Shapeways: Bring your creativity to life in 3D

The Shapeways Creator

joris — 2008-08-12T14:17:17-00:00

So what do you guys think about our creator?

Re: The Shapeways Creator

andre.bois — 2008-08-12T20:55:51-00:00

Launch is ok.
Then I guess I clicked too fast the 3) and 4) buttons, as i could not go back to either 1) or 2) : the buttons flashed but did not want to unfold. And no way to restart from scratch without closing and relauching the app : step 4 should have a "cancel/restart" button.

A second try was ok. Great to highlight the problematic parts within the text, very nice. Too bad there can be no lower case, no accents, not even any punctuation
I understand it can be hard to attach a dot or a comma, but it would be an interesting addition.

Another idea : if it is possible, add a visual indication in the textbox were the message has to be written, so that it is possible to see were is each "newline" on the lamp.

Another one : a night mode for the 3D GL lighting, as if a light was inside, and the ouside stays darker. No need to be photorealistic, but it can help to have a idea of how it will look when lighted. If the user can switch easily from "default lighting" to "night mode" it would be great !

Re: The Shapeways Creator

madebydan — 2008-08-13T10:42:52-00:00

Seems like a fantastic idea but I tried to use it and it generated an error and wouldn't open.

Any idea why that could be happening?

cheers

Re: The Shapeways Creator

WetMorgoth — 2008-08-13T16:15:58-00:00

Andre:

The ability to start/restart the editor is something that should be coming shortly. We had a couple of bugs with it, so disabled it before the launch. Probably within a couple of weeks we'll have that available (we're all a Siggraph right now)

As for the internal/night light, that functionality is already in the code. It was disabled based on some internal design decisions from our UI design people. The initial design guidelines were to make it like a wizard with a series of steps where one fed in to the other. There's actually quite a few of these UI design decisions that need to be looked at based on some initial feedback from like you guys are the codegeeks that we are

As for lower case support. We do have that built in. However, as we were doing testing we were finding that more than 90% of the models had structural problems because characters were not linked together either to the row above or below. Characters like i and j were even more difficult to deal with. It wasn't that we could not lay them out, it was that it was almost impossible to build a poem that was not structurally sound. Non-english characters were even more problematic, so we limited the fonts and character sets that were available for now.

madebydan, if you can send us the actual error message that would help. There was some little bits of server instability yesterday with the launch that caused a few problems. It may be related to that.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

madebydan — 2008-08-13T19:26:44-00:00

It first pops up an error saying 'cannot launch the application'
Then I click details and get this.

http://www.shapeways.com/modules/udesign/ext/client/" href=" http://www.shapeways.com/modules/udesign/utils/openclient.ph p?model=2748&editor=1">

Shapeways Editor
Yumetech, Inc.
http://www.shapeways.com"/>
Shapeways Application

http://java.sun.com/products/autodl/j2se" />

http://download.java.net/media/jogl/builds/archive/jsr-231-w ebstart-current/jogl.jnlp" />

modelID=-3
sessionID=tmcg4osj3ber1k4sidgm1ml3p3
soapServer=http://www.shapeways.com

Does that help?

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2008-08-14T17:03:52-00:00

madebydan wrote on Wed, 13 August 2008 15:26

It first pops up an error saying 'cannot launch the application'
Then I click details and get this.

Do you have Java installed on your computer?

Best regards, Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

jochem — 2008-08-21T16:08:55-00:00

Joris just added a new tutorial on java issues yesterday: http://www.shapeways.com/support/java_problems

Re: The Shapeways Creator

WetMorgoth — 2008-08-21T17:10:13-00:00

Jochem,

On the drivers page, you should note that laptops will generally require you to get the drivers from the laptop vendor, not that of the chipset. For example, the Dell latitude laptops will not install the drivers directly downloaded from Intel, you must use the ones directly from Dell.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

bhearn — 2009-11-04T05:44:25-00:00

I'm unable to get it to launch on OSX 10.6.1.

I get "Error: sealing violation: package javax.vecmath"

10.6 comes with Java SE 6 (32-bit and 64-bit); I manually installed J2SE 5.0 (32-bit and 64-bit) as well to see if that helped. No dice.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

Avi — 2009-11-24T09:35:24-00:00

Hi There,

I'm lost. Where do I get Creator?
I have poked arund and foud all sorts of cool stuff but not Creator.

Can you point me in the right direction please.

