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

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

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. 

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.

Sometimes we see some of our really popular products on Shapeways enter the world using other manufacturing processes. On some occasions, due to licensing reasons a product may no longer be available on Shapeways if it is being produced by another manufacturer, and sometimes it remains available simultaneously as a 3D print and a mass produced item when the designer retains all ownership of IP.  We are always incredibly proud to help a designer take their product to market no matter which way they go, a little sad if they leave Shapeways, like sending a child off to college, but happy for the designer's success.

The latest product looking to go down the mass production path is a recent favorite on Shapeways, the MagSafe Adapter Key Ring by jbobrow now hitting Kickstarter as the Keybit. Jonathan's Kickstarter campaign pays tribute to the speed and ease of 3D printing and taking a product to market with Shapeways in his video and in his rewards which includes a Shapeways 3D printed version at reward levels over $30.  Jonathan also offers a one on one google hangout to help a backer over $200 take their own product to market using 3D printing.

Check out the video and support Jonathan on Kickstarter. 

Today we have launched the first stage of the Shapeways Educational Program with an awesome 10% discount on 3D printing for all students and educators with a Shapeways account registered with an .edu email address.

This is our first step at helping students and educators have better access to high quality 3D printing through Shapeways.  We will be rolling out more features as part of the Shapeways Education Program so that everyone from elementary to post graduate students can use 3D printing to help them learn, understand and communicate their ideas whether they be technical, artistic or conceptual.

3D Printing isn't just about photorealistic bulldogs, beautiful jewelry and iPhone cases, it is also a way to design, prototype and produce more complex products by integrating other components.  Check out this working stepper motor constructed around a Shapeways 3D printed frame along with some nails, magnet wire, neodymium magnets and a digispark microcontroller.

If a simple motor can be constructed, what is the next step? (pun intended)

Father and Son team up to design and 3D print kite photography rigs for a range of smart phones then document the world around them, from above.

Taking the father and son project to new heights (sorry) hobbiestoomany have designed and 3D printed a range of kite ariel photography rigs for the Samsung Infuse, Galaxy S3 and the iPhone.

Making great use of the super light yet strong 3D printed Nylon on Shapeways they have constructed cages that can safely carry a smartphone up into the sky to record with either video or photos. There are already a whole range of 3D printed GoPro camera mounts on Shapeways for a wide range of uses but this is one of the first mounts we have seen designed to take the smart phone to the skies.  Each of the kits are available in hobbiestoomany's Shapeways shop with simple instructions in the video below how to assemble the cage and send your phone into the sky in a playful mash-up of Benjamin Franklin's kite experiments and a modern surveillance drone.

Check out the video of the test, amazing images and how to assemble then the second video whale watching with a kite...

UPDATE: It seems like our experiment worked for one day only, Happy April Fools Day.

While looking for a way to recycle our excess Nylon powder we found a way for anyone to 3D print at home with an iPhone and a magnifying glass.

At Shapeways we recycle most of the Nylon powder from our industrial 3D printing process but sometimes the powder does not meet the standard required for use in our 3D printers.  We were looking at the testing process when we made a really exciting discovery, with a tightly focused beam of light you can solidify the Nylon powder into a solid.  

We did some experiments and discovered a way that anyone can 3D print at home using an iPhone and a magnifying glass with our Nylon powder.  Take a look at the simple video below and email freenylon@shapeways.com and we can send you (for the cost of shipping) some of our excess Nylon for you to try at home.

Check out this amazing video of a Gear Ring 3D printed in Sterling Silver by Shapeways.  The design was 3D modeled in Autodesk 3D Studio Max uploaded to Shapeways to be 3D printed in Sterling Silver in multiple parts then blackened with 'liquid smoke' and assembled in place to make the mechanism work.

How to extend the life of a kitchen appliance using Shapeways 3D printed ceramic parts.

When a small part for Shapeways community member Mitagaki's Panasonic Bread maker broke he looked everywhere for a replacement part.  The manufacturer no longer supported the model so what was a $5 replacement part became unobtainable and the $200 appliance was rendered worthless. 

Rather than throwing the entire appliance away, Mitagaki 3D modeled a copy of the broken ceramic part and then 3D printed it in ceramics with Shapeways. 

After successfully testing the 3D printed ceramic component he made a minor adjustment to the design and has now made the Panasonic SD-YD250 breadmaker replacement bobbin available for others to repair their appliance using Shapeways.

We found a squishy 3D printing material back in early 2012 that was not quite ready for us to use with our 3D printers so we found another flexible alternative that unfortunately was not up to our standards so we had to stop supporting the material when the trial ended.  

We are super excited to learn the original flexible material is finally ready and we are preparing our 3D printers so that we can offer it to everyone to 3D print.  

Do you want more flexible 3D printing for your designs?