3D Systems isn’t messing around in 2013. Despite some new products having lackluster performance, they have managed to prove that an arsenal of ‘whipped cream pies in your face’ is the best strategy for developing hype and getting your attention. Somehow amongst promoting their new product releases at CES 2013, they managed to earn the…

While you may or may not necessarily be a fan of his show, Glenn Beck welcomed a MakerBot Replicator 2 on his show recently and proclaimed the device “The latest, greatest technology…Jobs will come back to America.” Conservative radio isn’t necessarily known for insights on radical technology…but Glenn seems to be a 3D printing believer.

At CES 2013, 3D Systems announced the release of Cubify Capture, which allows users to take a video or photo and turn it into an actual 3D-printable model. Over the past 9 months, 3D Systems has been trying to turn Cubify into a powerful cloud-based environment for not just downloading of files (for purchase), but…

Makerbot announced today at CES 2013 the release of their Replicator 2x Experimental 3D Printer, an upgraded version of their successful line of Replicator 2. I’m reading the feeds as the info comes in and it’s looking good. You get the impression Makerbot is trying very hard to hit the Living  Room and the Office,…

While you were enjoying your tuna fish sandwich at lunch, Panasonic unveiled one of their latest products at their keynote at CES in Las Vegas today–a freakin’ 3D printed TV.

Filed under awwww, Crayon Creatures mixes Elmer-glued 3D Printing and the drawings of your young ones, allowing you to figure their scribbles out and genuinly exclaim, “OHHH, it is a Giraffe!” But, there is a challenge – how does one stick it to the fridge? Magnets and more Elmer’s glue, but really, there’s no need as…

Can we get a “great balls of 3D poly-mesh gravy!” up in here? 3D Systems has announced the acquisition of Geomagic, makers of a range of scanning, design software and haptic devices. This hit us like a ton of voxel-based bricks, and we’re all excited and terrified of what awaits us when the dust settles.…

Hark! 2013 is upon us! In many ways, the previous year seemed a turning point for where we’re going while simultaneously lacking any sort of drastic, earth-shattering changes. However, there’s plenty of fat, tech-laden fodder on which to speculate for 2013 and that’s exactly what we’re going to dish out for you folks. In recent…

Amanda Ghassaei, a DIY audio geek and editor at Instructables, succeeded in 3D printing 12-inch records containing the music of Nirvana, The Pixies, and Daft Punk. Using an Objet Connex500, she printed the records at one of the highest 3d print resolutions available, but how does that resolution really sound?

While there may be enough endearing puppet shows on the web waves, there are certainly not enough puppet shows that take on the build, hack, solder, crack, spark, squeeze and flow of electronics and circuitry. Adafruit is changing that with a new show airing next year called Circuit Playground. The show is set to premiere…

While most of us may have picked up a ‘101 things to (fill in the blank) before you die’ book at some point or another, none of those books have had the charismatic charm of an ‘Experience Passport’. Designed by Communication Designer Alex Egner, the Passport offers the design undergrad students at the University of…

As 3D Printing inches off the ground in mainstream culture more and more each day, it can be difficult for a new user to navigate the wide plethora of online 3D printing options. Perhaps it’s just me, but I see 3D Printing 2.0 as, among other improvements, involving more application-specific design and printing services. Twikit…

You know the right lighting just makes the most cold, damp murder-scene of a space a warm, inviting nest of shadows and highlights. Thing is, most shapes wrapping the bulbs are just as cold and unstylish as the bloody room corners they’re illuminating. Not so with the handmade Faceture Light Shade from the fab mind…

When asked to take part in the Designer Challenge in a recent issue of Computer Arts Projects centered around a new spin on the business card, designer Mikey Burton opted to omit the card altogether–creating a traveling ‘letterpress’ instead.

Powered by a Raspberry Pi with a capacitive touch sensor and audio amplifier in a wooden enclosure, the BeetBox is a wonderkind amongst the potato-powered clocks and other vegetable-powered electronics available today. Through using the capacitive touch sensor, users are able to play drum beats through touching actual beets.

While the politics of uploading and sharing gun components for 3D printing is still a murky topic both in design circles and political circles, MakerBot’s Thingiverse has taken it upon themselves to do their part by dropping guns from their 3D print file sharing site.

What happens when you harness the sculpting powers of ZBrush and produce 300 wood models on a pantograph? Designer Ben Godi gives us the inside look on how he created his latest masterpiece.

