So what will I miss most now that I've left Shapeways?

My colleagues? No, what I will miss is the Shapeways Makerbot. We got a beautiful Makerbot Industries Cupcake CNC some weeks ago. Our Makerbot is quite noisy but we love it. Hans put it together for us and he is trying to add things to it all the time. We really wanted a 3D printer around the office and we're very happy to have this now. Our findings:

• The entire process of getting a Makerbot and putting it together is a lot of fun.
• Assembling a Makerbot is not difficult if you're a Dremel owning techie type of person.
• Your Makerbot will not work all the time so you have to keep at it.
• You will get stuck but there is a great Makerbotting community out there to help you.
• Owning a Makerbot will make you feel like you came from the future.

Watch the rather noisy video of our Makerbot below (and I was kidding I'll miss my colleagues a tonne!) . 

Dear community members, I will be leaving Shapeways as per tomorrow. I'll continue to do some Shapeways blog posts but will no longer be your Community Manager. I'm leaving Shapeways in order to pursue other opportunities.

The past two years have been the most invigorating & exciting of my life. To be able to let Shapeways grow from a group of beta testers to a large and vibrant community with tens of thousands of members, tens of thousands of designs and more than 8000 models ordered a month was an incredible experience.

Those first few months were rather chaotic. It started with a bang with articles on TechCrunch and Boing Boing. We were inundated by email, questions & problems (and in one fell swoop thousands of members). Materials had to be introduced Black Detail, White, Strong & Flexible; Transparent Detail, Full Color, Stainless Steel, Glass, High Gloss Glass and above all else we were impatient.

Impatient to show you what you could do using 3D printing technology. We were getting to grips with letting you "upload and print" but already working on the Creators, the Co-Creator platform and all the other features you've seen. The learning curve was steep, not only for our growing community but also for us. Nonmanifold, open edges and coming to grips with software packages we'd never even heard of meant we were learning all the time. Bugs were popping up everywhere, as if we were gallivanting around the jungle tossing sugar cubes every which way. At the same time we had to organize and visit events such as SIGGRAPH, Dutch Design Week and Makerfaire. As a net result I've explained 3D printing to more people than I'd ever think I'd meet in a life time. Somewhere along the line I managed to write 347 blog posts: some of dubious quality, many in dire need of editing but hopefully some good ones in there somewhere.

I also got to dive into model trains, 3D puzzles, space ships, design schools, jewelry designers, Fablabs and many other communities we engaged. So not only has Shapeways let me meet a large number of people and these people have been very diverse. I've also gotten to learn about 3D printing and: graduation ceremony deadlines, N & H0, sculptural intent, live action role playing, remote control helicopters, replica steam boats, racing teams, 3d scans of clavicles, jet engines, fashion accessories, dinner wear, knives & forks, Snoopy, the Virgin de Guadalupe, LEGO swords, fractals, elves, chocolate molds, brass knuckles, Facebook games, UAVs, action figures, Second Life, insects, proteins, DNA, photography, stamps, RFID tags, augmented reality, watches, chess sets, manga, robot arms, fighting robots, board games, desktop wargaming and many other things. Opening up your eyes every day to new communities, new designs and new challenges was wonderful. Thank you all for letting me learn about your community!

We've spent the time since trying to encourage and marshal the incredible skill and energy level of the Shapeways community by holding contests and reaching out through You Tube, this blog and our lively forum. Whereas initially we were focused on just letting people upload to Shapeways, later on it became a question of inspiring people in creating more and more diverse things. The quality of work in the gallery and on It arrived (Ralph's idea!) has continually improved remarkably as people have mastered designing for 3D printing. The sheer variety of the designs on Shapeways right now is mind blowing. While I'd like to think I played a small part in this I know that it is really the community that made this happen.

Fairly quickly the first heroes started to emerge in our community. Whether by tirelessly submitting bug reports or suggestions, spending hours helping on the forum, writing tutorials or by spreading the word it was these community heroes that really have made Shapeways what it is today. Shapeways is a very high engagement community and it is these people's pioneering work that has made this possible. We've had members spend 10-12 hours fixing someone else's complex design and others have spent over a 1000 hours on Shapeways. We've seen hundreds of blog post and tweets by community members spreading the word.

These heroes were brought to us by sites linking to us and writing to us (over ten thousand!). I'd like to especially thank Bruce Sterling, Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, the Wired Blogs, the guys at Makezine, Gizmodo and Engaget for bringing us talented creative people that have helped shape Shapeways. I'm intensely proud of Shapeways and the Shapeways community. Not only am I proud of what we've all achieved together so far but I know I will be proud of what you'll achieve after I've left. I would like to thank each and every community member from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your friendship, ideas & encouragement. I am indebted to you for inspiring me with your creativity and hard work for this community.

