Stop by the i.materialise booth at Maker Faire

The Bay Area Maker Faire is rapidly approaching. We’re busy getting together some awesome things for our booth, so you’ll have plenty to look at (and do!) when you stop by!

So what WILL you find at the i.materialise booth? Well, we have the widest range of materials from which to print your awesome designs. We’ll have samples of a variety of materials so you can check them out in person and see exactly how great our print quality is.

In addition to our material samples, we’ll have some items that showcase the many ways you can use our 3D printing services to make some pretty cool things. Like the Bioscope by Jon Stam and Simon de Bakker. Now this just takes me right back to being a kid and I can’t wait to play with it. (I promise I’ll share, though.)

And this super 3D printed hat by Elvis Pompilio & .Rad Product (who has worked with Madonna, no less).

And even an art piece, called The Groomer, by Eric van Straaten that you really have to see in person to believe the level of detail and coloring possible. It’s quite incredible.

And even that’s not all. We’ll also have some FUN things at the booth that YOU get to be a part of. Like some fun accessories that you’ll want to take photos with. Some promo cards so you can try our services if you haven’t before. And a new design challenge we’re going to launch! Of course, we’ll have helpful, friendly people there to answer your 3D printing questions about materials, partnerships, API,…

We also have a few one-day Maker Faire passes to give away. We’ll share that soon, so if you want to win a pass, check back for the details.

See you there!

By the way: if you don’t have time to visit our booth during the faire, don’t hesitate to join our Meetup on Saturday!

Join the Novedge hangout: The Future of Jewelry Design and 3D Printing

Novedge, the leading online software store for design professionals, will be hosting a Google Hangout about the future of jewelry designs and 3D printing.

Tatiana, our Community Managery, will be one of the speakers at the Hangout together with:

  • Maia Merav Holtzman, jewelry designer and Rhino expert: She runs a series of intensive Rhinoceros 3D workshops at Design Rhino – Robert McNeel & Associates authorized training center. She also works in the luxury goods industry as a freelance modeler. She holds a degree in jewelry making and design from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
  • Pedro Loureiro is TDM Solutions’ training manager, jeweler and RhinoGold expert. Pedro graduated in Cindor, Jewelry School in Oporto, Portugal, in 2005 and is a 10-year CAD user.

When? May 8th, 8:00 PM GMT +1

Feel free to join us!

Material Monday: Prime Gray for your smooth, detailed designs!

We’ve had so much compliments about this material that we couldn’t wait any longer to feature Prime Gray in our Material Monday!

We’ve seen so many nice designs since we introducced the material in June 2011. The freedom of design is limited (due to the support structure during printing), so most people use it for decorative models, prototypes, character models and scaled train or tram models.

 

Design by David Colacioppo.

 

A pretty dangerous robot by Will du Toit.

Another character by Will du Toit.

Or what do you think about these cute helmets, designed by MinificCustomsIn3d?

Customized helmets by MinificCustomsIn3d.

The thing we love about the designs we see is not only the designs but also the way people finish their models. A lot of community members love to paint the designs, like this model from Sven-Åke Grufstedt. But make sure to check out other painted designs from Guido Mandorf or Volkmar Meier to name some.

PRICE
Prime gray costs 1,55€ per cubic centimeter (plus a 5€ handling cost per model). For each extra copy of your model you order, the handlingcost gradually drops from 5€ to 2,5€ per model. After 5 parts you reach a price of 2,5€ .

George by Matt Bagshaw.

Do you want to see and feel all our materials with your own eyes? Order some samples! It’s the best way to get a good sense of the materials. You can buy a basic sample kit or seperate samples.

Do you want to see your design featured on the blog? Send an e-mail to tatiana.dewee@materialise.be

Bay Area Maker Faire Meetup

 

In addition to exhibiting at the Maker Faire, i.materialise will host a Meetup on Saturday, May 18th from 8-10 pm in San Mateo. We’ll be at The Swingin’ Door, ready to talk about 3D printing with you. Bring some items you’re working on, or just bring your questions about our services, technologies, products or potential partnerships.

The Swingin’ Door is just blocks from the Maker Faire so you can relax with us without having a long way to go. Come and join us for a drink, a chat and meet other community members.

