In case you missed the release last week of MODO 801, there were some announcements made that might be of interest to all you product designers who might still be on the fence with jumping into MODO or not. The new 801 release of the powerful modeling and rendering tool aims to make working with…
It’s no surprise that among those who are the most excited about the near-future of additive manufacturing possibilities are those in the medical field. Whether it’s a neurosurgeon who is experimenting with on-demand customized skull implants or a five-year old who is suffering from Amniotic Band Syndrome, the power that a $2,000 mini-factory yields is…
Between the ANICE Stool from designer Arthur Schmitt (download file for free from Thingiverse here) and the newly-released Keystone collection from Studio Minale-Maeda, the ability to create one’s own furniture can be done with a consumer-grade 3D printer and a few $1.50 custom cuts from Home Depot. While those who are lucky enough to have…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where LEGOs have become a prototyping tool for building robots in your living room, a world where you can carry a 3D printing pen in your pocket, how do we find the next big thing? MakerGalaxy…
When the 3Doodler launched on Kickstarter a little over a year ago, it was met with enthusiasm to the tune of a little over $2.34 million USD. While it certainly broke the mold of what a 3D printer ‘could’ be, it was also met with certain limitations ranging from size to filament options…but that didn’t…
Been tinkering with some science fiction-inspired car designs in your spare time? Local Motors has just announced their 3D Printed Car Design Challenge with $10,000 in prize money if you think you might have the next great 3D printed car idea. Also known as the Direct Digital Manufactured Vehicle (DDMV), the challenge aims to eliminate…
By now a lot of people have had ‘great ideas’ for connected devices that up until now would have required weeks of research and development and a healthy dose of perseverance. While one could certainly test their ideas on a Raspberry Pi or other development board, the overall physical size prohibited creating anything wearable. New…
Ever since the original GoPro hit the extreme sports world in 2007 (2004 if you include 35mm), the footage of adrenaline junkies going faster, higher and getting more creative has been a whirlwind of fun for those of us who might not have the cajones to surf 50 foot waves or do triple backflips on…
Modla is a small 3D printing design studio that creates incredibly ornate, complex and detailed 3d printed art pieces for brands, architects, designers, artists and more. They launched just over a year ago and have already had product launches with Nike, completed an array of 3d printed architecture projects and designed all the signage for…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where smart skin patches can administer specific medications on a set schedule, a world where personal farms can be built into kitchens, how do we find the next big thing? MakerGalaxy is a show that explores…
Premiering next week at SXSW in Austin, Print the Legend is set to be the first non-YouTube documentary that focuses on the rise of the 3D Printing community and the stories we’ve come to read almost weekly that go with it. Featuring in-depth footage of 3D printing newsmakers ranging from Bre Pettis to Cody Wilson…
Where the soft calls of ocean mammals meet carefully extruded polycarbonate plastic, high-performing and beautiful surfboard fins are born. Boardshaper Roy Stuart has combined two things that will save the world: biomimicry and 3D printing. Most surfers these days ride with three fin, or ‘thruster,’ setups. Thruster fins offer a good balance of performance and…
In case you didn’t catch our EngineerVsDesigner episode last year that featured BotObjects founders Mike Duma and Martin Warner discussing the development of their ProDesk3D full-color 3D printer, it was one of our most popular and most-commented episodes of all time…and for good reason. At the time, affordable full-color 3D printing was a relatively new…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where smart cars will drive themselves in rush hour traffic, a world where 3D printing is enabling the blind to experience outer space through touch…how do we find the next ‘big thing’? Maker Galaxy is a…
Having received nearly 11 million views, the popular ‘Dipping my Hand in Carbon Fiber Film’ YouTube video from El Paso Powder Coating has surely inspired many to take a deeper look into the mesmerizing process of water transfer printing. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before the process worked its way over to…
With no signs of slowing down (and currently hiring up the wazzoo), MakerBot extended their reach further into the university system last week with the opening of the very first MakerBot Innovation Center at the SUNY campus in Upstate New York. Perhaps they couldn’t have chosen a better school either: the SUNY campus in New…
Perhaps it’s a little too early to be expecting an onslaught of hacks made from ‘discarded 3D printer parts’, but we’ll take them as they come. Using standard RepRap 3D Printer parts, Air Hockey Robot creator/madman Jose Julio has created the ultimate Air Hockey DIY project that will certainly put to use those air hockey…
