The Colored Marbles had arrived.



That's very cool to have the multicolor prints in my hands!

There are 3 models of marbles (a 4th is coming soon), all being 7/8" and available as co-creators so that you can put your own image:
- Solid Marble
- Hollow Marble
- Bistable Hollow Marble

The Solid Marble is a simple Sphere. It is not hollowed and has no hole, hence it is the most expensive. I propose it as a co-creator for those who do not have the time, the patience or the knowledge to make and upload a textured sphere, but as I am a little bit reluctant to pretend I invented the sphere , I also propose it for free (well, for no markup).
Just download the file wrl below, zip it with a jpeg (2048x1024 pixels recommended) that you will name "image.jpg" (all in lower case, including the extension) and upload it in your designs. In this way, you won't have to pay the markup!

Some words about the images: 2048x1024 is recommended (that's what I used, but I guess that smaller image can be OK (say 1024x256 or even 800x400). But they must be twice as large as high. The texture will be wrapped on the sphere, so the first and the lines of pixels will become 2 points at the poles, and the line at half heigh will become the equator. When there are holes, they are at the poles. So sometime you will have to turn the images 90°, like for instance for the Happy/Sad Face:

(not my best drawing, it is just for you to understand)

The Solid Marble is suitable for a number of holders that can act as Pendants or Keyrings:
- the Big Marble Pendant v2
- the Big Marble Pendant v3
- the Marble Cage
Currently only White Strong Flexible has been tested for those designs.
The two fist ones need some flexibility, but the last one has been design with Stainless Steel in mind (no need to be flexible), and I am quite confident that Transparent Detail could also work with it.

The Hollow Marble is 3mm thick and has 2 holes of 2mm.
It is less expensive than the previous one.
It is suitable for the 3 previous holders but also for
- the Roll Pendant
- the Earth Pendant (the inclinaison of the axis is the one of the Earth, so it is perfect for a Earth texture ).
Obviously, you can also use this marble as a bead.

The Bistable Hollow Marble has been specially designed for the Roll Pendant. It is like the previous one, but the holes, instead of being circular have the shape of an ellipse. As a consequence, it has two stable positions, so you can use each time you have to make a choice with two options: for instance with texures like Yes/No, Happy Face/Sad Face, Wife's Picture/Mother in Law's Picture etc.




Let me know your opinion!

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[Updated on: Thu, 14 January 2010 22:00 UTC]

[Updated on: Sun, 24 January 2010 22:13 UTC]

For me, the most difficult part has been to texture the model...
If this is done in your case, then the remaining stuff is easier:
1) export your model in WRL format
2) open it in a text editor: you should see a line that reads

texture ImageTexture {
          url "dice.jpg"
        }

(obviously "dice.jpg" is the example in my own file, you will probably find any other name in yours )
3) rename the image your receive from your client with the name in the file (or do the contrary: modify the WRL file so that the name in the text match the name of the image that was sent to you
4) zip the WRL file and the image file together and upload the zip file for your client

How you receive the image from your client and how you upload the custom model to him is explained in the co-creator tutorial (you have to ask Shapeways to transform your regular model into a co-creator one).

If any step is unclear, please fill free to let me know.

Regards,

Magic.

EDIT: the co-creator tutorial link is now available just near the co-creator button on your models' pages (when you are logged in, and you visit your own shop of course).

[Updated on: Mon, 01 February 2010 22:12 UTC]

In the first message of this topic, I mentionned that a 4th marble would be available soon.
The time has come to unveil the Event Bead.
I call it Bead, because it is not intended to be used with any holder: you just have to insert a necklace in one hole, and make it exit by the opposite hole.
These holes are not centered on the bead but there are moved upwards. In this way, if you print a picture on the bead, it will always show it (instead of turning randomly).
To make a comparison with the Bistable Marble, let's say that it is a Monostable Marble .

So, I already explained why I call it Bead, now let look in more detail why it is an Event Bead.
One usage of this bead is to outline the significant events of you life, such as (but not limited to):
- your birth,
- your graduation,
- your first job,
- your wedding,
- the birth of your children,
- your discovering of Shapeways...
For each event, you can make a bead with at the recto a picture illustrating the event, and at the verso some text that would give some explanations or precisions (like a date).
When you put all the beads together, you obtain the "necklace of your life" .
Attached to this message is an example of image for a birth, so that you can understand the layout for the co-creator.

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[Updated on: Mon, 01 February 2010 18:39 UTC]

I received a new version of the Marble Cage.
This is a redesigned version (see the previous one here).
This time (and you know I like that) the two moving parts have exactly the same shape, and there is a little it more room for the marble to roll freely.

I received them in White Strong and Flexible, in Transparent Detail (that needed some extra cleaning for the smallest rings) and in Stainless Steel which is a best material if you want to lock it with a keyring.
Here is a picture in Stainless Steel:

You can also watch this video on Youtube.

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