 

WHEN:
Saturday, May 18th
8-10 pm
(just after the Faire closes for the night)

WHERE:
The Swingin’ Door
106 East 25th Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403

WHAT:
Meetup for drinks and 3D printing conversation

To join us, sign up using Eventbrite. We’ll see you there!

Featured Friday: Showing your 3D printed designs

Enjoy our gallery picks of the week in our Featured Friday!

Last week we introduced to you AmniosyA, a design collective from Italy. They just added a new design to their Entropya collection: a 3D printed ring in spray painted black polyamide.

elise fauveau created this ring in brass gold plated and polished.

Tomy Tones is a project from Belgian designer Tommy Rombouts to explore animation, 3D printing and illustration. In this  post you can see the 3D drawings of the toy. Now he 3D printed Tomy in separate parts to assemble them afterwards.

©Tomy Rombouts

©Tomy Rombouts

Tomy's perfect measurements...©Tomy Rombouts

He's alive! ©Tomy Rombouts

 Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to put your own designs in the gallery!

iMakr store officialy open in London

From desktop 3D printers to 3D printed designs; iMakr London has got it all. We were present at the first opening night of the store in the heart of a creative London district.

For a long time the iMakr store in London didn’t want to reveil the exact adress of the store, but just a few days before we finally got the adress. As an online 3D printing service we just had to be part of it.

The excitement was building up by letting the people wait a little longer then expected, but it was worth it. Sylvain Preumont, the French entrepreneur that founded iMakr, opened the store officially and welcomed the people.

© Adam Bates

The store was packed and everyone was very excited to see Sam Cervantes, CEO of Solidoodle 3D printers, Adrian Bowyer, founder of the Reprap, the 3D scanner from IIIDEvolution and lovely creations including some 3D printed necklaces by Mark Bloomfield and Dario Scapitta.

© Rachel Park, 3D Printing Industry.

© Rachel Park, 3D Printing Industry

Flower Machine Charm by Mark Bloomfield

We had a small table to show some i.materialise designs and it was great to see all the 3D printing enthousiasts!

Julia.MGX by Materialise.

If you’re planning to go: don’t forget to get your complimentary discount card at iMakr London to try us out!

79 Clerkenwell Road, Farringdon, London
EC1R 5AR
www.imakr.com

Free orange dye for the inauguration of Dutch king Willem-Alexander!

One more day and the Netherlands will have a new king. To celebrate the inauguration of Willem-Alexander we’re launching a new polyamide finish: orange dye! What’s even better: we’re offering the finish for FREE for two weeks (until the 15th of May).

Our Product Designer Bert  already had some fun with the finish. What would you make with it?

  • Dimensions max 200 x 200 x 180 mm
  • Pricing: 0,25€ per cm³ on top of the natural white color price + a start up of 1€ per type of model with a maximum of 20€.

    Our nicely assembled carrot!

    Melonia shoe by Naim Josefi and Souzan Youssouf

Do you want to see the finish yourself?  Order some samples! It’s the best way to get a good sense of the materials. You can buy a basic sample kit or seperate samples.

With 16 materials and over 70 finishes, i.materialise offers one of the widest material ranges in the world to 3D print in. We’re always making sure our designers get the best quality offer and with our design guides on the material pages, we lead you to the finish of your design.

i.materialise started producing in the US!

We’re happy to announce we started producing in the US!

Since i.materialise is an international 3D printing service, we want to produce more regional to cut shipping costs and delivery times. Recently we started producing several materials in the US but we’re still finalizing the details.

So stay tuned to find out more news about the improved US shipment dates!

Meet the designers: AmniosyA

AmniosyA, a design collective from Florence Italy made their first collection EntropyA. Read all about them.

Can you tell a little bit more about studio AmniosyA?
« AmniosyA is born as a research group focusing on architecture, design and fashion. The studio consists of five architects and one professor: Marco Carratelli, Lucia Lunghi, Elvira Perfetto, Lorenzo Pianigiani and Leonardo Pilati. The last is our indispensable mentor Marino Moretti who has joined and encouraged us and gave us his passion. »

SHAPE
« We all met at university where each of us had started a very similar research path. The place where our passion took its first steps were in the lectures of our professor who still follow us. After a couple of years we wanted to join forces and had to merge six different personalities. Amniosya was born in a small living room of about 15 square meters. Our interests focuses on the world of new technologies, and on the dynamic simulation used as incipit of morphological shape at different scales; we are also interested in 3d printing related to complex geometries. »

The team in Italy.

