Will du Toit created this great Courage Pendant in high detailed stainless steel: a more stylized version of the classic St. George fighting the dragon.

3D Materialize Ltd created these earrings ‘Vive la Constructivisme’ in High detailed stainless steel. They even made a matching pendant in the same material: all eyes on you if you wear this at a party!

Don’t forget to put your own designs in the gallery to show your work to the world.

Our weekend started with a notice of a delayed shipment. Oh no! But we had some samples on hand and made the best of it. And it didn’t stop people from coming by to ask about our services, either. With some quick thinking and a bit of help from @FedExHelp on Twitter, we managed to locate the shipment and get someone out to retrieve it.

So by Sunday, we were back in business. And we had so much great stuff to show everyone! To see our entire booth, take a look at our Facebook page.

And once the doors opened, our booth looked more like this for the rest of the day:

Franky participated in the Autodesk panel about the future of 3D printing, and there were some great questions from the crowd about where things are headed in the industry. (We’re working on getting a short clip ready for you.)

Franky speaking during the Autodesk panel 'Future of 3D Printing'

Some of the most fun conversation pieces at the booth were our 3D printed moustaches. A lot of people snapped photos with them – we’ll feature those on our Facebook page. If you’re in there, be sure to tag yourself! Or if you haven’t done so yet, upload them to Instagram or Twitter with #makemustache so we will see them! So what did they look like? Here’s a preview of the moustaches, waiting for visitors.

Another big hit was the Bioscope – so many people loved viewing it as it reminded them of being a kid! (And I shared, just like I promised I would.)

Over all, it was a great weekend. We’d like to -once again- thank all who stopped by and talked to us, entered the drawing, or just hung out for a bit. You all rocked.

Speaking of the drawing, I bet you’re wondering who won the drawing for $100 off an order with us! We’ll be announcing the winners shortly, so stay tuned for more on that.

At i.materialise we love the antique look and currently we have a few materials that can give your designs that finish. One of them is stainless steel which gives your designs an older and rougher look if you go for the wheat penny, medieval pewter or old silver finish.

Freemason belt buckle by Universe Becoming, 3D printed in stainless steel medieval pewter.

Another great material is brass, which we added to our range about a year ago. Gold plated brass  is a great material to use if you like shiny surfaces, but to give your designs an older look, natural brass PU coated may be a better option for you.

Gold plated versus natural PU coated brass, design by Whystler.

Michael Mueller: “The brass material is really great. The gold plated finishing has a goldish look and if you are up to a less sparkling solution, ‘natural brass PU coated’ is a fantastic choice!”
“Both materials have one thing in common: the PU coating. This means it’s varnished with a transparent paint. This protects the design from scratches and oxidation, it also avoids people to have skin irritation.”

CONTRAST
If you want your piece to look even more antique, you can remove the PU Coat (but be aware of skin irritation). Mueller: “In my opinion oxidation is a good thing! Engraved areas become more dark which gives it more details and contrast.”

'Greedy Fish' by Michael Mueller after removing the coating.

“To remove the PU coat, drop your item in a glass with acetone or nail varnish remover. After 30 minutes, most of the PU coat should be gone. You can remove the rest by scrubbing it with an old tooth brush. After the PU coat is removed your brass item will oxidize. Usually this takes month.”

OIL
“I tried different methods to age it faster. There are chemicals like ‘liver of sulphur’ which are used by goldsmiths to create a patina. You are getting great results but this chemicals are toxic and in some countries not easy to purchase. There are other ways to get the oxidation going. I like the following way best, cause it’s really easy and gives great results: it’s by using heat and oil. Follow the next steps:”

1. Turn on a hotplate of your stove and place your item there
2. After it gets hot, be careful and use a pincette to grab it and throw it in a small glass filled with olive oil. I guess every sort of oil will do the job.
3. That’s it! Your item will oxidize at the moment it touches the oil. You can repeat this procedure till you are happy with the intensity of the patina.

Above you can see the PU coated version, below without the coating. Design 'Spintop' by Michael Mueller.

After that, you can polish your design. This way it looks more natural and it will increase the contrast and the details.
Natural patina looks green sometimes. By using oil, the oxidation is more black which may not look exactly like a patina which comes in ages. ”

Do you have some tips and tricks you’d like to share with the community? Send an e-mail to tatiana.dewee@materialise.be

About a month ago we were very excited to announce to you that we started producing in the US. Today we’re happy to give you some more details about the benefits!

For our US customers we’ll be producing polyamide natural white, blue, red & black, alumide, paintable resin, prime gray and transparent resin models locally. For these orders we’ll apply shipment costs between 10 $-12$ (instead of 18$ ). Should your order also include prints in other materials, standard shipping cost will apply.

Note: To create level playing field between customers, there are no shipping costs for orders above $129 (in line with 99 € threshold applicable in Europe).