Brought to you this week by 2 jars of Mentholyptus Rub, a ham hock, and a 3-pack of recordable VHS tapes, be sure to check out the all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share…
There are a lot of questions we can ask when contemplating the possibilities of 3D printing. Can we 3d print a giant mechanical panther suit that enhances our agility? Will we be able to 3d print small mechanical panther suits to fit on squirrels for tournament squirrel battles? Pretty much anything having to do with…
Having been founded by aerospace engineer Greg Mark, MarkForged (or MarkForg3d) is already making waves since their debut at last week’s SolidWorks World in San Diego. Their flagship product—the Mark One 3D Printer—was on display in the Partner Pavilion and was perhaps the only product demonstration booth that had a crowd gathered day-in and day-out…
Recreating a blooming flower is not something that one would typically associate with modeling and 3D printing with SolidWorks, however design student Richard Clarkson has accomplished just that in a recent additive manufacturing-based college class. The Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Design student put his Creative Digital Manufacturing course to good use when he…
Last November, SolidSmack reported on Gerhard de Clercq and Pieter Scholtz, two South African teens who developed a clever app that allows users to transmit plotting data from their mobile phones to 3D printers via Bluetooth. After achieving some well-deserved fame and respectable media coverage, the duo continued their work toward refining their original creation.…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where we can interact with empty space, a world where we can 3D print our own shower curtain rings and bionic ears, a world where we’ll be sending people to space for vacation, how do we…
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our favorite paper-based 3D printing friends over at MCor Technologies. The proud Irish (they offer cans of Guinness at their booth during trade shows if you ask nicely FYI) company has reported annual sales of their eco-friendly printers up over 600% and are showing no signs of slowing…
Recently, SolidSmack reported on master modder Ben Heck’s ‘hack’ of 3D System’s Cubify Sense Handheld 3D Scanner. A lot of Sense users had stated that the user experience was off the mark when considering that an accurate scan needed a real-time viewing monitor…however the supplied USB cord was either too short or created too much…
The reality of Minority Report-style gestural interfaces has arrived in the consumer market, folks. Intel has just announced that they will be introducing a new lineup of RealSense 3D camera offerings for laptop and tablet designs later this year that will bring “human-like senses to Intel-based devices”. To put it more frankly, the technology (also…
It’s only day one of the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but this year has already shaped up to be the most exciting year thus far for 3D printing enthusiasts. Among other announcements, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis has unveiled what will certainly be an exciting addition to their lineup of 3D printers—which have…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where we can interact with empty space, a world where we can 3D print our own shower curtain rings and bionic ears, a world where we’ll be sending people to space for vacation, how do we…
Claiming that they have built the largest ceramic 3D printer ever made, Israeli design and research studio ‘Studio Under’ have certainly set themselves up to a high standard. Founded by industrial designers Eran Gal-Or, Liat Akerman and Omer Merzel, the studio of recent Holon Institute of Technology grads focus on designing and fabricating 3D printed…
Back in May of 2013, SolidSmack reported on a couple that found themselves in a horrible predicament: they wanted to bake a birthday cake for a beloved friend, however they didn’t have an oven. Being the design savvy couple that they are, a 3D printed cake of their own design seemed like the best alternative.…
Recently we received an interesting note from SolidSmack reader Rex Brodie about the Cubify Sense handheld scanner that he had recently purchased. According to Rex, the scanner was insanely difficult to use without a portable screen and a 12+ foot long USB cable…and that’s after assuming that your subject matter is ‘ideal’. There have been…
If someone were to tell you five years ago that you would be able to 3D print a garden in the next few years, your disbelief would probably grow faster than the grass hair on a Homer Simpson Chia Pet. However the momentum of mixing digital fabrication with non-traditional materials doesn’t seem to be slowing…
One of the biggest hurdles in moving 3D printing forward has been the material constraints for creating ‘all-in-one’ products. Sure you can take apart that old computer mouse, hack together a new form factor in SolidWorks, spit it out of your MakerBot and fasten the still-warm pieces together, but few people would call that ‘revolutionary’…
Aside from being one of the most livable places in North America, Greenwich, Connecticut has one more aspect going for it these days: their very own MakerBot store. With slightly more breathing room than their NYC flagship store, the Greenwich store resides in a village-like storefront on Greenwich’s main street amongst cozy pubs, ambient coffeehouses,…
