The Week in 3D Printing – Jan 28th to Feb 3rd

By | February 3, 2012 | 3D Printing, Community | No comments

As yet another week comes to an end, we provide you (as usual) with the latest 3D printing goodies of the past 7 days. So let’s get to it and see what this week had in store for us.

Designer Schreer Delights 3D prints a working gramophone for his iPhone
When a power outlet is out of reach and you’re in need of some loud jams, the iPhone speakers don’t often cut it. Sigh no more. Schreer Design has created an analog amplifier for the iPhone called the iVictrola Gramophone, based on the old Gramophones of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The Imagine 3D Printer from Essential Dynamics is now for sale
The Imagine 3D Printer made her big debut at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas, NV. Imagine was very well received and made a big splash. Now she is ready to make a big splash in your life! From Essential Dynamics.

3D Printing Company Layerwise is features on Belgian TV Show
This is one for those of you that understand Dutch. It’s basically an interview with the company Layerwise about the world of 3D printing and its production methods. Materialise also gets mentioned towards the end of the movie.

i.materialise jumps on the color train to dye its polyamide prints
At i.materialise we all love the polyamide material. We love it so much that we couldn’t wait any longer to give it some extra colors, four extra colors to be exact. From now on you can get your models dyed in red, blue, gray and black. Do you prefer to spray paint them? No problem, we can do that for you in either black or white as well.

Tinkercad gets a makeover and impresses us with it
Tinkercad is an impressive browser based 3D printing modeling tool that has brought happiness and joy to many creative minds. Its intuitive interface and its powerful tools have made it possible for countless 3D print hungry individuals to bring their creations to life. Now they have made that experience a whole lot better!

The new Tinkercad

The i.materialise website also gets a sleek makeover
It’s only the first step within a long process where you’ll see what else our web wizard Franky has in store for you. The website looks even cleaner and is more accessible to the public. Have a look for yourself and let us know what you think.

CNN covers the making of a 3D printed violin
Ok, we know that the whole “print me a Stradivarius” is nothing new, but this video on CNN did start becoming popular around this week so we thought we’d share it with you anyways.

MGX offers you the opportunity to win a burgundy 3D printed Lotus.MGX
In honor of Valentine’s Day, .MGX is giving away a Lotus.MGX lamp and Krizant.MGX necklaces.  Simply send us a photo of your favorite kiss and you will automatically be entered to win. A picture of the main prize can be seen below.

The lovely Lotus in all its glory by designer Janne Kyttanen

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. We hope you enjoy the news and wish you all a lovely weekend!

Anyone in the mood for some colored polyamide?

By | February 1, 2012 | 3D Printing, Community | 1 Comment

At i.materialise we all love the polyamide material. We love it so much that we couldn’t wait any longer to give it some extra colors, four extra colors to be exact. From now on you can get your models dyed in red, blue, gray and black. Do you prefer to spray paint them? No problem, we can do that for you in either black or white as well.

The dyed polyamide samples in white, gray, blue, black and red

So what are the facts? First of all, you’ll find that the color pigment infiltrates your models when we dye it. This makes it more difficult to scratch the paint away which is something that is easier to do when you spray paint it. It’s also important to know that we offer this service for models that are within the following dimensions: 150x150x150mm.

As for the price, we start off with your standard natural white polyamide price and add an additional 0,25€ per cm3 on top of it + a startup of 1€ per type of model.

Are you curious about the way it looks? Here are some examples of what some of our designs that were dyed in our available colors.

The Krizant by designer Michaella Janse van Vuuren dyed in our available colors

The Tendril earrings by design Dan Yeffet also dyed in our available colors

The clover flower by designer Michaella Janse van Vuuren in dyed polyamide. Note that the one furthest to the left is in alumide and not dyed polyamide.

Is this what you were waiting for? Finally some color for that awesome design that you had in mind? Don’t hesitate a second longer and start bringing it into your creations! We’ll be here ready to help you bring your colored awesomeness to life.

And if you need help on how to get started with polyamide…  No worries, the most important tips & tricks on working with the material can be found right here.

