3D printing for model makers
3D printing is not competing in any way with traditional model making. Instead it is adding something new and exciting to the range of tools model makers are using. What if you were working on a scale model and needed a complex part and time was valuable? You’d simple have it 3D printed and integrate it with the existing model. Here are 2 examples of how model makers turned to 3D printing (and i.materialise) to make it happen.
Turnova
Turnova is an urban development project going on in the Belgian city of Turnhout. Professional model maker Piet Vanherle was commissioned to create a large scale model for Turnova. One of the eye catchers in the whole project is a ‘stoa’ (colonnade) that connects the northern and southern part of the project. Looking at the size and the complexity of this remarkable piece, the model maker turned to 3D printing. According to Piet Vanherle, finalizing this piece was tough, but the result turned out gorgeous. On demand of his customer, he spray painted the
Columbia GSAPP”s 3D printed Saturated Models Seminar
Alistair Gill & Veronika Schmid presided over the Saturated Models Seminar at Columbia”s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. As part of this course 8 groups of students explored 3D printing. We were very happy to support this innovative project as i.materialise. In the words of the instructors:
 ‘Saturated Models’ interrogates the question of the ‘model’ in architecture. This is not simply an exposition of the ‘model’ in the history of architecture. It starts rather from an understanding and unpacking of a seeming obviousness of the ‘model’ in architecture, as if it comes naturally with the territory. The fine balance between a preciousness attached to a need to create objects, and a simple dismissal of such desires, was the terrain where the experimentation took place. A certain idea of ‘saturation’ enables this questioning of the multitude of uses of ‘model’ in architecture, whether that be as Idea, the sensory, idealizations, the basis of simulations or
Fried wins RTAM/SME Industry Achievement Award
We”re very proud to announce that Materialise CEO Fried Vancrean has just been awarded the Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing/Society of Manufacturing Engineers Industry  Achievement award. We”re pleased that it not only recognizes Frieds pioneering work at Materialise over the past 20 years but also his work for the entire industry. We”re also pleased that as well as Fried”s involvement with i.materialise was one of the specific reasons he was commended.  This is amazing considering “Fried also pioneered several major applications in the AM sector including stereolithographic medical models, colored stereolithographic medical models, perforated support structures, RapidFit Fixtures, surgical guides for oral and orthopaedic surgeons, and automated hearing aid design” as well as work in 3D printing software.
Above is one of the very first articles about Fried Vancraen after starting Materialise, it appeared in the October 1990 “Industrie, Magazine voor Pr
i.materialise at ICFF
Our Business Development Manager Martijn Joris teamed up with .MGX”s Joris Debo to create a i.materialise presence at ICFF. Peeved at not being invited to what would have been a  Joris, Joris & Joris event I”ve been trying to ignore their efforts.
Martijn”s impressions of ICFF is that it got very busy especially during the weekend. We met a lot of designers working on very interesting projects. The big draw at our stand were the Columbia designs. These designs were coursework for ‘Saturated Models’ Seminar GSAPP, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University. This class lead by Alistair Gill & Veronika Schmid made some excited and groundbreaking 3D printed work. We provided the Saturated Models class with free 3D printing of their designs. You can see the models in the images but I”ll show you each design individually in the weeks to come.
People were also very interested in Alexander Pelikan”s Machine”s Perception door handles
Meet the i.materialise Team: meet Anna.
My name is Anna and I am working as a front-end developer at i.materialise. I’ve been working for more than 6 years in web-development. During this period I’ve worked as a developer and as a designer, as a part of team and as a freelancer. Actually, I like to do lots of different kinds of work, and usually I am in love with what I am doing. It makes me happy to see the results of my work, especially if the result is good.
Maybe it is strange for developer but I am not person of logic, usually I am doing everything by how I feel even if it is against all the rules and all standards of work (maybe I shouldn’t write this on the blog!). Even the area I am working in, IT, was chosen incidentally. I entered my faculty at university because there were preparation courses in my school and most of my friends were entering them too. So, I think that the work chose me, I did not choose  the work. And I’ve never  regretted it. I trust my destiny.