Thanks

Re: The Shapeways Creator

ArnoudV — 2009-11-24T11:51:40-00:00

Hi Avi,

In the header of our website you see two pink buttons. The first for uploading en the second for the creators.

grtz

Re: The Shapeways Creator

cpw11 — 2009-12-08T22:29:00-00:00

I need help:
1) Does the Photoshaper look good in colors besides the default White? If, what is recommended (and do you have any examples)?
2) I added a message, but it appears on the back...isn't that going to look weird when the light shines through?
3) In Step 3 of the creator, it has a checkbox, "For use with light"...what does that mean?

Thanks for your help!

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2009-12-08T23:14:31-00:00

Hi cpw11,

Thanks for trying out our Photoshaper! To answer your questions:

1) The Photoshaper is only available in mono-color (either White, Limestone, Terracotta or Jeans Blue). We think it looks great! But then again maybe someone from the community can answer this?

2) Yes, the message for on the back. It does look weird when you make it a LightSculpture. (see also next answer) This option is only applicable when creating a regular Photoshaper.

3) The option "Use with light" changes the way the image is processed. The photoshaper will then become a LightSculpture which shows the picture in black & white when you hold it into the light.

I hope this answers your questions!

Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

cpw11 — 2009-12-08T23:49:13-00:00

Thank you! I plan on using this with a light behind it...so I should select the "Use with light"?

It would be great if someone from the community can comment on the other color options...how they look with and without light behind it..

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2009-12-08T23:55:02-00:00

Yes, click on the "Use with Light" option!

Cheers!

Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-04-09T20:21:54-00:00

Me too, same problem, everything is pretty much latest version, on a Mac.

Apparently there is some sort of a classpath screwup, but it's a bit of a mystery, seeing as how I am using Java all the time in my daily work.

Nope, I'm stuck, would nice to get some help here.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-04-12T11:34:11-00:00

I thought I had posted a second message with some further information, but now I am not sure, but the behavior has changed as if my second message had been read.

When I moved vecmath.jar out of the extensions directory, I started getting a new error complaining about the jnlp file lacking a jnlp element.

But when I went back today, every time I tried to re-download/run Creator (because the older downloaded ones kept getting me the login message) every time I go to the page to download the Creator, it logs me out. I log in, it takes me to a different page, I try to go back, it logs me out.

This stuff is interesting, but trying to get to the first step is a little tiresome.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-04-12T15:09:32-00:00

To recap -- the sealing error occurs because there are two copies of vecmath.jar on the Java classpath, one in my /System/Library/Java/Extensions directory, the other in the Shapeways Creator JNLP. I am not sure which is "wrongly there", but one way to fix it, is to remove the one in the Extensions directory.

Second, it seems to work better when started from Firefox, not Safari, there's some sort of an issue with being logged in to run the Creator.

THIRD, the video/instructions on how to make a stamp pad are NOT confidence-inspiring. The words say "flip left-for-right", presumably because of the mirror image thing, BUT THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE VIDEO.

And there is a button that I am not supposed to press -- is that "Flip high to low". Or, if I want the dark in my photo to be inked, am I supposed to press it after all? I think you need to coordinate your documentation with your tool.

One thing that would help, if we are supposed to flip text so it will come out right, is to flip the text in the example ("stamp") inside the heart so that what you show us, is what we do.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-06-03T21:02:58-00:00

Sigh, tried again, and this time the creator seemed weirdly disconnected from the UI. Changing from portrait to landscape did not change the display; uploading a file did not change the display.

Is there any way we can get notified if/when this works reliably?

Re: The Shapeways Creator

arno — 2010-06-21T09:36:36-00:00

Hi,

Sorry our reaction took some time ...

Sounds like you now are experiencing java caching problems ... which sometimes happens after we released a newer version.

On http://www.shapeways.com/support/java_problems you can find the link to the tutorial about clearing the java cache:
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/java_tutorial

Can you let me know if clearing the java cache solves the issue for you?

Thanks, kind regards, Arno

Re: The Shapeways Creator

bluedonkey99 — 2010-09-24T22:03:40-00:00

I have the following problems with Creator.

1) the 3D panel on the left hand side does nothing,
a) it does not allow you to manipulate image
b) no amendment to the right hand panel is reflected in the left!?

2) when i make changes in the right hand panel, it tells me to correct the error with my model. It does however not tell me what I have done wrong, as you would expect. So I do not know if its too many or tew few words, whether it is the font, or default material...

3) Strange, the recalculate cost options does still appear to work!

