Last week we brought you our pictures, stories and a wonderful interview with Mark Bloomfield from the Materialise World Conference. Today, we proudly bring you the video of the actual Top 20 Designs on the runway. Enjoy!
Of course you can also view the video in 720p on our Vimeo account.
Are you the type of designer that likes to work in small sizes and large numbers? Or maybe a student that wants to try out 3D printing on a smaller scale? Then you’re at the right place, at the right time because we’ve just launched a new temporary pricing model for pieces that undergo laser sintering (This affects the polyamide and alumide materials).
So what are the facts?
What’s the difference with before?
Well with the traditional laser sintering pricing model a bounding box of 125cm3 would have cost you around 24 euros and each copy of that would have been a lot more than 4 euros a piece. With the pricing model of today all 4 copies combined would have cost you only 24 euros which is the same price you would have paid for one copy before!
So in simple words:
So what can I design in polyamide or alumide that would fit within a bounding box of 12cm3? Let us give you some examples from some of our wonderful designers who have placed their work in our gallery to inspire you…
Tendril Earrings by Dan Yeffet
myKEES LACE by Studio-ePosh
Holly Ball by Michaella Janse van Vuuren
Now that your brain has had some inspirational food, get your pens out and start designing! The price is right and so is the time!
As promised yesterday, we present you with the winner of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge… Mr. Mark Bloomfield. Below you’ll find the interview we took with him after the 3D printed fashion show of the Materialise World Conference.
And for those of you that like pictures… here are some of Mark Bloomfield’s winning masterpiece: Daisy.
Mark Bloomfield's Daisy on a standard head model
A close-up of Mark's amazing work
Mark Bloomfield's Daisy on the Materialise Runway
A closer look at Mark's work of art
The Daisy worn by Belgian Fashion Model Angela Bitonti
The Daisy worn by Belgian Fashion Model Angela Bitonti
The highlight of the Materialise World Conference - The 3D Printed Fashion Show
The Materialise World Conference has kicked off with a bang and we’re here to tell you our stories. As you might have seen on our constant tweets, yesterday on April 18th, the Materialise World Conference finally opened the doors to its many guests. Amongst them were European President Herman Van Rompuy, countless world famous 3D printing companies and fashion icons like the master milliner Elvis Pompilio himself.
A quick snapshot of the conference room during a speech by Wim Michiels of Materialise
European President Herman Van Rompuy giving his speech at the Materialise World Conference
Together with its many successful clients, Materialise CEO Wilfried Vancraen showcased the current state of 3D Printing technology and did this through an extensive program that touches many different industries.
Of course we at i.materialise were also present and had the wonderful opportunity to be accompanied by some of our most dearest friends and designers. Amongst them were also some of the participants of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge. It was a grand pleasure to see them arrive from places as far as Australia as was the case for design challenge participant Jennifer Loy.
Taking a tour of Leuven with our dear i.materialise friends and designers
So as the day progressed, we gathered our honored guests and took them to a nice restaurant followed by a guided tour of the city Leuven. It was a great way to get to know each other in a much more personal way. Once our stomachs were filled and our brains fed with cultural Leuven, we head back to Materialise Headquarters to let our designers speak about their experience with i.materialise. Here we were delighted to hear from our speakers:
Eric van Straaten
About the production methods behind his magnificent art
Ulrich Schwanitz
About his wonderful Scrappies project that is currently seeking funding on Indiegogo
Jennifer Hoes
About her amazing stainless steel medallions and her path towards making them a reality
Ilse Vermeulen
About how 3D printing has played an important role in the creation of her art like the adorable Mr. Collodi
Jonas Samson
About how i.materialise plays an important role in the realization of the iPhone covers from KEES
Kai Backman – CEO of Tinkercad
About how the wonderful Tinkercad allows anyone the opportunity to create and 3D print their ideas while having tons of fun
This was then followed by a guided tour of our facilities which now also includes our third new and biggest building.
One of the conference rooms of our new building (notice all the Quins.MGX lamps?)