I never worked with 3d-models
Sources of inspiration
According to the Oxford dictionary, inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. Looking at (product) designers, artists and inventors who are using 3D printing, I myself was wondering where their inspiration comes from. So I decided to do some reading and digging and discovered some interesting things. Amongst the sources of inspiration I found the human body, nature, mathematics, physics, baroque art and one I’m still not really sure about.
Last year Belgian artist Nick Ervinck collaborated with scientist Pierre Delaere for the Parallellepipeda exhibition (art meets science) in M – Museum in Leuven. Since Pierre Delaere’s work mainly focuses on esophagus research, Nick Ervinck decided to create an artistic interpretation of a larynx (you can Google that if you want) that’s gone wild. This resulted in an amazing 2D wall print called AGRIEBORZ. But, being a true artist, Nick Ervinck challenged himself and M
Design your own 3D printed Stainless Steel Door handles
At i.materialise we”re all about providing people with high end, complete 3D printed products. Our 3D printed Stainless Steel door handles kit is our newest example of this. Inspired by PeLi Design”s Machine”s Perception door handles we made a kit and manual for you so you can make your very own door handles. The stainless steel 3D printed door handles come complete and one set costs $299 (199 Euro) including shipping. A designer can download the design  kit for Sketchup, 3DS Max, Rhino and OBJ. Together with the manual a proficient designer, 3D modeler or CAD engineer will have the information they need to make their very own. The door handle page, kit and manual is here. Â
We hope people will use this to make their homes more to their liking. At the same time we expect some designers to enter into the world of fixtures and compete directly with established manufacturers by offering their door handles for sale. Are you not a designer? No problem. Use our Sketch to 3DÂ 3D mod
i.materialise Etsy & Facebook shops (copy paste our strategy here)
A question we get often is, “why don”t you have a gallery of designs for sale on i.materialise?” Even though we do incidentally sell some designer”s designs on i.materialise we don”t really believe in having our own gallery. Even though being a destination site makes one more of a platform and is a way to get to more revenue quicker we believe that in the long run its better for designers to sell their designs on their own websites. We might not believe this for ever but we currently believe that in this crowded, info full world, you should grab every lumen of attention given you and convert this into sales. We like the idea of being able to showcase high quality work but don”t feel like in the long run you can guarantee the legitimacy and quality of the work in a gallery. At the same time if you should at one point become popular or produce high quality work we want you to be the center of attention. This will lead to higher conversion rates and more attention and revenue for
Unboxing the Stratasys Fortus 900mc 3D printer
Thinking about printing on a Stratasys Fortus 900mc 3D printer? Now you can via our online 3D printing service. We just installed this 3000 kilo/660 lbs beast in at our headquarters. Check out our unboxing session of the Stratasys Fortus 900mc below.
It was a very exciting day: our newest 3D printer arrived and is now ready to take your orders. It is a Stratasys Fortus 900mc FDM 3D production system and we like it a lot. When people hear the term ‘3D printer’ they often think of desktop printers that can easily be bought online and delivered by post.
But the Stratasys Fortus 900mc is an industrial 3D printer – and a big one! Here is a simple guide to unboxing your Fortus 900mc.
Delivery of the Stratasys Fortus 900mc
Step 1. Open Truck. The blonde guy on the right, in the green tshirt is Robby, he manages the Materialise FDM center, the part of Materialise that 3D prints your ABS plastic designs for you.
Step 2. Remove crate & plastic covers.
Getting the Stra
i.materialise Machine Man Human Augmentation Design Challenge
The i.materialise Machine Man Human Augmentation Design Challenge is inspired by Sci Fi author Max Barry”s book Machine Man. Max, together with other judges, Fab@Home founder and Cornell bio-robotics professor Hod Lipson and 3D printed prosthetics designer Scott Summit will be looking for a design that urges us to look at the future of 3D printing humans.
We’re challenging to design a 3D printed titanium implant or augmentation for the human body. Something that will improve the functionality of the body or improve it aesthetically.
If we can make anything using 3D printing, how will we change ourselves? What will the piercings of the future look like? Will many people use elective implants? What kind of implants will they use? What would be some titanium implants that would make you happy? Some examples could be an earring that attaches to an iPhone to improve reception by turning the person into an antenna, an implant that holds the nose open from the inside to increase ai