Martin

Re: The Shapeways Creator

Inte73 — 2010-09-29T17:59:27-00:00

bluedonkey99 wrote on Fri, 24 September 2010 22:03

Same problem here when trying to create a lightpoem, played with various browsers, on different puters, cleared java cache, reinstalled java (last version) but it's still a no go :/ Maybe a problem on shapeways side.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-10-08T15:10:17-00:00

No, it does not solve the problem.

Assume I am an expert. Are there log files I should look at for errors? I am on a Mac, everything, every damn thing, is up to date. 64-bit Java, if that matters. Tried it in Firefox, tried it in Safari.

What I get now, is buttons that act as if they are disconnected. Asks me about the document shape, I choose Portrait, nothing happens. "Done" takes me to the next screen, however.

Asks me to upload a document, I choose one, hit "import", nothing appears, nothing happens.

I see this error in the system logs, but when I attempt to resolve it (by deleting the directory) it does not get any better. It created it again when I restarted, and did not delete it when I quit. Lock files is still there, that's probably not going to work, is it?

Oct 8 11:05:33 dr2chase /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/H ome/bin/java[43115]: MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/yn/ynqYka4t2RWAME+1YtnNFU+++TM/-Caches-//mds

And guess why you cannot create it?

ls -l /var/folders/yn/ynqYka4t2RWAME+1YtnNFU+++TM/-Caches-//mds
total 104
-rw-r--r-- 1 dr2chase staff 0 Sep 18 2009 mds.lock
-rw------- 1 dr2chase staff 51288 Jun 1 19:16 mdsDirectory.db
-rw------- 1 dr2chase staff 0 Jun 1 22:05 mdsObject.db_

Perhaps you should deal more gracefully and/or informatively with this case, hmmmm?

This must not be one of your widely-used apps, or else you've got great marketing, because if all your stuff worked like this for everyone, nobody would ever create anything.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2010-10-08T21:09:03-00:00

Could you post the output on the Java console?

I see you are running Java v1.6. As far as I know the latest supported version on Mac OS-X is v.1.5. Where did you got it from?

- Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-10-08T22:36:12-00:00

I'm pretty sure I got it from Apple; they update it, etc.

I went looking for the Java console, I know I found it in the past, but not this time around. Sent me a clue, and I will also look for it a little harder.

I had this running once; then "something" changed.

(Arrrrrgggggh.)

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2010-10-09T00:12:06-00:00

According to Apple's website Leopard is still on v1.5.

http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/#which

Maybe this page is outdated. I do not have OS-X on hand to check myself.

To view the Java console please take a look here:

http://fxtrade.oanda.com/help/troubleshooting/java-console#M AC_PLUG

- Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

dr2chase — 2010-10-09T00:26:38-00:00

It's somewhere else on MacOS, I will eventually find it.

Safari is hating on your HTML, though. I hope this works (html snips in the errors). This is just the creator page, not yet running the app.

is not allowed inside . Inserting
before the instead.

misnested or not properly closed. Cloning in order to preserve the styles applied by it.

Re: The Shapeways Creator
fracai — 2010-10-09T00:38:34-00:00
Nope, latest Java from Apple is 1.6

$ which java
/usr/bin/java
$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_20"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_20-b02-279-10M3065)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 16.3-b01-279, mixed mode)

It does look like that page is out of date.

The latest update I could find reference of is: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl972

Re: The Shapeways Creator
dr2chase — 2010-10-09T01:04:56-00:00
I found jConsole, which is wonderfully informative, but I am still trying to figure out how to get my hands on a jnlp log file.

I am going to give this one a rest, and do something else for a bit.

Re: The Shapeways Creator
dr2chase — 2010-11-11T16:29:16-00:00
Got a console (On MacOS, Utilities, "Java Preferences.app", there is an option to activate it, so I did.)

Got a nice solid error that looks like it corresponds to my error.

Will try a few more tinkers with the preferences.

------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------

Could not launch from cache. Will try online mode. [Missing from the cache: http://www.shapeways.com/modules/udesign/utils/openclient.php?model=17375&editor=4&iep=kfk38e7bcso5jm66a6ksve6hv7]
OpenGL details:
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Spec Version: 2.1 NVIDIA-1.6.24
Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT OpenGL Engine
High-resolution shaders enabled
Error: An error was caught in user code during the processing of the updateSceneGraph() method.
Contained message:
Attempting to set a listener to this node when it is not live. Listeners can only be set once the node is live. When it is not live just directly set the values
org.j3d.aviatrix3d.InvalidListenerSetTimingException: Attempting to set a listener to this node when it is not live. Listeners can only be set once the node is live. When it is not live just directly set the values
at org.j3d.aviatrix3d.SceneGraphObject.dataChanged(SceneGraphObject.java:173)
at udesign.editor.SceneManagementObserver.updateSceneGraph(SceneManagementObserver.java:186)
at org.j3d.aviatrix3d.management.SingleThreadRenderManager.run(SingleThreadRenderManager.java:708)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:680)

Re: The Shapeways Creator
bartv — 2010-11-16T09:34:08-00:00
Which Creator threw that error?