Starting as a thesis project at Parsons in NYC, Evan Roth collaborated with four NYC based graffiti writers (HELL, AVONE, JESUS SAVES, and KATSU) to further understand the motion of graffiti. Eight years later, Roth is capturing that data and producing it in 3D printed, chrome-plated ABS bliss.

Nylon, it’s wonderful stuff. A silky fabric when weaved or a flexible polymer when moulded. Reach out with your hands and chances are you will touch something Nylon (Warning: Solidsmack is not responsible for any injury, due to electric fan or angry, nylon-collered Wombats). Oh, you have a 3D Printer next to your computer? And…

The Objet 1000 is a seriously killer machine if you want ultra-high res large-scale 3D prints. No doubt about it. So why, Lord of mercy, did they want to associate it with an 80’s action cartoon jingle? Studies show that the Objet 1000 jingle reduces life expectancy to exactly 00:01:51. It is believed that no…

Depending on your ability to understand Japanese, this recent ten-minute segment on 3D Printing from the Japanese TV Show NHK El Mundo is a rather fun way of seeing some 3D print industry folks a la Bill Murray in Lost in Translation style. The show managed to snag some prominent guests including the Founders of…

If canned goods and homemade sweaters don’t seem to suit the bill for your relatives anymore, and you happen to be in the NYC area in the next few weeks, consider stopping by this mega-cluster of 3D printed goodness. Created by Openhouse and Launched in collaboration with Shapeways, UP!, and Ultimaker, the shop features many…

In this painfully long (almost 20 minute) video released by ‘Staples Office Centre’, we are given a glimpse into the future of how using Staples’ new 3D Print Service can dramatically change our lives…or in this case, replace a missing chess piece.

What’s a 3D Printing revolution if companies go around suing each other for alleged patent infringement? Not much of one at all. This is the sentiment Joshua Harker is passing along in a recent letter to backers. You saw his new Anatomica di Revolutis Kickstarter campaign wherein a video compilation featured the “Top Brass” of…

Defense Distributed, the infamous 3D Printing Gun Slingers who describe their mission as “…facilitating global access to, and the collaborative production of, information and knowledge related to the 3D printing of arms; and to publish and distribute, at no cost to the public, such information and knowledge in promotion of the public interest….” had an…

Shashinkan is Japanese for ‘photobooth’, and Japanese creative agency PARTY has created the ultimate in Shashinkans with the Omote 3D. The project will allow customers to buy models of themselves (at parties, presumably) in three sizes: small (10cm high), medium (15cm) and large (20cm). Prices start at a fairly steep $250, but depending on how…

2D Copy Centres are sooooo 2011. 3D Copy Centres – now that’s something I need. You know that feeling when you drafting a CAD model and you need it in your hand? And it’s 3am? And no one’s given you the new code to the Stratasys because you kept on 3D Printing what your boss…

Yes sir, it’s Euromold again and the big-wig 3D Printing companies have come out in force to strut their stuff and eye the competition. Although we theorize that these are merely rubber-band guns, it’s possible that Objet made a sword (rather, a golf club). They certainly have a machine of a size that is capable…

Speaking of laser cut toy creations, this Bandit gun Kickstarter project campaign just popped in our inbox. The Bandit gun is not only a rubberband gun–That would be lame and unnecessary with the skills you already have. This gun is a shotgun, with the deluxe ‘Sheriff’ version supporting three firing modes and, if ordered now,…

Because we’re sitting around looking at food all day today, why don’t we take a moment to not only reflect on what we are thankful for, but also reflect on what our food might look like a few Thanksgivings from now. Prost!

In the last few days, 3D Systems lost over 15% of its value. Additionally, Stratasys Inc. shares fell around 5%. According to Shapeways’ Peter Weijmarshausen, “We’re still living in a bubble a little bit.” Has 3D printing reached it’s industrial potential already? Where is the consumer boost?

3D Systems, the biggest and oldest 3D printing company in the World has filed litigation against Formlabs and their Form 1 printer. The infringement stems from one of 3D System’s stereolithography patents, a technique that uses a UV laser to selectively bind a vat of photoresin into a solid object. Not only that, Kickstarter is…

Among the best ideas to take away from modern architecture are new studies in materials and applications. The Bloom installation is one of those new and rare architectural pieces that begs the question: What the heck could I do with thermobimetal?

