Digital Forming workshop: Designers test new software
Last friday we had the honour to meet 10 designers to test the software of Digital Forming. Probably you already know some of them (Bernat from Cunicode, Michiel Cornelissen, Studio Mango and Elleke van Gorsel from Studio-ePosh), but we were happy to meet new designers as well!
Digital forming…say what? Digital forming is a concept whereby designers create a basic design, but it can be customized by others. All the creations can be 3D printed in the very end. So as a designer you benefit from two things: you can create something you want and for the client it gets more interesting because, without having any design experience, it’s possible to personalize the design.
The company Digital Forming gave our designers the opportunity to experience this cutting edge technology first-hand. “Isn’t it going to be too difficult for me to use the software,” was a comment we often heard before the workshop started. And it seemed hard in the beginning, but some found it very easy to pick it
Unfinished building finally ready after more than 200 years
When we found these pictures on our forum we couldn’t help but wonder: Where does this mysterious building come from?
The designer himself wants to stay anonymous, but we can call him Rob. “This is my first 3D printed project and I’m pretty proud of it, I must say.” It’s not his first design. For years he is a designing now, mostly in landscape design, software and architectural reconstruction.
“I heard about this building before and it caught my attention. I’ve been told that the big financier of the American Revolution, Robert Morris, wanted a grant city house.” In 1794 he hired Peter L’enfant, the designer of Washington DC, to draw up plans. This French born architect was often impatient with clients, including the US Government, his employer who dismissed him in 1792.
TALENT
Despite his great talent, L’Enfant never had a successful career. He was lucky to find Robert Morris as an employer, so he begun to build the town house in Philadelphia. Unfortunately L’Enfant his
Who is….(y)our Product Designer?
Hi everyone!
It’s time to introduce myself. Tatiana, our community manager, has requested it already so many times that I lost count but here it goes. I’m Bert and have been working for Materialise for 3,5 years now. Until recently I only worked for .MGX by Materialise as a Product Development Specialist but now I also lend my services to i.materialise.
Mainly I have been working with designers from all over the world on luminaries and interior products for the .MGX Collection. I was involved in the development of the Cadence.MGX, the Gamete.MGX and the Dragonfly.MGX to name a few. With my knowledge of possibilities and limitations of the different 3D printing techniques, I ‘m well place to give assistance and guidance to the designers. For i.materialise I have developed the instructables, design guides for the new materials and I am working on other (behind the scene) products and material developments.
Enough about my work at Materialise, now a little bit more about m
Back to School Meetup: 28th of September
Did you always want to know more about 3D printing your designs? We’d love to welcome you to our next Meetup at i.materialise.
WHO
Every designer, independant business owner, working professional,…. that’s interested in 3D printing. Journalists are welcome as well to meet our designers and follow a tour through one of the biggest 3D printing facilities in the world.
WHY
It’s a great opportunity to meet fellow designers and share your experiences, so don’t forget to bring your 3D printed design. You’ll get to know more about the services we offer, you can see all te materials you can print in and ask all your questions concerning 3D printing to our support engineers.
PROGRAM
- Welcome
- Presentation and see materials
- Tour
- Drink & Talk
WHERE
Materialise
Technologielaan 15
3001 Leuven
WHEN
Friday 28th of September 2012, 14.00-18.00 GMT +2 (Belgium time)
REGISTER
You can register on this website!
Hope to see you soon.
Urban Nomad Challenge: 3 materials, 3 winners!
ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
Inspired by our modern and mobile way of living we introduce to you our new challenge: The Urban Nomad Challenge! Let the nomads inspire you to make something extra-ordinary, never-seen-before or handy 3D printable design. Nowadays, thanks to technology, we can work everywhere; we are urban nomads using all kinds of tools and gadgets to support our mobile life. From iPhone cases to cellphone holders…..Think about it and surprise us, there are so many options: a tool, an ingenious gadget, something to support a mobile lifestyle,…
RULES
Participants need to upload their file here. You can find more information about the file formats in our FAQs under ‘website’. You can choose between 3 materials: ceramics, polyamide or stainless steel. When you upload the file you can mention in the comments section in which material you would like your design to be 3D printed in.
There are limits on the size of the design:
Bounding box polyamide: 12,5 x 12,5 x 12,5
Designers: Get your name out!