Who designed this collection?
« Each project we work on is a collaboration between all members. Each of us is fundamental for technical and conceptual notions: from the idea to the final product. »

Can you tell us more about this design?
« EntropyA is Greek and indicates a spontaneous change of state. EntropyA is the result of a fluid simulation that through physico-dynamics property deforms a plane, and deforms a Euclidean geometry. In this project we recreate spatial movements and that complexity recalls the softness of a cloth, and the articulation of natural interactions between different parts of a high density fluid.
An element that starts from a classic design of the jewel begins to develop its own unexpected geometry. »

I read that you’re from Italy. How big is 3D printing there?
« Except a couple of experiences abroad, we live and work in Italy, more specifically in Florence. In Italy, 3dprinting is something quite new and the information about it is not very widespread. We only have a couple of universities that have a 3d printer. Anyway, this field is expanding very quickly and the changes begin to be noticed. »

Can you describe the style of AmniosyA?
« We don’t have a definition for our style, because all our work is the result of an interaction between individual styles with a common root. We try to express spatial articulation, sensibility, research that goes into generation of composition and technological innovation. Our style is about us, our natural interest in the spatial complexity and natural aggregation systems. We are inspired by the research of various Universities, such as SCI Arc, AA, from the work of Wiscombe, Hernan Diaz Alonso and LaRoche. The inspiration for our projects comes from unexpected suggestions, sometimes linked to scientific studies. Therefore, they are different every time. We can confirm that most of the times the best ideas are generated during the night! »

Is this your first 3D print project?
«No, this isn’t for any of us. We have already had several individual and collective experiences, in Italy and abroad. The first 3d printing experience for each of us goes back about 3 years, with many difficulties and a unique choice of material. We found out about this technology several years ago, when we had to build some morphologically complex models. »  

Did 3D printing change your view on designing?
« We believe that 3D printing has not changed the way we see design, it simply made it possible to express something in a real space and not only in a virtual space. 3d printing has contributed to the development of our research in the field of complex geometries. We believe it is one of the greatest innovations for people working in this field. »

If you had the freedom of designing anything you want, what would it be?
« It is a difficult question, the quick answer is that we would like to design and then build one of our projects, Inflowing Bridge .. or why not, Arxipelaga .. »

What materials do you like the most and why?
«We want to test many materials but we found nylon and especially polyamide quite suitable for our prototypes.
We are looking forward to experiencing the bi-materials and materials in high flexibility, because it would allow us to develop new projects. »

How do you see your future?
« We imagine our future full of ideas, projects and research, all of them linked to the development of new technologies and new materials, elements essential for us to develop innovative processes in the field of architecture and design. We imagine a future for which our studies and research have been helpful and important. »

Website: http://amniosya.blogspot.be/

Featured Friday: Showing your 3D printed designs!

There are so many new gallery entries that it was hard to choose just a few. Here are our picks:

Barney, a final year product design student from Brunel University in London, made an interesting project: “As part of a group project, we had to design products for an existing brand: we chose Moleskine. I ended up designing a conceptual handheld device for 3D artists allowing them to capture a digital library of textures and 3D objects on the go.”

“It was printed in stainless steel;  I’m really pleased with the unique texture of the print.”

Stainless steel gives the product a rough look, just what it needs!

Dutch designer Maaike van der Horncreated this ‘Bracelet Constructionist Narrow’: “This is the narrow, more subtle version of the Constructionist bracelet. It was inspired by modern architecture and its use of complex repetitive geometrical structures. I am fascinated by how these structures can behave to create buildings and objects that look seemingly organic and unique, buildings that change their appearance depending on the angle you look at them. Here new techniques like 3D printing have opened up a world of design possibilities -this bracelet would be impossible to make using traditional jewellery techniques.
Sizes are upon request!

Will du Toit also created a Stainless steel (medieval pewter finish) design: a three legged robot.

It's got the size of a battery!

Have a nice weekend everyone and keep the design vibes going!
Don’t forget to put your own designs in the gallery!