ShapeShot can scan a human face in 1/2000 of a second. The result is a high-resolution water-tight 3D-print-ready mesh file. A favorite S.L. Jackson quote comes to mind: “When you absolutely positively got to [scan] every m*f* in the room, accept no substitutes.” And that’s what makerbot store NYC is planning to do: scan every…

Love patterns? Working them into your design? How about blanketing algorithm-driven, parametric geometry across the screen or printing it out for use as a light shade that both baffles and amazes the mind? If you’ve ever wondered how some people model those amazing patterned designs or intricate, randomized detail of a 3D printed structure, look…

With all the news and headlines regarding 3D printing these days, it’s a topic of conversation that’s bound to come up during at least a few family gatherings as the holidays approach us. Being the design and engineering-saavy individual that you are, you will probably be the one expected to do the explaining…or you could…

Norwegian software developers Uformia have developed “a volume-based modeling extension for the creation of both organic and mechanical objects that are always watertight and ideal for 3D printing” and have 3 days left to Kickstart. Is it worth adding to your toolbox?

If there’s anything that symbolizes the next industrial revolution, it’s a winged skull… with a Crooked Cairn hanging below it. If you have one of Joshua Harker’s 3D Printed Anatomica Filigre sculptures (and love his “tangle” art pieces), you probably wondered what he would create next to best it all. I present to you Anatomica…

While it may at first appear to be a colorized version of Joris Laarman’s bone furniture, the Multithread collection of 3D printed furniture is anything but. Design duo Kram/Weisshaar developed a software application that automatically modifies joints to support asymmetric force loads–followed by painting the units to show where the force is being distributed in…

I’m totally ganking the title of this post at Shapeways, because it could not be a more perfect description. As I write this, there’s the smell of four freshly cooked bacon slices filling the air, which together with these images is the cause of blurred vision, cold sweats and slight twitching. Behold, endless bacon.

A big Imperial salute and a plate of Ewok cookies to George Lucas. This past week he sold off 100% ownership to Lucasfilm for $4 Billion to Disney. If you recall, Disney bought Marvel in 2009, transforming that franchise and the movies that came out if it. Disney plans to do the same thing for…

When you think of the building you’ll live in–you’re home–in the future, I know this is exactly what you imagine. Ok, maybe your vision has a little more color, some nice rugs and a few robot servants to dust all the nooks and crannies, but this is pretty close. London-based Softkill Design is putting the…

Britain’s Big Innovation Centre (could the name be any more self-explanatory?) recently released a report on “Why Britain Needs a Policy Framework for 3D Printing” (pdf). Is Britain the first to get over the hype of ‘thing-making’ already and move on to create a mass-market industry template for others to follow?

754. That is the number of backers who jumped on board the Formlabs Kickstarter project to snag the first orange acrylic-covered SL resin printer from Formlabs. They’re $2,299 a pop, but with $2.1 million in funding (and one week to go), it’s obvious people are loving the idea behind this printer. What’s behind the design?…

I challenge you to find a better looking iPad stand at the cash register. You’ve probably seen a few small businesses using an iPad and a Square Card Reader to push consumer purchasing power into the future. I see it more every day. Many stand awkwardly holding the iPad as they ask me to jab…

At this point, I’m pretty sure an infographic could be made about the rise and fall of 3D printing infographics. Nevertheless, here’s an oddly informative and very gray infographic on 3D Printing that has no mention of large-scale 3D printing or bacon. Haven’t we seen enough of these? Yes, yes we have. However, there’s one…

In the latest twist of the long-running 3D Printed gun debate, Stratasys revoked the lease on a printer that a company called “Defence Distributed” got. Defense Distributed is run by Cody Wilson, a student at the “University of Texas School of Law in Austin. He is a student of Bastiat, Locke, Hoppe, and Anthony de…

I’ve marked today as the day I’ve seen the largest number of ‘WTF’s ever recorded by man… in the field of product development. Three new policies for product design and hardware projects were set in place by Kickstarter as described in their blog post, Kickstarter is Not a Store. It’s a game changer for those…

Last week Makerbot stuck a timer on their website, filling everyone with suspense about what the heck would happen at 3pm EST today. And lo and behold, Bre Pettis delivered upon us a press conference. Not his best performance – he seemed a bit nervous. But who cares – look what he brought! A new Replicator…

Combining new and old, Ross Barber, at the London College of Fashion, has been stitching leather with 3D Printed pieces to create these absolutely superb ‘Future Noir’ shoes. It’s beyond commercialization at this point, so it’s not going to be available at Target soon or something you could buy and rock out with at a…