File this under that ever-expanding ‘Why Didn’t I Think Of That?’ pile: Swedish travel and lifestyle photographer Jens Lennartsson was feeling like he wanted to get a little more attention from potential agency clients, so rather than going the traditional route and creating ‘the mother of all business cards’, he omitted the card altogether and…
It was only yesterday that we took a look at Autodesk’s Project Shapeshifter and explored how it is moving away from existing simple modeling apps and into more complex modeling aimed at the consumer market. Although 3D printer sales have surged (and will continue to do so), the bridge between concept and well-executed print is…
Consider it a handheld 3D printer of sorts—and not of the stringy-glue gun variety. The FreeD is MIT’s latest cool piece of tech that is essentially a handheld milling machine that allows a user to sculpt a pre-defined shape from a 3D model. As 3D printer manufacturers are moving towards higher resolution and accuracy in…
For many of us fabrication fanatics, one of the more exciting aspects of the 3D printing industry is that it is bringing manufacturing back to the US. From one-of-a-kind prototypes to mass-produced retail-ready products, the versatility of 3D printed objects is broad, and the potential for their applications, almost limitless. But with so much focus…
With their recent launch of Cubify Design, you would think that 3D Systems would hypothetically be sitting back in the boardroom drinking coffee and eating jelly doughnuts while waiting for the world to take notice. While that actually doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend a Friday morning, 3D Systems are keeping their momentum…
This past Friday, 40 of the world’s top experts in digital and interactive art, data visualization, software art, 3D printing, augmented reality, and other digital art and design applications converged on the stage at The New School in NYC’s Greenwich Village for LISA 2013 (Leaders in Software and Art) to discuss their projects, where these…
Yesterday, 3D systems quietly unveiled a new member to their small family of modeling apps including Cubify Invent and Cubify Sculpt with their latest, Cubify Design. While Cubify Invent is their most intuitive tool that is aimed at teaching the basics of 3D modeling and Cubify Sculpt offers organic modeling and digital sculpting, Cubify Design…
As any regular reader of SolidSmack knows, digital fabrication tools have led a helping hand in ways never before seen for designers, artists, and even regular-Joe hobbyists. Combining the powers of digital modeling or 3D scanning with various devices that output a three-dimensional object still sounds like something out of the future, yet every day…
Putting a 3D printer in the back of a car might not be that revolutionary, but considering what kind of power that could put into the hands of various service people? Now that’s getting interesting. From plumbers to electricians and even general contractors, the ability to have on-demand part production on-site could rapidly speed up…
If you were to pluck a stranger from the street, sit that person down, and ask them to rattle-off a list of famous instrument makers, they might begin by listing famous guitar manufacturers and piano builders (after looking at you very oddly and protecting their wallet and organs). If you were to then ask that…
Recently, we reported that MakerBot was expanding their retail empire to include ‘mini-stores’ within over nearly 20 Microsoft stores stretched across the United States. At the moment, their only standalone brick and mortar is their iconic New York City store where they have resided for just over a year now. Today it was announced that…
With everything from 3D print fail blogs to in-depth tutorials on how to avoid various 3D printing pitfalls, it was only a matter time before we saw a 3D print preview offering. Unsurprisingly, Autodesk Labs has given us our first taste of what to expect with their all-new Project Miller app designed for testing and…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where we can interact with empty space, a world where we can 3D print our own shower curtain rings and bionic ears, a world where we’ll be sending people to space for vacation, how do we…
The story of Gordon LaPlante may have started out similar to many other maker/tinkerer/Ima-gonna-start-my-own-3d-printer-company types. Tearing apart mechanized contraptions at an early age to determine their inner workings seems the prerequisite foundation–rebuilding, revising and improving on shortcomings to reuse the parts or make it twice as gooder than it was before. The gMax 3D Printer…
With plans to launch this fall, MatterRemix is entering the browser-based 3D modeling game with a slightly different twist from what we’ve seen with other browser-based modelers: What if users could take existing STL files and give them an Instagram-like photo filter ‘remix’ for creating custom, sharable, 3D printed goods?
Have you been crinkling your nose in the mirror, wondering about all the hullabaloo over Staples getting into the 3D printing scene? Well, with MCor Technologies as their partner, they just opened their local service in Europe, introducing “that was easy” to the hoards ready to get their 3D printing fix whilst picking up some…