Should you wish to keep in touch with me you can follow me on twitter here or email me at joris (dot) peels (at) gmail. (dot) com. 

A few weeks ago Steve of Third Fate Creations approached us about showing off his painting skills on some of the space ships on Shapeways. Steve works with mini designers in a very selective way. He chooses designs that inspire him and then paints them. Mostly this is for a fee and sometimes when Steve is really inspired it is in return for credit and keeping the painted mini. You can check out the pricing and also a lot of airbrush and painting tips on his site.

We gave Steve a few models so he could show off his skill for you guys and hopefully get you all to start thinking of the possibilities of combining airbrushing with your 3D prints. For Shapeways Steve painted two of  Charles Oines intricate and wonderful spaceships: the Ryuushi Warleader and the Martian Icaria Class Strike Cruiser.

Steve, "used an airbrush on all but the "gem/glass reflection spots" and on those used a 00 brush.
The paint is a combination of GW, Createx, and Autoair, depending on what effect I needed.
It took, roughly, 4-6 hrs total time to prep and paint each one."

If you look at Charles' Shop you can see that the models are tiny.The Dominator for example of 0.9 by 3.6 by 3.9 cm. The intricate painting detail that Steve managed to with at this scale is just crazy. 

Our design intern Artur made a wind chime for you. This wind chime uses the musical properties of glass to full effect and mixes 3D printed glass with White, Strong & Flexible, fishing wire and wooden beads. Combinatory manufacturing ftw. The video is below. 

We can now offer you two new glass materials: High Gloss Black Glass and High Gloss White Glass. Open the floodgates of your creativity. What images does their super shiny sheen conjure up in your mind? What will you guys make with these materials?

Gijs' egg cup big hearts is $40

The Angel pendants as seen above are $23

The candle holder below is $89

The materials have a start up cost of $5 and will cost $6.99 per cubic cm. Initially the start up costs for Glass were $15 so this represents a significant price drop in the start up costs. The start up costs of the Milky White Glass has also been reduced by $10 and this material will cost $5.99 per cubic cm. Even though the design rules are the same, the gloss materials are nicer to the touch and stronger.

Process

The materials are made by 3D printing recycled glass. The fine powder is built up layer by layer and a binding material is applied to the glass powder that will become your product. When the 3D print is complete it is baked in an oven to fuse the glass powder. Your products are then subsequently enameled to get their glossy finish. 

Expectation Management

As you can clearly see in the Angel picture there is a fair amount of "definition" from the 3D printing process in the form of bumps and the like. The enamel smooths the 3D prints out considerably and these prints are closed so not porous as the Milky White Glass material is. The models are however far from completely smooth. A lot of the objects made with this process look really good and very arty. But, significant warping may occur and the overall dimensional accuracy of this process is still limited. 3D printing glass is amazing but also very new and a very experimental process. 

From today until the end of the month we will be holding a super quick SIGGRAPH competition. Just add the tag SIGGRAPH2010 to your best model to enter. There will only be one winner this time, winner takes all! This winner will have their model displayed at SIGRRAPH as the centerpiece of our stand. After the show we will also send you the model and give you an additional $250 coupon in 3D printing. We will be looking for the best, most impressive display model. The model can not cost more than $200 and must be inspiring as well as show people the possibilities of 3D printing. Don't forget only two weeks to design! Fame and fortune await! Enter now! 

Mitchell Jetten is a great guy and despite his young age is a successful Shop owner on Shapeways. Jettuh as he is known on here, exclusively models Dutch model trains & model train accessories for his SpoorObjecten Shop on Shapeways. Despite asking for very low mark up per model sold Mitchell has made over $4000 with us so far. He is an enthusiastic & very helpful community member and it has been a pleasure to see him prosper. Indeed my "power lunch" with Mitchell in Amsterdam on a sunny Gustavmahlerplein surrounded by basking bankers was not only thoroughly enjoyable but also a professional high point for me. Mitchell is on the right in the foto below next to his good friend Niels.

Joris Peels: What modeling software do you use? And how long have you used it?

Mitchell Jetten: In general I only use 3ds Max for my trains. At school I learned how to use SolidWorks, and for the company I work for (freelance) I also sometimes use Autocad 2000 for CNC projects. Funny thing is, I started using Gmax (a free version of 3ds Max) in 2004, but I couldn't make more then a station platform with a texture on it back then. But when I discovered this great place where you can 3D print your objects, I started doing research about how I would have to build it, and what I could build with it (because, who wants an expensive easy station platform?). This happened in February 2009, a month later I finally had my first model in my hand, a Dutch small train signal So, to get back to the question, I've only known how to 3D model for a year and a half right now.

