent, poetic ways using 3D fabrication, laser etching, cloud processing, and structural reconstruction from images.  

The artist explores the shifting landscape of a city experienced through mobile mapping technology, sketching out his own improbable paths through the shadows.  The works tell tales: compiling esoteric maps of journeys through strange cities, and taking playful, winding trips across the smudged face of the GPS screen.

The research thesis will also serve as the catalogue for the exhibition, and the artist is selling printed and DRM-free ebook versions to help with the cost of the exhibition.

Opening: Tues, May 21, 5-7pm

Where: Kudos Gallery 6 Napier St, Paddington, NSW

Hours: Wed to Fri, 11am – 6pm, Sat, 11am – 4pm  

This morning, Monday, May 20th, 10.30am-11.30am with panelists Shapeways, and MixeeMe.  Shapeways, the world's leading 3D Printing marketplace and community with US headquarters in Long Island City, communes with its collaborators, architect and innovator Francis Bitonti and MixeeMe, designers and vendors of customized 3D-printed characters.

NYDesigns and the Pratt Center present panel discussions during WantedDesign that will highlight distinctive design and production collaborations between manufacturers and designers in New York City.  

The panel discussions will unpack the relationship between the two groups and explore the evolution and potential for local concept development, prototyping and production. The discussions will be followed by factory tours the day after.  

Entry is free, register via Eventbrite.  

The panel discussions will be held in GALLERY 6 at WantedDesign, Terminal Stores – The Tunnel 269 11th Ave. (btw. 27th & 28th Sts.) New York, NY 10001 

Autodesk has announced that it has purchased Tinkercad and it's core technology to resurrect the browser based 3D modeling app from the dead.

Several weeks ago Tinkercad killed the popular 3D modeling app, closing new users and announcing a slow death for existing users from the free to the pro accounts.  Today's news that Autodesk is saving Tinkercad is even sweeter as it has unlocked all of the pro features so you now have unlimited designs as well as access to the 'superscripts' that take the relatively simple 'drag and drop' assembly of geometry to a greater level of 3d modeling complexity.

The Autodesk team are also planning to continue to develop the 3D modeling app further with more import and export options and it may even find it's way into the already impressive 123D range of apps that are perfect to design for 3D printing with Shapeways.

Thank you Autodesk, Long Live Tinkercad... 

Mataerial by Petr Novikov, Saša Joki?, Joris Laarman Studio and IAAC is a 3D printing robot that instead of building an object layer by layer, draws forms from any surface out into thin air.

Working in the same manner as the "3D printing pen" except instead of your shaky hand trying to make a recognizable shape from an ooze of hot plastic cooled by a fan, this process uses two thermosetting polymers which set when combined by a precision robot actually 3D Printing in space.  The team also state that CMYK colors can/could be combined in the same manner to create full color 3D printing using the same method.  The same process could of course be used at a much smaller scale and theoretically multiple robots could 3D print different materials simultaneously onto any surface such as a conductive material and a non conductive material to create electrical pathways.  This is definitely a technology to watch and hopefully their patent application is not so restrictive as to restrict its potential.   

Mataerial is the result of the collaborative research between Petr Novikov, Saša Joki? from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Joris Laarman Studio. IAAC tutors representing Open Thesis Fabrication Program provided their advice and professional expertise. During the course of the research we developed a brand new digital fabrication method and a working prototype that can open a door to a number of practical applications. The method that we call Anti-gravity Object Modeling has a patent-pending status.

via Dezeen

As we tune our machines for the new 3D printing material on Shapeways we thought we would get your imagination fired up with a few seconds of flexible fun.  We still not have locked down the design rules but aim for at least 1mm walls to be safe.  Are you ready?

During Design Week in NYC at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, DesignX presented by MODE collective and Architects Newspaper is four days of digital design inspiration.

Presenters include Jesse and Jessica of Nervous System, Gil and Ronnie of Mode Lab, Francis Bitonti, Skylar Tibbits and even yours truly, Duann Scott of Shapeways presenting an intro to 3D Printing Marketplaces and Design for Fab with Autodesk 123D Design to guide you to not only design, but also 3D print from the cloud.

Check out the full range of events happening at DesignX from the May 18 to 21 at ICFF at the Javits Centre in NYC. 

The trial has ended, we asked your opinion and now we are happy to say Premium Silver 3D Printing is here to stay on Shapeways.

We will maintain the same design rules, pricing structure and lead time for Premium Silver 3D printing but we will continue to monitor and work to reduce the lead time and cost as soon as possible.  

Following is a recap of the Pricing and design rules. 

Beautiful, delicate, finely balanced mobiles 3D printed to dance on the breeze.