And then… as the sun began to set, the excitement grew for the highlight of the day, the 3D Printed Fashion Show. With our guests in place and the runway ready, Materialise was about to provide us all an unforgettable night. Wonderful designs from Elvis Pompilio, Nicolo Casas and our Top 20 participants of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge walked the runway.
A dazzling show with amazing 3D printed works of art
In this picture, the magnicifent craftsmanship of Elvis Pompilio
And of course, amazing pieces by Nicolo Casas
After the magnificent show, the winners were announced:
WINNER: MARK BLOOMFIELD (Daisy)
RUNNER-UPS: DARIO SCAPITTA (Butterfly Hat) & SONG BOWEN (Cornices)
And finally, the winning hat of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge - Designed by Mark Bloomfield
Mark Bloomfield and Materialise CEO Wilfried Vancraen with the award winning Daisy.
Runner-up Dario Scapitta with his wonderful work of art - The Butterfly Hat
Today we have also managed to process a big part of the wonderful footage taken yesterday and we have made sure to put the results on our facebook and flickr accounts. You can see more of the preview pictures below through these new picture sets we have created: Hats off to 3D Printing & Hats off to 3D Printing Fashion Show. Furthermore, we would like to thank Belgian fashion model Angela Bitonti for her wonderful contribution to showcasing these grand 3D printed hats.
Cornices by runner-up Song Bowen from our flickr collection: Hats off to 3D Printing
Belgian fashion model Angela Bitonti takes her 3D printed hat off for Kiran Gangadharan - designer of this great work of art
As you can see, it was an unforgettable event that we enjoyed very much. We were very fortunate to and honored to have our dear friends and designers by our side and even more so to see how they participate in pushing the world of 3D printing forward one step at a time. Please don’t hesitate to visit our blog tomorrow again to get a look of the interview we took with Mark Bloomfield, winner of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge.
Exclusive video interview with winner Mark Bloomfield coming tomorrow!
Also please remember that we’re doing our best to provide you with a video of the actual show as soon as possible. In the meantime, please enjoy the following video (in Dutch) as a preview that has been broadcasted on Belgian National Television.
Recently we gave you the possibility to add some color to your polyamide designs. We loved the results and saw it was good. Today we bring you something that looks just as great and feels even better. It’s the ability to turn your polyamide designs into colorful fluffy works of art by adding colored fibers onto your model (we call it adding velvet fur). We tried it out, took some pictures and again… we saw it was good. Considering this will be offered as a trial during a period of about two months, we look forward to your feedback to turn our good results into great ones.
An example of velvet fur on iPhone covers by KEES
A detailed shot of all the great fluff
We even got better scores at Angry Birds when feeling the lovely fur in our hands
So, how can you add fluffiness to your polyamide you might ask? By simply selecting it in the finishing tab in the 3D print lab as shown below.
Easy as 1,2,3... just select it as a finish after choosing the polyamide material
Ok… so now that you know how that works, let’s take a look at some of the facts about adding velvet fur at i.materialise:
Another very important point to remember when you add this great fluffiness to your designs is that we can only add velvet fur to the A side of your models. By this we mean the side of the model that is facing outwards. See the images below for reference.
Notice how the velvet fur is only attached to the outer side of the surface
When we add the velvet fur, it's done in a similar manner as shown in this picture
Again, as a result you shall see that the inside of the model does not contain any velvet fur
So… now that you know all there is to know about this fluffy business, let’s talk pricing… we’ll it’s actually quite simple… when you decide to add a velvet fur to your design, just add an additional 10 euros on top of your existing price during the trial period. After this period, we will re-evaluate all results and provide you with more concrete pricing and data.
Want to know more? Why not have a look at our polyamide material page where velvet fur is further explained and by the way… did I mention that it feels oh so lovely and furry in your hands?
As mentioned on our blog before… this year will see the rise of another Materialise World Conference. As it’s just around the corner we thought it would be a great idea to remind you guys of the awesomeness that it will bring. Are you curious to know who will win the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge? Then definitely stay tuned on our twitter account on Wednesday April 18th as we will be announcing it through there as soon as it’s revealed to us. We also plan to tweet some pictures of the event as the day progresses to keep you up to date on the latest 3D Printing news.