Together with so many others we were really disappointed when Tinkercad announced it’s shut down. Deep down we hoped someone would acquire and save Tinkercad. 

And it happened! Autodesk signed a deal to acquire Tinkercad and blow new life into the platform. The official announcement sounds really promising for many makers:

“The shutdown plan has been rolled back and effective immediately new users are again able to sign up for the site. Even better, at the request of Autodesk, we have supercharged the free plan. You can now create unlimited designs, all import and export functionality is enabled and ShapeScripts are turned on for free accounts. We have automatically upgraded all existing free accounts to this new powerful plan. This account will be offered for a limited time only so make sure you sign up as soon as possible.

Before signing the deal we spent a lot of time talking to Autodesk engineers and product people about their vision for Tinkercad. We were impressed by the deep insight the Autodesk team had into the Tinkercad interface and the underlying technology. There is also a strong alignment on topics like furthering education and the vision of making design more accessible. But most of all we are very excited about the roadmap Autodesk has drafted for Tinkercad.

As our team continues working on Airstone I’m pleased to see Tinkercad find a safe and welcoming home. I can speak for everyone when I say that we are looking forward to using Tinkercad for a long time to come.”

Tinkercad will continue to work with our 3D printing service.

So what’s new? Free accounts will have access to store unlimited designs (instead of just one) and to import 3D meshes in STL format and 2D files in SVG format. They will be able to have access to shape scripting tools for generating 3D models parametrically -options that were previously only available to paid accounts.

We wish the Tinkercad team the very best with their new start!

If you’ve gone by our booth, you may notice that we didn’t quite have all of our promised demos. Unfortunately, we had some delays in getting our items here on time (due a variety of factors beyond our control). We do still have material samples, though, and we’ll continue to be at the booth the rest of the evening and all day Sunday. (We’re working on getting our display pieces before Sunday morning and will update you if we will have additional items in the booth tomorrow.)

In addition, we are still doing our meet-up tonight at The Swingin’ Door here in San Mateo. So if you’re in the area, join us from 8-10 pm for a closer look at some of our samples, share what you’re working on, and ask us your 3D printing questions. We hope to see you there!

Ari Pisilä 3D printed this brooch in brass gold plated and polished:

“I designed this funky fox for my mother in law since she is a big fan of foxes. This piece of art looks great and feels surprisingly heavy because it’s pretty thick. It has an integrated mechanism behind where a normal safety pin can be inserted.”

Our last design comes from Steve Koll. It’s a round cufflink with ginkgo leaf imprint on top. He 3D printed it in Titanium. Gorgeous!

Enjoy your weekend!

THE CHALLENGE
For this Challenge we’d like you to make an ergonomical, fun design for your pencil in polyamide. You can choose between all our polyamide finishes to give your design an extra touch.

PRIZES
We will select 5 winning designs. The 5 winners will all get the print of their design and an Autodesk Premium Membership.

Note that the jury selects upon the 3D renders you put online, so make sure to make a very clear, visible render.

WHO CAN ENTER
This challenge is open to all designers, professional and amateur, regardless of sex, age or nationality.

CHALLENGE PERIOD
Submissions will be accepted up to 23:59 Central European Time, June 30th, 2013.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
There is no limit on the number of entries per contestant. To enter, you need to upload your design(s) here and provide a clear explanation (under ‘desciption’) in at least 50 words. Note: we will put the english version online on Monday, but you can submit your design already at the Japanese or Korean version.

JURY
The i.materialise team together with Autodesk.

MATERIAL & BOUNDING BOX
Participants need to upload their file here. You can find more information about the file formats in our FAQs under ‘website’. The material for this challenge is polyamide.

There are limits on the size of the design:

Bounding box polyamide: 125 cm³ (e.g. 5 x 5 x 5cm)

DESIGN TIPS

• Combining a good clearance and the flexibility of PA: Variation is the diameter of the pencil (an average one is 7.5 mm) and variations in the production process of PA make it difficult to make a perfect fit between the grip and the pencil. Therefore you have to foresee enough distance between the grip and the pencil. Go for a clearance of 0.6mm if you want to be sure that the pencil will pass through without getting stuck. Make sure to combine this clearance with the flexibility of PA in order to get a perfect fit. A good example is the mouth of the dragonbite which adjusts to the size of the pencil so that the pencil is tightly held. The front of the beak  has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the pencil but will bend open and fit with the diameter of the pencil that get inserted.

• Ergonomics: the purpose of the grip is to increase the ease of use of the pencil so it’s key to think about ergonomics of the future users. How well is your design adjusted to the end user? How will people with bigger or smaller hands hold the grip? Does the grip allow the fingers, hand and/or wrist to be in a neutral position so that the user feels no stress or strain? Etc. are questions to ask yourselves during the design.