Joris Peels: How old are you?

Mitchell Jetten: I think I'm one of the youngest shop owners on Shapeways, I just turned 19 on the 7th of June.

Joris Peels: How did you happen to find Shapeways? 

Mitchell Jetten: If I remember correctly I heard something from my dad about 3D printing, and I thought he was nuts. I think I reacted the same as all people do that haven't heard about 3D printing........"What, you make a 3D picture,, and you print it on a standard printer?" Only after a month or so, I had nothing to do on school and found a Shapeways clip on Youtube a and this made me interested!

Joris Peels: What do you make?

Mitchell Jetten: I make Dutch model trains in the scale 1:160 (N Spoor) and my next step is to try making an affordable train in 1:87 (H0)! So for this moment just trains and scenery for model railways.

Joris Peels: How is your Shop doing?  

Mitchell Jetten: My shop is doing really great, seriously, thanks to Shapeways I met my girlfriend in some sort of way. Because of the earnings I made with Shapeways, I had enough money to fly to Munich with a few friends. Over there I met my girlfriend that weekend! I will fly to Munich again next month thanks to my Shapeways earnings! I eventually see myself getting rich with Shapeways' service.

Joris Peels: What is your most successful product?

Mitchell Jetten: To be honest i don't really know! At the moment the VIRM 9500 part 1/3 and VIRM 9500 2/3 are sold the most but that is also the first model I created so it has been online for a longer time. 

I think most people want it, because it's a very common train in the Netherlands.

 
The SGM(Sprinter) is also sold a lot, and there are about 5 persons (that I know of), that have finished it, and have a working model up and running!

Joris Peels: How do you see it in the future?

Mitchell Jetten: Ok, just a small sneak peak of my thoughts: In the future, I see myself building my next train...wait I'm doing that already... but not printing it in White, Strong & Flexible, but in a perfect and smooth material (like Envisiontec Perfactory). After the print I will cast it with resin, and make about 10 of those trains (not just the body, but the entire train completely finished).

Joris Peels: How do you market and sell your products on Shapeways?

Mitchell Jetten: There are 2 forums where I promote my trains, well not really promoting, but i do show the pictures of the model, and show them where they can buy it if they like, but it's not that I do a lot of promotion for my models. Also I've been to several model railway exhibitions to sell trains and also just to inform people about this amazing Shapeways website! Maybe I need to promote myself better, but i don't have a lot of time lately because of school!

Joris Peels: Do you do market research?

Mitchell Jetten: Not really, I think that's just 10% of the reason why I created the trains I have finished.
I just build them because I like those trains. And if people like them to, then that's a big plus.
A lot of people want me to build old trains, but to be honest, I don't feel a lot for old trains, I like modern stuff!

Joris Peels: Why trains? 

Mitchell Jetten: Because I like trains, I never had a working model railway in my room, but I do have Dutch trains in my room. So by making my own trains I feel special, because not a lot of people own the trains I've made!
 
Funny thing people ask me is:
Why 1:160? Most people use 1:87!
 
The answer to that is:
In 1:87 almost all trains I like have already been made and sold by the big companies, so it's useless to sell an unfinished train, if they can already buy a good finished train, right? In 1:160 there aren't a lot of Dutch trains, also because of the small scale, it's a lot cheaper to print those trains.

Joris Peels: Is Shapeways a job for you? 

Mitchell Jetten: In some sort of way you can say that Shapeways helped me making my dream come through. I always liked to make 3D models, but i never knew how to do it. (Yes I knew how to make a station platform, but that's easy) Since Shapeways I've learned a lot about how to 3D model an object. So now I do freelance work for a company, making 3D models for them. But I also have my own company (SpoorObjecten) because of what shapeways does! So, yes, i think it's a job for me, maybe not 100% yet, but give it some time...

Everbody, keep up the good work with your models!
 
@Shapeways, thank you so much for the wonderful website! Without Shapeways I wouldn't have been to Munich.......

Designer Banlu Kemiyatorn has a lot of great designs in his Shop. My personal favorites are his Bracelets. Each of them is a co-creator and you can customize the inner diameter of the bracelet. Bracelet Number 6 looks very modern to me.  I also love Bracelet Number 9 and the mega spiky Bracelet Number 3.  They're high tech without being cold, if that makes sense.