Our impressions of the Brand New Tinkercad

By | January 30, 2012 | 3D Printing, CAD | No comments

Tinkercad is an impressive browser based 3D printing modeling tool that has brought happiness and joy to many creative minds. Its intuitive interface and its powerful tools have made it possible for countless 3D print hungry individuals to bring their creations to life.  Today they have just made that experience a whole lot better.

With a major new version on their website, designers around the world can now create better 3D prints with an even better interface and, with much more ease. The new release looks stunning and feels just the way you’d want it to feel.

The new and improved Tinkercad

Considering I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Beta version of this new release, I spent some of my time having a look at it. My first reaction was “Wow! The new version looks smooth.” It was like opening Google SketchUp for the first time, it just felt right. With the short amount of time that I had at my disposal, I managed to create the following items without too much hassle. And  I am not a Tinkercad specialist. It was thanks to the intuitive interface that this could come to life within about 10 minutes

Made in Tinkercad in about 5 minutes

Another 5 minutes and I had this in my screen

Another great addition to this new release are the Quests. They are so useful! Whenever I needed to create a specific shape or I needed some guidance, these built in tutorials led the way.

A screenshot of the Tinkercad Quests

With this new release, Tinkercad raises web based 3D modeling to an unmatched level. It’s really impressive and most importantly, fun to use. It kept me interested and I still am which is exactly what you want from such a software package. One thing I still haven’t found was a sharing button somewhere, but like I said… my time was limited. So it might actually be there and I missed it. But after all, let’s not forget that I was using a Beta version. I look forward to spend some more time on this newly improved Tinkercad in the future. Hopefully I’ll get to upload some of my work in our gallery as it has a very useful integrated button to i.materialise.

Add complexity to your designs

So what are you waiting for? Go out there and try it yourself! And if you like what you designed and need a 3D print done, just click on the print 3D button, choose i.materialise and we’ll do the rest!

The Week in 3D Printing – 21st Jan to 27th Jan

By | January 27, 2012 | 3D Printing, Events | No comments

The fourth week of 2012 has been a week of interesting 3D printing news, but also a week with lots of interesting information from the Rapid Pro 3D printing expo where we exhibited. So without further ado, let’s have a look at that news…

Regarding the news at Rapid Pro:

At Rapid Pro we got to meet some of our community members and designers while also getting introduced to new creative minds that were hungry for some 3D printing. It was quite a busy event with a very interesting crowd and lots of 3D printing potential.

A shot of our booth at Rapid Pro-at-home

Opposite our stand we had our friends from Ultimaker who seemed to attract quite a crowd as well. They showcased their great desktop 3D printer that still has the fastest controlled horizontal acceleration in the market. It was simply a pleasure as usual to see the Ultimaker do its thing.

The Other exhibitors that were present were the wonderful FabLab guys from Zuid-Limburg that showcased their great services and the creative unit of 3D Systems called Freedom of Creation.

Rapid Pro-at-home did not bring world news items, but it definitely highlighted the fact that there is a rapid growing 3D printing community out there and it’s hungry for much, much more.

As for the 3D printing news around the world:

Lisa Harouni gave an interesting talk about 3D printing at TED
It lasted for about 15 minutes and highlighted the possibilities of this relatively new technology.

JF Brandon hopes to get USD$16,000 from crowd funding to create a large version of the Rygo
The objective is to 3D print the Rygo, a design created by Bathsheba Grossman that is also sold in our gallery. JF Brandon wants to 3D print it with a height of about 2 meters. That’s quite a bit bigger than the Rygo necklace that we print.

The Pirate Bay enters the world of 3D printing
It came a bit as a surprise to me that the file sharing website the Pirate Bay wanted to get their hands into sharing 3D print designs. They announced it on their blog and a couple of days later it got covered by the website FastCoDesign. Curious to see where this will be heading…

Iris van Herpen and Materialise return to Paris Fashion Week
Just like last year, Iris van Herpen got to return to the Paris Fashion Week with a new 3D printed dress by Materialise. The dress in question can be admired right here.