Ok, now that you started designing, you want to take your creations (and yourselves) a level higher? No problem! Here are some tips to get yourself into the spotlight.
These days, the internet offers great opportunities to do self promotion. Set up a Facebook page for your projects and promote your designs through social media: Twitter and Facebook are perfect platforms to spread news about designing and connect with fellow designers. Or have you ever thought about an online portfolio? There are several portfolio communities to showcase your design. Try Behance , DeviantART, Coroflot or Computerlove. Get in touch with other artists and share knowledge or sell your designs.
VOTE
Promotional websites offer good opportunities to share all kinds of information. Think about Digg: you can submit stories and links and comment or vote on other links. If you have a lot of votes, you’ll get a nice position on the frontpage. Design Float and Design Bump are similar to Digg, but made for
Iris Van Herpen: taking her dresses a level higher
‘Could a dress create the impression that it is moving by itself or make the viewer believe that it is making the wearer compelling to walk’, is in short a description used by fashion journalist Jean Paul Cauvin about Van Herpen her dresses. It illustrates perfectly her groundbreaking innovations and experimental designs. As she says herself ‘couture represents the future of fashion’, her collections are living it to the fullest.
Iris Van Herpen, not just another 27-year young Dutch woman, is putting the fashion industry upside down with her designs. She is not a promising talent. She is a talent. We’ve blogged about her before but she keeps amazing us every day. Her dresses from her latest collection Hybrid Holism are one by one true pieces of art and clever design.
DREAMS
In 2008 she started off with her collections Chemical Crows for which she used children’s umbrella’s, industrial boat yarns, leather, metal chaines and so on. A few collections later she discovered 3D prin
Designerhub The Machine discovers i.materialise
Last friday we were glad to finally meet the designers of The Machine, a designerhub created by i.materialise and Designplatform Limburg. For the first time they could see their 3D printed designs which they all developed for the exposition at C-Mine Genk under the theme ‘mining’.
We saw a lot of curious faces about the facilities we have at our disposal. To introduce everyone started off with an overview of i.materialse in the co-creation room.
POSSIBILITIES
The group couldn’t wait to see and touch all the materials. ‘Is that really possible?’and ‘It’s so wonderful’ were only some of the quotes we heared. Excited as they were, they were firing their questions at our support engineers to look into future possibilites for their designs.
TRAINS
The looks on their faces were amazing as we were passing by the different 3D printers and they could actually see objects being printed at the moment of speaking. The showroom gave them an idea about the endless creativ
Winner Metal Accessories Challenge
We have a winner! It was a tough decision, but finally there is only one winner….and that’s the Dragonbite Pencil, made by Vangelis and Dinos. They win their own 3D printed design!
On June the 15th we introduced our Metal Accessories Challenge: we wanted designers to make something useful with a nice design at the same time. We gave everyone six weeks to show us their best work in stainles steel. It had to be something that makes your everyday life just a little easier and comfortable. The dragonbite is ergonomically designed and you can adjust it the way you wantallowing you to find the most comfortable way to write.
Not only is it handy to use, the designers made a beautiful and fun design. Just what we love and we hope you will too.
On behalf of the whole i.materialise team we wish these designers the very best and we thank all the other participants for their nice designs too.
Don’t forget our other challenge, the Facebook/Forum Design Challenge: Post a nice picture
We introduce to you: Ceramics
We’re very happy to give you the possibility to print in ceramics, as the latest material available on i.materialise. Imagine all the new, beautiful designs you can make: table ware, tiles and even jewelry or candle holders. Anything is possible, really. The models are made from alumina silica ceramic powder and sealed with porcelain and silicia. The colored glaze we apply after printing is a lead-free, non-toxic gloss.
The lovely thing about ceramics is all the nice colors you can choose from. They say ‘there’s a color for every mood’, so we made a selection of eight, in our eyes nice, fresh and warm colors. Choose the colors you like the most, we offer you a wide range:
- Glossy white
- Glossy Black
- Lemon Yellow
- Pistachio Green
- Sky blue
- Ocean Turquoise
- True blue
- Peach Orange
For more detailed information about the basic properties and pricing, check out our webpage.
Not only is this material we’re using heat resistant (up to 600°C), b
