A lot of people are finding out that 3D printing is just as much about the 3D printing software as it is about the 3D printing hardware. But it starts way before that, with software to design the object to be printed. The sole purpose of the Morphi App was to simplify 3D modeling for printing–to do away with the need of a desktop and mouse as the interface. Design, Print. It should be that simple, right? Well, if you’ve used it, you’ll agree they’ve done that. Perhaps to an extreme, but with their latest update, the mobile modeling app just got a bit better and, could it be, a bit more professional?

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist pops you in the jump sockets with head-boppin’ tunage to help propel you through those mind-numbing design tasks for the next few days. So whether you find yourself inking markers until they’re dry, grinding material through a bandsaw or flying through a CAD model, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll start off with “Game Over” from iSHi and work our way through everything from Son Lux and Teenage Bottlerocket to the Freestylers to Blackalicious and others before wrapping up with “Bad Boy” by The Jive Bombers. As always – do you have any suggestions for next week’s playlist?…

The fight has begun. Or maybe, it ended before it even began. The Apple Pencil isn’t available until November and already it’s giving all the other styluses a run for their money. Apple Pencil or Wacom’s Cintiq stylus? FiftyThree’s Pencil or a stick wrapped in aluminum foil? In a recent article, designer Linda Dong tries to put the question to rest, but has been criticized by many for holding a very biased view in favor of the new Apple product. (When has that ever happened?)

Four pinstripes and a melon. That’s all the payment we could gather. Down among the shantie with tattered cloth and mud holding make-shift walls to the ground, droids would peek from the blinds, unsure if they would be extracted or provided parts. Why we were able to get a melon in these parts, we’ll never know, but it likely had something to do with these links. Jie Ma – Some of the best surreal and strangely realistic art I’ve seen in a long time, beautifully capturing the scale of the environment and people. Design Quotes – Barcelona based type designer Rafa Goicoechea created five fabulous design quotes for AIGA “Eye…

Just six months after they announced $30M in Series C funding, Onshape has announced $80M in new funding, led by Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz, known for their investment in Airbnb, Box, Facebook, Github, Twitter, Skype and others. This brings Onshape’s funding efforts to a grand, grin-inducing total of $144M.

With so many cool things coming out each week, it can be hard to wade through all the rock-awesomeness. With ‘Cool Tools’, we’ve done the hard work for you. This week we saw everything from the latest 3D printer offering from Formlabs (spoiler: it’s amazing), a new photo app that lets you create your comics without a Stan Lee-level skill set, a “new and improved” tin can microphone and more… Ready? Let’s go! This week we look at: DESIGN Matte Red Type-2L Carabiner “This matte red custom shaped carabiner features triple integrated key rings…” Form 2 from Formlabs “The most advanced desktop 3D printer ever created…” APPS Seedling Comic Studio…