And that’s about it for this week. Make sure to come back next week to have a look at what the world of 3D printing has in store for you next.

Making your words appear again

By | January 23, 2012 | 3D Printing, Design | 2 Comments

Have you ever heard of the Appear Lamp? One of our customers called Steven sure has, and he found a wonderful use for it…

Steven & Brenda with the Appear Lamp

During a guided tour of Materialise’s headquarters, Steven, a young man in love came upon The Appear Lamp and saw the solution to a problem haunting him for 6 months…how to propose to the woman he wanted to spend his life with. On returning home that evening, he snuck online and ordered a personalized lamp that would forever change his life. Written on his Appear Lamp was a carefully chosen message for his love, Brenda.

A little while later, on the evening of their 10 year anniversary, Steven and Brenda sat down to enjoy some celebratory wine and tapas. Joining them at the table, hidden under a blanket, was the Appear Lamp. Brenda was kindly asked to wait until darkness fell that night to unwrap her gift.

When the light in the room finally started to fade, Brenda was allowed to lift the blanket. At first glance, all she saw was a lamp…then she turned it on and read Steve’s special message:

“Every time you turn on this light, be remembered I need you in my life, Brenda will you be my wife? xxx Steven”

As Brenda read the inscription, Steven fell to his knees and waited for her reply… a clear and loving YES!

The Original & the newly redesigned Appear Lamp

Steven and Brenda are getting married in September this year. Now you too can touch the hearts of those you love with our newly redesigned Appear Lamp or with the original one that romantic Steve successfully proposed with. Both are currently available in our creation corner, waiting for your own personalized special messages.

The Week in 3D Printing – Jan 16th to Jan 20th

By | January 20, 2012 | 3D Printing | No comments

With CES 2012 behind us, the third week of 2012 seemed like a week of reflection. We found many articles referring to the moments of the event in Las Vegas while information was gathered on the buzz that it created. From an interesting discussion between 3D Systems and MakerBot, to offering our designers the possibility to put their items up for sale… it’s all in this year’s third week of 3D Printing.

MakerBot creates an awesome Stop Motion Video featuring their Replicator
After unveiling the MakerBot Replicator at CES 2012, Bre Pettis and his creative team took their time to bring together a wonderfully executed stop motion video with 3D printed characters. Great fun guaranteed!

CNET discusses the Future of 3D Printing with 3D Systems’ Cubify and the MakerBot Replicator
Another ripple effect from CES was the video interview that CNET’s Rafe Needleman made with guests MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis and Cathy from 3D Systems. Both the Cubify & Replicator were present and compared. (make sure to check the the playlist on your right in case the video does not start)

Fabbaloo highlights the 3D Printing Buzz increase during & after CES 2012
With the close of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show it seemed like a good time to check the buzz level of 3D printing and so that’s why Fabbaloo decided to have a look at the numbers.

i.materialise offers their designers the ability to sell their items on the website’s gallery
It was something that designers were waiting for and so i.materialise delivered. From now on, anyone can design, showcase and sell their 3D printed creations on the website’s gallery.

Now you can also sell your items in our gallery

A new 3D Printer with MakerSilde
Barton Dring (bdring) of Buildlog.Net fame recently designed a 3D printer based on the multifunctional MakerSlide beams.

So there you have it ladies and gents… another week, another story to tell. Make sure to check back with us next week to find out what the fourth week of 2012 has in store for us.

How to open your own Shop at i.materialise

By | January 18, 2012 | 3D Printing, Community | 2 Comments

Want to show off your design talent and make some money at the same time? Offer your designs for sale in our gallery and once a month, we will pay you a fee for every one of your items sold.

Let me quickly show you in 3 short steps how that can become a reality.

Step 1: Setting Up your Gallery Items

As soon as your models are shipped, you can sell them in our gallery. They show up in your profile under gallery items . Click the edit button to fill in the title of your design, add a description, assign it to a category, add tags and add a picture.

Once in your gallery items, choose which item to edit

Step 2: Offering your item up for sale

The next step is to offer your design for sale… You do this by simply highlighting this in the appearance box. Don’t forget to set your desired designer’s fee. This will determine how much you will earn with each sale.