These 3D printed mobiles are the result of a collaboration between Marco Mahler and Henry Segerman, available 3D printed on demand through their Shapeways Mobiles Shop

Fridays at 5 is our regular Google hangout where you get to ask Shapeways Engineers your questions about 3D Printing with Shapeways.  Last week we talked about the upcoming launch of our new elasto material, how we 3D print our high detail acrylic and we set fire to a couple of Nylon and Full Color 3D prints to prove they are not suitable to put into a kiln.

Join us again this Friday to ask your questions or enter them in the comments of the blog so we can be sure to address them first.  We are beginning to record these sessions so that we have an archive of answers to your 3D printing questions, thanks to Todd Blatt for the screen capture and 'interesting' questions. 

We see many requests come into Shapeways via email and forums for people needing help realizing their ideas with 3D printing.  Sometimes they have a sketch, sometimes they have a photograph, sometimes they have a 3D model they have started but can't get to the 3D printing stage. Shapeways Designers for Hire are 3D modelers who have the skills to help others get their ideas in their hands with Shapeways 3D printing.

Our first Designer for Hire, Vijay Paul aka Dotsan is a 3D modeling superstar who is ready to help you realize your ideas with Shapeways 3D printing. 

Contact Dotsan to get a quote for your project now. 

Shapeways User Name: Dot San

Shapeways Shop: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/dotsan

Bio: Dot San have been delivering 3D design services for over a decade. By delivering great client service and satisfaction we are proud of the reputation we created from our diverse projects and international clients. Dot San have been registered with Shapeways since 2009 and have empowered many people. Our client feedback, creativity and professionalism reflects our enthusiasm for diversity and challenge and we welcome any enquires no matter how weird.

Learn the Foundations of 3D Printing, and Introduction to 3D Modeling with Aaron Trocola.

Learn the core skill for creation in the 21st century with one of the most experienced designer/modelers in the business. This double-session class is geared toward beginners, giving a complete primer on 3D printing processes, materials and software, then showing you how to apply that knowledge to make your own designs. You will also learn about selling from your Shapeways shop,  custom object co-creation, finishing and more. In three hours, you will be up and running with basic skills and receive expert consultation on what tools and techniques to focus on for your area of interest, whether in jewelry, character, scale models, or product design.

Get the full details of the class as part of Shapeways Skillshare School. 

Do you have questions about Shapeways 3D printing materials and processes? Want to know how to optimize your design to ensure it gets 3D printed first time? Do you need advice on what software might be best to best make your ideas for real.  Join us for a Google Hangout with Shapeways 3D printing engineers this Friday at 5pm NYC time and we will answer as many of your 3D printing questions as possible.

If you have a specific question ready to go, please ask in the comment section of the blog and we will try to address those questions first.

See you soon. 

We introduced beautiful jewelry grade premium silver 3D printing to Shapeways in early March and we have seen so many amazing designs in the Shapeways marketplace that we would like to continue premium silver as a permanent material on Shapeways but we need your input.

The current trial is set to end this Tuesday the 14th of May so you only have a few days left to get your orders in and give us some feedback before we make any changes to the design rules and pricing structure. 

If you already have your design 3D printed in premium silver please share the URL for your product page in the comments on the blog so the entire Shapeways team (and community) can take a look.  Also let us know what you think of the premium silver 3D printing, how it compares to our other silver and what you would like to see next.  

Mecube is an easy (and addictive) app to 3D design and 3D print direct from your iOS device.  The intuitive interface is a simple 'voxel modeler' where you add cubes together to make a 3D form like assembling single blocks of Lego together. You can use the same process to cut away or even 'skew' cubes for some slightly more complex variations.  Each voxel can be assembled as a solid color or you can go back and paint each surface, by touching a surface multiple times you increase the saturation of the color, this allows for quite a large variation of colors from such a simple interface.

Keep an eye out for the MeCube Game that will take the same principles into (an even more addictive) puzzle game that will also connect to the Shapeways API to 3D print prizes. 

Check out the tutorial below. 

Instagram has become a really fun way for us to share behind the photographs behind the scenes at Shapeways.  It gives us an easy way to give you a peek at the people and the factory of 3D printers that make your designs real, along with the events we attend and a little 3D printing inspiration.  Instagram also gives us an opportunity to see your 3D prints in the wild if you tag them with #shapeways or mention us @shapeways but now there is another way to help us to find your 3D prints for real.  

Instagram has just rolled out a 'Photos of You' feature that enables you to tag a person in much the same way you can on Facebook, this means you can tag your Shapeways 3D prints on your photographs as another way for us to see the printed parts, especially if it is part of a complex product.  We will in turn try and tag you and your products whenever we share them on our Shapeways Instagram, if you see one of your designs on our photos, be sure to let us know with a comment and we will tag you too.