The following day we’ll finally showcase all the Top 20 3D printed hats on our blog and on our flickr account + if possible provide you guys with inside information from some of the participants who will be present at the event themselves.
We’ll keep you updated so stay tuned!
Today I’d like to introduce you to our beloved friend and designer Ulrich Schwanitz. A man that continued a vision of his son through 3D printing and managed to bring adorable stainless steel characters to life in the name of love. He also just started an interesting funding campaign on Indiegogo (see video below) where you too can play a part in the realization of 3D printed love.
So for this lovely occasion we thought it would be interesting for our readers to get to know Dr. Ulrich Schwanitz a bit more ans the ideas and thoughts behind his latest project, The Scrappies. Here’s his story…
Tell us a bit about yourself… Who is Ulrich Schwanitz?
I am everything but a typical designer. I grew up as a scientist in the 1970′s and 80′s, and I still remember the times when computers were controlled by punch cards, typewriters and without undo buttons. I have worked in the IT departments of multinational manufacturing companies in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. During that time, we raised three children who are now all living in the UK.
For the last 10 years, I am working independently on my own projects. The creation of real, tangible objects from virtual design is one of my latest passions.
The Scrappies look very much in love indeed
Where did you find the inspiration for the Scrappies?
Almost 10 years ago, our son Nils welded a few garden-sized sculptures from real scrap metal and I have to credit him for the original idea. But much to our dismay, he has now found other interests and will not continue along that path. The old garden sculptures are slowly, but surely rusting away and we often dreamed about how to preserve them and make them available to an interested audience.
In the end, I had to step into Nils’ footsteps to carry the idea forward, and the rise of additive manufacturing and 3D printing came to our advantage. Since I am a lot more into computer applications than into drills and wrenches and welding gear, my natural choice was to try to start off with some digital models and to work from there. And that’s what I did.
I have to admit it wasn’t an easy start. Despite the various success stories and glossy brochures praying the potential and capabilities of 3D printing, I found it difficult, sometimes disillusioning and often frustrating to master the numerous steps from idea to final outcome, be it the odds-and-ends of the computer software, the limitations of the available fabrication methods and materials, or not to the least, the cost of manufacturing.
But meanwhile, the project has gained some momentum and I have just set up a funding campaign on Indiegogo, in an attempt to present one of my latest creations to a larger audience.
Just like when love is meant to be, the scrappies connect together like a perfect puzzle
What made you choose 3D printing over other techniques for these lovely little beings?
I am always inclined to new technologies and to a certain extend, I see myself and my objects as ambassadors for the possibilities of an evolving technology.
Other people have asked why we would not just cheaply weld and solder the figurines together, but that’s not the point. Especially with the Scrappies figurines, there is also an intentional twist in the design: You first see the supposedly worthless components and only on second sight, you become aware that they are manufactured in one single piece.
I had looked into having the objects cast in bronze, but the complexity of the Scrappies did not allow that in a cost-effective manner, at least at their current size. The casting process is also less flexible in respect to the desired customizations. And last not least, it’s not an option to have them assembled by a kid in China…
Just like the people you love, the Scrappies also look adorable.
What software packages did you use to create your design?
I am using a variety of CAD and 3D graphics applications and utility programs, but I cannot really pray one, since I am not really satisfied with any of them. The current state of 3D software constantly reminds my of the early days of of Word and WordPerfect. On screen, everything looks gorgeous and more than perfect, but beware when you send it to a printer. Yes, it may produce something, but not what you intended. The entrire thing may even crash at you altogether.
I think I am not the only one who spend more time fixing STL files than anything else. I may be a little biased since I am also doing quite a bit of textured models which appears to provide an extra hurdle in the process. The 3D service providers are going great lengths to provide us with automatic repair tools, but that’s nothing more than an ugly workaround. What we really need is 3D application software which does not only produce impressive screen renders, but also the correct instruction sets for printing.
The Scrappies on a keyboard
Have you 3D printed anything else besides the Scrappies?
I am working to further extend our collection of bronze figurines and sculptures with original designs beyond the Scrappies family. We already received some positive feedback on the Bubble Men series and you may see others coming up in the future.
