i.materialise is proud to launch Gold and Silver
Today, for the first time ever, you have the chance to create your own products in gold with i.materialise! We are ecstatic to be the first 3D printing service in the world to offer you the chance to see your creations brought to life in this amazing material. And, if that was not enough, we are also announcing the launch of sterling silver. Our Periodic Table of Materials has never looked so good!
“There’s gold in that thar 3D printing service”
It has been 183 years since the first Gold Rush hit in the United States and although most of us are no longer racing off to make our fortunes digging in “them thar hills”, the lure of gold and the power it holds over us remains. There is something that sets this metal apart from all others, and mankind has been using gold to fashion their most precious artifacts for thousands of years. Now, through i.materialise, you too can bring amazing designs to life in gold. Whether you design a personalized wedding ring that screams “I love you” or a h
Winner announced of i.materialise Machine Man Human Augmentation Challenge
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
Where did my models go ?
2 New topics from the release front :
– Getting back to your uploaded designs
-Â 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
The Google SketchUp and i.materialise Pimp your Vehicle Challenge
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We’re asking you to come up with a SketchUp design that would be 3D printed. This product would improve your car, boat, bike, Segway, pogo stick, unicycle or any other vehicle. Your design should show what could be possible if you were allowed to improve the vehicles that you drive. You should design whatever it is that you desire. We’d like your design to be a product that you believe would work in the real world. We’re looking for creativity and a product that would be an eye opener. It could be something for everyone or it could be something for a tiny group of people. Or it could be just for you. You can submit your entry and a short explanation here . The contest starts today and you have until the 14th of July (12PM CET) to Pimp your Vehicle. You can enter here.
 The Google SketchUp team and i.materialise will carefully examine your designs and select the winning entries. You can use the handy new i.materialise SketchUp plugin to easily make your SketchUp design 3D prin
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
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
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