First make sure that all your information is correct...

... and then OFFER your item FOR SALE + setup your Designer''s Fee

Step 3: Keeping an eye on your sales and cashing in your earnings

You are all set! As soon as an item is sold, it shows up in your sales. You can start promoting your models by posting links to your designer page that holds all models you made. Once a month we will pay you out through PayPal (setting up a PayPal account is free and easy). This applies to all items that were shipped to their buyers. Your payment becomes accrued 15 days after the order has been shipped. Then, on the 15th of the month, or the first working day after the 15th, you will be paid.

Follow your sold items, your earnings and your received payments in the sales section

For additional information on setting up your shop at i.materialise, you can always visit the vendor section of our FAQ’s page. There you should be able to find detailed information to each step of this process and of course, if the answers are not there… just leave of a comment and we’ll respond you right back right here on this blog post.

Please note that this is a first version of our shop and so to improve it we appreciate your feedback. So don’t wait a second longer and start reviewing your new possible 3D printing business and try out our new shop. Who knows, you too might get some nice earnings out of it.

Remember that your public profile is the best way to self-advertise your items by sharing your new shop through the available social networks. A good example of a well managed profile is that of designer Michaella Janse van Vuuren.

Spread the word by sharing on social networks

The Week in 3D Printing: Jan 7th to Jan 13th

By | January 13, 2012 | 3D Printing | No comments

The Second week of 3D printing brought us mostly news from the CES 2012 (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. Some new desktop 3D printers here and some new 3D printing apps there… let’s take a look at where that goes us during this week.

Sculpteo’s new 3D Printing iPhone app
With this new app, you can scan a sideshot of your face to use it as a revolved surface for your next 3D printed cup or vase.

Thingiverse gets a makeover
The famous 3D printing online warehouse Thingiverse got their hands together to redesign their website. Could it be a coincidence that the Makerbot Replicator was released around the same time?

Belgium’s First Face Transplant with the help of Materialise
It was Belgium’s first and the world’s 19th face transplant. Materialise played a major role in this success.

Bre Pettis reveals the Makerbot Replicator
Three days before the official start of CES 2012, the CEO of Makerbot Bre Petits announced their new Replicator on YouTube.

The new Makerbot Replicator

3D Systems reveals the new Cubify.com
As announced last week, it was only a matter of time for this news to be revealed. 3D Systems did indeed keep their word and showed the world on the first day of CES 2012 what cubify.com was all about. 3D Printing blog Fabbaloo was kind enough to sum up some more of the information for us on their blog.

BBC highlights the 3D printing rivalry at CES 2012
3D Printing is clearly big news in this day in age and that is why the BBC once again made sure to cover this wonderful industry at CES 2012.

Bre Pettis receives the CNET emerging tech award for the Makerbot Replicator at CES 2012
Technology website CNET awards the emerging tech award to the Makerbot Replicator. A well deserved winner we would say. (The award is given in the video of this link at 04:52 minutes in).

The Second week of 3D printing brought us mostly news from the CES 2012 (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. Some new desktop 3D printers here and some new 3D printing apps there… let’s take a look at where that goes us during this week.
Sculpteo’s new 3D Printing iPhone app
With this new app, you can scan a sideshot of your face to use it as a revolved surface for your next 3D printed cup or vase.
Thingiverse gets a makeover
The famous 3D printing online warehouse Thingiverse got their hands together to redesign their website. Could it be a coincidence that the Makerbot Replicator was released around the same time?
Belgium’s First Face Transplant with the help of Materialise
It was Belgium’s first and the world’s 19th face transplant. Materialise played a major role in this success.
Bre Pettis reveals the Makerbot Replicator
Three days before the official start of CES 2012, the CEO of Makerbot Bre Petits announced their new Replicator on YouTube.
3D Systems reveals the new Cubify.com
As announced last week, it was only a matter of time for this news to be revealed. 3D Systems did indeed keep their word and showed the world on the first day of CES 2012 what cubify.com was all about. 3D Printing blog Fabbaloo was kind enough to sum up some more of the information for us on their blog.
BBC highlights the 3D printing rivalry at CES 2012
3D Printing is clearly big news in this day in age and that is why the BBC once again made sure to cover this wonderful industry at CES 2012.