We also have developed a method to convert ordinary 2D photos of people or animals into three-dimensional photo-reliefs and have them printed in full-color or monochrome materials. As with any of the other projects, I have found the team at i.materialise to be extremely flexible and helpful with our trial-runs.
Bubblemen by Ulrich Schwanitz
More Bubblemen by Ulrich Schwanitz
What can we expect you to 3D print next?
I am personally fascinated by the possibilities of metal printing. Of course I hope for a fantastic response from the current funding campaign at Indiegogo. If the »You & Me« project becomes overwhelmingly successful, I plan to bundle some of the processing into larger runs and should be able to make some profit from the project. This would certainly help to bring similar future projects along.
Where can we find more about you and your work?
You are invited to visit our site at trompe.nl . Not everything is always available in every language, but we try our best. I apologize for being little old-fashioned and not overly active on social media, but you may give it a try on Facebook.
Finally we at i.materialise would like to thank Dr. Ulrich Schwanitz for bringing a universal theme such as love to 3D printing and sharing his wonderful story with our community. As always we’ll continue to offer our support and services to our beloved friend and designer of 3D printed love in stainless steel and we wish him the best of luck with his Indiegogo campaign.
Your own unique cover in 1 2 3 ( 4 5)
Look what our friends Jonas and Daaf from Samson design studio have created. Yourkees allows you to create unique and awesome looking iPhone covers.
You are able to build your own KEES (Dutch for ‘Case’) by combining a side bumper with two back layers. These layers can be selected in two libraries. The first one is filled with 3D structures; the second one is filled with beautiful images of –mostly everyday- objects. The magic happens when you see the combination of both. As if that is wasn’t enough, you can also add your own piece of text on the cover AND select different material options! Some of the covers have a very special velvet look, of which you will soon hear more on our blog.
i.materialise is proud to work together as production partner for these guys. We see many great 3D printed covers passing by, but the configurator they have developed allows everyone to create cool designs with a unique touch.
This is what Jonas and Daaf are saying:
“We like to make things that look good, and we believe that everyone should be able to buy products that are beautiful, functional and cool. These products must be affordable and easily attainable. This is now possible with the cutting-edge 3D printing technology of i.materialise”
The covers are for sale starting from 37,5€. Go to Yourkees to check it out.
The one and only Josh Henry
Not too long ago, we received an order at i.materialise to 3D print some pretty big transparent pieces. Our curiosity kicked in and we decided to contact the designer to find out what these transparent parts were for. To our surprise, Josh revealed to us that it was for his magnificent Ula Miami Concept Car that he was developing at the University of Cincinnati. As soon as knew that, we didn’t hesitate a second and contacted him for an interview.
Here’s what our friend Josh had to say…
Tell us a bit about yourself… Who is Josh Henry?
I am currently a Junior at The University of Cincinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Car design has been a passion of mine and is what I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. Car design for me is really about creating a product with emotion. Creating a life, or a character if you will. Thinking about the interaction between a person and a vehicle and that emotional attachment that one has with the vehicle. These are things that fascinate me.
The Amazing Amphibious Vehicle by Josh Henry
Where did you find the inspiration for your amphibious vehicle?
Well, A lot of the inspiration came from when I was down in Florida at my internship at Sea Ray Boats. There was a presentation given by Melissa Sikorski and Carrie Fodor, two very talented designers there at Sea Ray. The presentation was on Women and Boating. Making it short, it was about how to get more women involved in recreational boating. One of the things that came up was the intimidation of boating. It can be a scary thing for a new boater. Having to pull a trailer, launch a boat, and also the designs of boats themselves are fairly intimidating. So that’s where it all started. I just kept thinking about it when I got back to school, and the idea was, What if your “trailer” were the wheels to drive you on land? Combining your vehicle and your trailer as one unit, and the boat “pod” attaches to that. This vehicle is also to eliminate the decisions of need versus want. Many people would love to have a car and a boat, but many can not afford both. This eliminates that.