Pekka Salokannel hails from Finland and is doing some amazing 3D printing product design right here on Shapeways. 

He has these beautiful tulip earrings for example.

Or what do you think of this bracelet?

Or this 3D printed ruler.

Pekka has  now made a 3d printed case/cover for Apple's Ipad.

He designed it and printed it weeks before it came out. Some friends quickly bought an Ipad in the States and brought it to Finland. Pekka was the able to test the plug holes and the buttons to see if the 3D print & his design were correct.

There were some issues with his initial design but he corrected them and now he is able to put an Ipad compatible accessory on the market worldwide. Pekka has the product design skill, he prototypes using us and then we provide him with a scalable manufacturing infrastructure so he can sell a product worldwide while we do the shipping production and all other things boring. You know what, the more I think about it the more I am beginning to believe that there might be something to this whole 3D printer and 3D printing hype after all. Pekka's 3D printed case for the Ipad cost $50 and you can get one here.

From today until the 14th of March we will be offering you Alumide as a 3D printing material. If enough people like it (and buy it) we will then decide to keep it for you. Whystler, Chris and many others have been asking for Alumide in the forums so here it is.

Below you can see the models: Sports Vigilante by Admiral Duck Sauce, 3 Tealight Lanterns by Whystler, Ball Bearing by DeLaVega(it works well in the material) and Gyro the cube by Virtox.

Alumide is White, Strong & Flexible with Aluminum dust mixed in. The material looks space aged and has a higher heat resistance that regular plastics. Its melting temperature is above 172 Celsius It costs $1.59 per cubic centimeter(plus $1.50 start up costs per model). The material is brittle and less flexible than White, Strong & Flexible. We intended it to be a good Maker material for projects such as Arduino cases and RC Helicopters but after testing it and seeing it the material would seem to be fun for all sorts of other models also.The pictures below are for Bill's Arduino case model. 

It feels smoother than White, Strong & Flexible and up close looks like it came from space. It could be part of a meteorite or a chunk of alien technology that fell off of a space ship. And Alien technology for $1.59 per cubic CM, thats a bargain. Update: as per Kristopher's request we've created a material page for Alumide here.

Inspired by Mendel Heit, Martin Bauer and Jay Cousins we've been doing a lot of playing around with bioplastics. Here you can see the original post with a video that shows you how they made bioplastic. Additionally this video is quite helpful.

So why have I been spending every minute of my free time cooking bioplastic? Basically the idea is: make a biodegradable plastic in your own home. This will potentially be of big benefit for desktop 3D printing, personal production and also in reducing fossil fuel consumption and one's carbon footprint. Make a material with easily obtainable biological products that you can in turn use to make lots of things. If we're dreaming we can also then perhaps make a material that enables you the consumer to recycle the consumer products you make in your own home at home. I tried to test and replicate a number of recipes and also show you what results you can achieve by cooking bioplastics in the home, right now.

So lets say you're on the move and get a tweet from a friend that they've just added something to Thingyverse. Or someone tells you that this one spur gear right for your project can be downloaded from the Shapeways 3D parts database, only you're walking around. What do you do? Well from now on you can download the Netfabb STL viewer on your Iphone. It is free. You can point it at a URL and it will download the STL and let you see it while you are out and about. Using the Iphone's touch pad you can spin and rotate your models while looking at them from all sides. You can pinch to zoom in and I think its generally more intuitive to use than a PC STL viewer. Check out the video of this fun free tool below or download it on the App Store. 

Bruce Sterling is a noted sci fi author, futurologist & speaker. As well as being an award winning author and one of the founders of the cyberpunk movement he is an early and constant booster of Augmented Reality technology and coined the word Spime. Spimes are pieces of technology that know where they are and can reveal their entire history to you. He is also behind a project that hopes to document dead media, founded a green design movement, loves Bollywood movies, is a hacker in the original sense and you really should read his Wired blog Beyond the Beyond.      

Joris Peels: I was wondering if at one point you would be interested in doing an interview about 3D printing/the future?

Bruce Sterling: Well, man, all I can tell you is that I'm hanging out at a monster science event with labs-on-a-chip and 3d biofactories.

This video is awesome. You can make your own bioplastic. Starch, glycerine, vinegar and water. 7 parts water, 1 vinegar, .5 glycerine and 1.5 parts starch. You heat the mixture up while stirring. You can then flatten it and it will turn into a sheet of bioplastic. You can even add your own colors to it. The sheet can then be laser cut. You can make plastic and then laser cut it. Wow? I've been watching this video for 20 minutes now over and over again. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? More than a little fascinated. Thank you Lasern!