• Feel free to consult the design guide to have a nice overview of the possibilities of PA http://i.materialise.com/materials/polyamide/designGuide

GENERAL CONDITIONS
·         i.materialise’s general terms & conditions apply to this challenge, for more information visit: http://i.materialise.com/legal/terms& & http://i.materialise.com/legal/terms#challenge

·         All entries must be unique and never 3D printed before.

·         i.materialise reserves the right to amend these rules at any time. Any amendment to competition rules will be posted on the i.materialise website.

·         In addition, attendance of the semi-finalists at the award event is not mandatory and will be at expense of contestants. Prizes must be accepted as awarded. No cash alternatives or substitutes will be allowed. The decision of the jury will be final.

Autodesk is sponsoring a panel discussion on Saturday, May 18th from 3:00-3:30 pm on the Make: Live stage. And our very own Franky will be one of the panelists. The topics they’ll discuss will include the following:

• What materials are on the way?
• What new technologies can we expect in the coming year?
• How will the technology change the creative landscape for Young Makers, Educators, Designers and Futurist?
  

And if there’s time, they’ll take audience questions as well. We’re looking forward to this discussion. So tell us, what questions would you ask about the future of 3D printing, given the opportunity?

Can you tell us a little bit more about Printcraft and yourself? How did you come up with
this idea?
Paul Harter: «I have a small software and technology consultancy. Over the years I have done a lot of work with 3D and real-time graphics, but Printcraft is my first foray into the world of 3D printing. Printcraft was a hobby project I started with my children. Through the Makers Guild, a group of makers, artists and coders in London, I had access to a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic when they first came out. When I brought it home for the first time my two boys, aged 8 and 11, were very excited. They wanted to jump on it and start printing, but the available CAD tools to design objects required a little too much learning before they could get started. They quickly got bored and
went back to building things online with their friends in Minecraft. The solution was simple: to print the things they are making in Minecraft. I wrote a small JavaScript script to pull models out of the game, which could then be converted into STL-files using OpenSCAD. This was the first version of Printcraft. »

How does it work?
Paul: «Since that first version I have completely rewritten Printcraft to make it a reliable and scalable tool for building models, this means that many more people can use it. The basic idea of Printcraft is very simple, it’s a customised Minecraft server, with the added ability to easily export models as files that can be printed on a 3D printer. To use Printcraft you first need a Minecraft account. If you don’t have one you can get Minecraft from Mojang. Then you login to one of our multi-player Minecraft servers: eu1.printcraft.org in Europe or us1.printcraft.org in America. »

In the game there are many building plots, you just pick one and build a model in it using Minecraft’s blocks. When you are ready you press the PRINT button next to the building plot and your model is sent off to be processed. You are given a link to a web page to collect it from, here you can see a preview of your model, and download it as an STL file, which can be printed on any 3D printer. You can share it with others using Thingiverse or get a print made for you by i.materialise.  We are particularly excited by the ability of i.materialise to print in full colour, which offers the possibility of printing out very realistic Minecraft models. Our first test colour print from i.materialise was of a cow which we really like, and lots of people who have seen it are very excited by it too. »

Screenshot of the cow design in Minecraft.

What’s your background?
Paul: «I’m a Digital Toolmaker, which describes what I do better than just Computer Programmer or Technologist. Most of my work involves working closely with clients to make new creative software tools. My previous career was as a film and video editor, and much of my work is still for film and television, creating software production tools and real-time graphics. You can read about my other work on my company website.»

Why 3D printing?
Paul: «I’m as excited by the possibilities of 3D printing as everyone else. The ‘democratisation of production’ has been led by these new printers, and easy to use online 3D printing services, like i.materialise, are part of the same process, opening up advanced manufacturing techniques to a wider audience. I guess I see Printcraft as playing a similar enabling role, helping and encouraging young children to join in making things with these exciting new technologies.»

Skull design in Minecraft. Ready to 3D print?

Here you go! 3D printed in silver with a sandblasted finish.

EDUCATION
What is your goal with this project?
Paul: «I have recently received some funding from NESTA, Mozilla and the Nominet Trust, as part of their Digital Makers programme, to enable me to develop Printcraft further. I’m improving the technology so that many more people can use it and I’m working with teachers and students to create educational resources with Printcraft. Technology education is an interesting area at the moment in the UK. I find myself in the middle of a very active debate about how best to teach technology, in and out of school. Recently I’ve been developing workshops for teenagers with a group called Technocamps in Wales, and this term I’m working with a class of twelve year olds at Bethnal Green Academy in East London. We are using Princraft to help the students redesign and then remake their school in miniature. I’m learning at least as much as I’m teaching, and I hope Printcraft will prove to be a useful teaching aid that others can use too. This teaching is part of wider research I’m doing. Hand in hand with developing the software I’m exploring how Printcraft is being used in differentcontexts, home, school and clubs, so that I can make it a more fun and useful tool.»