Cheers,

Bart

Re: The Shapeways Creator
dr2chase — 2010-11-16T12:15:41-00:00
Photoshaper

On a Mac laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo (it's not a concurrency bug/race, is it?). Lots of memory, all software up to date. Java 1.6, 64 bit.

Re: The Shapeways Creator
bartv — 2010-11-16T12:25:18-00:00
Yes, our photoshaper has problems on the Mac. It's a known problem and we're working on a fix. Other creators should work fine though.

Brt

Re: The Shapeways Creator
Spidey — 2010-11-17T04:51:37-00:00

Inte73 wrote on Wed, 29 September 2010 17:59

bluedonkey99 wrote on Fri, 24 September 2010 22:03

I have the following problems with Creator.

1) the 3D panel on the left hand side does nothing,

a) it does not allow you to manipulate image

b) no amendment to the right hand panel is reflected in the left!?

2) when i make changes in the right hand panel, it tells me to correct the error with my model. It does however not tell me what I have done wrong, as you would expect. So I do not know if its too many or tew few words, whether it is the font, or default material...

3) Strange, the recalculate cost options does still appear to work!

Martin

Same issues here when trying to do the metal ringpoem.

Currently on a Mac but also tried on PC. Also tried same fixes as above.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

richt2000 — 2010-11-25T18:23:28-00:00

Same problem for me on Windows 7, Java 1.6 update 22.

I enter my words, choose a material and it tells me there is a problem with the object and I need to start again.

I was hoping to build one for a Christmas present....

Re: The Shapeways Creator

se3 — 2010-12-07T23:04:01-00:00

hi there

got some problems with the creator.
all graphic drivers are up to date, java v6, but the creator crashes on me everytime. os is win7 i use firefox. i de-and installed java several times and cleared the cache but nothing helps. the errorlog says:

Problemsignatur:
Problemereignisname: APPCRASH
Anwendungsname: javaw.exe
Anwendungsversion: 6.0.220.4
Anwendungszeitstempel: 4c908d15
Fehlermodulname: nvoglv32.DLL
Fehlermodulversion: 8.17.12.6099
Fehlermodulzeitstempel: 4cb9da81
Ausnahmecode: c0000005
Ausnahmeoffset: 006737a0
Betriebsystemversion: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Gebietsschema-ID: 1031
Zusatzinformation 1: 0a9e
Zusatzinformation 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Zusatzinformation 3: 0a9e
Zusatzinformation 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

im runnig out of ideas

Re: The Shapeways Creator

bartv — 2010-12-10T11:28:09-00:00

Thanks for the reports everyone. We're looking into it.

Bart

Re: The Shapeways Creator

Lazza — 2011-01-07T14:52:10-00:00

Ok I created a Light Poem and uploaded it to the server using the "save" button. Now what? Where can I find it on the website? I can't figure out how if I want to order it.

[Ah nevermind, it was just long to update my gallery...]

Re: The Shapeways Creator

charts32470 — 2011-05-15T12:23:33-00:00

I tried the simple lightpoem on two different computers (Vista Ultimate and Windows 7 (new computer)). They couldn't succesfully download the java thing (step 1 in the process) See the error attached. I need this lightpoem for graduation in 2 weeks... does creator actually work?

Re: The Shapeways Creator

horst — 2011-05-17T19:18:56-00:00

Based on the screenshot, it looks like the java applet was downloaded, but failed to launch. My QA specialist will investigate more and get back to you on this question.

Re: The Shapeways Creator

tsw — 2011-05-17T21:24:35-00:00

charts32470, can you also attached a screen shot of the error you see on the Exception and Wrapped Exception tabs?

Re: The Shapeways Creator

robert — 2011-05-17T23:55:06-00:00

Hey guys,

I would recommend to use this version of the LightPoem when the Java version does not work for you:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/183763/lightpoem_d.html

Best,

Robert

Re: The Shapeways Creator

Lazza — 2011-05-18T06:51:45-00:00

Awesome! It would be nice if it could use the Java thing on the server side to generate a few (say 3) thumbnails from different perspectives when you've entered your text and font. Then it could load them via AJAX and the user could see a preview.