Month: June 2011

This is the last part of a five part series on 3D Printing versus Mass Production. This is a part of a series of posts on 3D printing versus Mass Production. The other parts are: The Power of Unique, Manufacturing Complexity and Marketing Promise, Everything you own Sucks and More Beautiful Landfill.

3D printing is a wish fulfillment technology

At its most abstract 3D printing is a wish fulfillment technology, a Santa industry and all of us are its elves. But, in order for 3D printing to be able to equal the manufacturing capability of mass produced cameras would take many years and might never be possible. Better to hack and work with those technologies to use them as Lego blocks to build what you need, right now. Better to be the parasite on the cancer that is mass production. Instead of a Santa that would truly let anyone make anything all the time at home with their own tools and printers it would be a selective Santa. For those who take their time and investigate it can make

The i.materialise Machine Man Human Augmentation Challenge was 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 prosthetic designer Scott Summit have evaluated the submitted designs. They were looking for a design and concept that augmented the human body using 3D printing. They wanted people to imagine a future where human elective implants would be accessible. We wanted a design and a 3D print that would inspire people to be able to imagine such a world. This is the most difficult and ambitious Challenge we”ve ever done and we’re glad that we are able to now announce the winners.

In third place is the iNose by Miel Wellens

According to the judges:

“In this concept, a titanium, subsurface implant lives on the bridge of the nose, allowing eyewear to attach without the need for earpieces. Presumably, the implanted part would be created based on the unique m

This is a part of a series of posts on 3D printing versus Mass Production.The other parts are: The Power of Unique, Manufacturing Complexity and Marketing Promise, Everything you own Sucks and Wish Fulfillment.

IV. More Beautiful Landfill

Mass Production will bring us a world where our landfill is ever more beautiful. We will just keep throwing away prettier, newer & more complex things at ever accelerating rates. We will in fact be hoovering the world’s resources into a self defeating search for happiness through consumption. As marketing and disposable income spread around the world many more people will want and be able to buy mass manufactured goods. The current negative impact on our environment is already noticeable but is only being created by a small segment of the world”s population.

If we look at OECD statistics we can see the Domestic Material Consumption of the OECD countries (under Environment Material Resources). This is the sum total of all materials extrac

We”ve evaluated all the designs and chosen the winners of the 3D printed jewlery contest. We were very impressed with the quality and creativity of the works and it was tough work evaluating them, but here are the winners.

In 3rd place is Unellenu with Chain Necklace.

In second place is Dario Scapitta Design with Stone.

In first place is Nexus Chocker by Igor Knezevic.

Each of these designers wins a 3D print of their piece as well as a place in the .MGX Shop. Igor also wins a personal workshop by Elvis Pompilio. In addition to the top 3 we have selected other designs that will also become a part of the Summer 2011 .MGX Jewel Collection. We hope that this serves to not only be a good commercial opportunity for the winning designers but also a great step in their carreers. Thank you so much for all your entries!

Wavelet bracelet & Guilloche Necklace  bij Igor Knezevic

Diamond inside by Cunicode

Star Grafitti pendant  & Chandelier earrings by Unellenu

2 New topics from the release front :

– Getting back to your uploaded designs
- Can you build models bigger than 1 meter ?

Getting back to your uploaded designs

We had several requests from people who wanted us to store their previously uploaded models in the 3D print lab. We”ve now made this possible for you.

But how ?

We got your previously uploaded models neatly stored in your profile, under the tab called “uploaded models”.
No need anymore to upload them again.
You can move them back into the 3D print lab using the button “add to 3D model workspace”.

In the 3D Print Lab you can start playing with scale, quantity, material to see the influence on the 3D printing price. You can then leave and return to your model later.

The only thing you should check is that you are logged in before you upload.
If you are not logged in, we cannot know it is you that uploaded the model and we can not store your model for you or allow you to retrieve it.

The models will

Alistair Gill and Veronika Schmid held a Saturated Models seminar at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. During the seminar the Master’s students explored 3D printing and created 3D printed objects. i.materialise made the resulting 3D prints. This is the second interview with a team of participating architecture students. The first one is here.

1. Who are you? We are Kasey Josephs and Kurt Rodrigo both originally from the Western United States, hailing from Arizona and California, respectively.  We are recent graduates of Columbia University”s Master of Advanced Architectural Design program and are passionate about architecture, music, and cake. 

2. What is Watercolor? Watercolor as a medium blends color to blur the boundary between hues and tones.  The Watercolor Wall is a prototype for a wall paneling system that uses this similar technique to create dynamic space around the wall.  The relationship between the user and the wal