Sketches of the Amphibious Vehicle by Josh Henry
DESIGN. I wanted the design to be unique. I really thought about the surfaces and how they interact with one another. I wanted a lot of the details to be more subtle and make the vehicle much more approachable. One challenge from the beginning was how to make the two pieces (trailer and boat parts) cohesive and not only fit together , but look good both when they’re apart and together. I really liked the idea of utilizing those gaps between the pieces and how they fit together and really design them in a way that they’re a design detail and not try to just cover them up.
More sketches by Josh
One thing I did was added LED lighting that really emphasizes the part lines and really adds a lot of dynamic energy to the overall look and feel of the vehicle. The overall theme I imagined and the picture I created in my head from the very beginning was a Woman living in a modern world in the glamorous Miami. This vehicle enables her to have the freedom she desires. Utilizing her vehicle on land and water as she pleases for both pleasure and transportation. Being in Miami I also imagined the use for night life or just driving down the road in South Beach in the sun. When I thought about adding the lighting on the vehicle, this is where I really just pictured this vehicle driving down South Beach at night by all the clubs with the dramatic aqua colored lighting pouring onto the strip. Very appropriate for Miami.
What made you choose 3D printing over other techniques for certain parts of the car?
I used 3D Printing over other techniques because the parts I was making were much to complex to be able to mill for instance.
What other production techniques were applied?
Everything on the vehicle was 3d printed, except for a few small acrylic pieces that were laser cut.
Magnicifent 3D Render of the car by Michael Rule-Z Kotoff
What software packages did you use to create your design?
Have you 3D printed anything else beside these transparent pieces?
Yes the entire concept car was 3D printed. The main body of the chassis was printed in eight pieces. The hull of the boat was printed in six pieces. The 4 seats were 4 pieces each.. in all there were about 84 or so pieces that had to be put together.. all 3D printed.
The bottom part of the car without the boat pod
The Boat Pod seperately
Where did you get your other parts 3D printed?
Everything I printed was here at school in our rapid prototype center. The main body pieces had to be broken up because of the dimensions of the printer we have. The material is the plaster powder material. The only parts I had sent out to other places were the parts to you and the two floating center consoles which were printed by another 3D printing service. The Parts were so thin If I would have printed them here with the powder, they would have just crumbled. So I needed a stronger material so they were printed with a strong flexible material.
What can we expect you to 3D print next?
Well my next big project will be my senior thesis. That has yet to start, so right now I am not to sure. But I would like to get into 3d abstract sculptures to print.
Where can we find more about you and your amazing work?
I am currently working on a website. I don’t know when that will be finished, but right now my portfolio is the best way to see my work.
Lovely details can be found all over the concept car
Did you receive any additional help for this project?
Yes. The final renderings for this project (the nice ones with the ocean backgrounds) were done by the very talented CG Artist Michael Rule-Z Kotoff. You can find his work here.
Anyone in the mood for cool looking rims? Contact Josh Henry...
We just can't get enough of these lovely pictures
Without a doubt in our minds, Josh Henry is a young man to keep an eye on and if this was only his work as Junior we can’t wait to his Master Thesis! Needless to say, we are very impressed with his final results want our friend Josh to know that we’re more than ready to help him bring his next exciting project to life whenever the time comes. You can now also see Josh’s designer profile and his work in our gallery.
Talking about the fun projects that our community is currently working on
Last Friday we had a very successful meetup at i.materialise. We got to meet some of our community members and got to hear their stories first hand. We provided them with a presentation about our services and a guided tour of the facilities where they did (as promised) get to see about 60+ printers. We were also very excited to find people flying in from as far as Sweden or Slovenia to attend this meetup. Now that’s what I call passionate community members!
The attendees ranged from university students, to working professionals, to independent business owners and to accommodate them, we made sure to have a big part of our staff at their disposal. Questions got asked and answers were provided. It was the ideal way for us to interact with our community.
Me talking with our community about possible future projects
I must say that we were very satisfied with the results of our first meetup and we can only hope that our attendees enjoyed themselves as much as we did. If you are reading this and think to yourself “I wish I could have been there”, no worries… you will have that opportunity on Wednesday, June 27. This is the date of our next summer meetup. You can already start registering through our facebook meetup page.
And as you can see, we don't just make a community here... we also make friends!