Five Reasons to come and see us at Rapid Pro-at-home

By | January 12, 2012 | 3D Printing, Events | No comments

i.materialise will be present at the Rapid Pro-at-home event from January 25th until January 26th. For those of you that are lucky enough to be within the region of Veldhoven, in the Netherlands, this might be the ultimate opportunity to come and visit us. Below you’ll find five great reasons why you really should stop by and say hi!

Get introduced to our services through our presentation
For those of you that have not 3D printed with i.materialise before and want to know more about what it is that we do, we have a presentation that will be given on multiple occasions during the two days that we’re present. It’s a great way to get introduced to our services and find out why we’re the perfect support partner for your 3D printing dreams.

Meet the people that assist you on your designs
When you’re working on something personal, it’s always important that your project goes well and nothing can be more comforting than personally knowing the people that help you throughout this process. At Rapid Pro you will have the opportunity to sit down with us, get to know us a bit better and ask all of your pending questions to get instant feedback.

Get to see the work of other designers that printed at i.materialise
Seeing something behind your computer screen is not the same as seeing it up close. We will have on location a nice range of examples of our customers’ 3D prints to show you. You’ll be able to ask us questions on how these designs were made and what role we played in making it work.

Get personal help on setting up your shop at i.materialise

Not only can you get your designs 3D printed at i.materialise, but you can now also offer them up for sale in our gallery. Find out all about how it works by asking us right there and then. We will help you through the process of setting up your own shop on the i.materialise website to get your started.

Have a look at our industrial solutions at the Materialise Stand
i.materialise will be present at the Rapid Pro-at-home exhibition while our mother company Materialise will be present at the Rapid Pro one. In case you would be interested in seeing our industrial solutions, don’t hesitate to pay them a visit, they are not that far away. You never know how it might provide you with new inspiration and ideas for your next grand design project.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Belgium”s First Face Transplant + 3D Printing = Wow

By | January 10, 2012 | 3D Printing | No comments

A remarkable team of plastic surgeons, led by Prof. Blondeel at the University Hospital of Ghent, have successfully executed Belgium’s first full face transplant. Although it was the world’s nineteenth face transplant, this was the first time that the complex procedure was fully planned using digital planning and 3D printing. During the 20 hour long procedure the patient, who suffered from a large facial defect, received bone, muscles, veins, nerves, and of course skin from a donor who had just died.

Pre-operative planning for both the donor and the recipient was completed in collaboration with Materialise CMF (cranio-maxillo facial) clinical engineers using ProPlan CMF. Using CT data, a digital representation of the patient’s anatomy was created and used in the formation of a detailed plan for this complex procedure. In order to put the surgical plan into action, anatomical models and patient specific surgical guides were 3D printed for use before and during the operation. The anatomical models allowed the surgeons to see below the skin of both the patient and the donor and carry out advanced preparation. The 3D printed guides were used during the procedure itself to aid the surgeons and allow them to realize the surgical plan they had created.

Copyright: Belga

The entire CMF team at Materialise is proud of the contribution they have made to this incredible milestone in Belgian medical history.

Materialise would like to congratulate the team of 65 surgeons and medical staff at the University Hospital of Ghent for successfully completing this remarkable procedure. This is an incredible achievement, even more so given that the patient is already making a recovery that surpasses expectations; regaining the ability to speak only 6 days into recovery.

For the Dutch speakers amongst you, we have an interview on the matter taken from the Dutch television network VARA.

You might also be interested to know that all of the 3D printed parts were created in the same production facility that brings your i.materialise creations to life. In the image above, Professor Blondeel is holding anatomical models made using Materialise’s stereolithography printing technology in a transparent resin. The transparent look is great for anatomical models or for when you want to unleash your creativity in a stunning way. Check out the impressive artistic character model and jewelry that customers have already created with this material. Go ahead and give it a try for your next order.

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