i.materialise site redesign
Today we launched the first version of our new site. In the coming weeks more updates will follow. We”ve updated the look and feel of the site and hope you like the results. The most important thing is that we”re going to give your stories and your designs a much more central place in the website. We want to emphasize that we as a company are a factory for your ideas. Your creativity as a designer, inventor or artist coupled with our 3D printing prowess leads to the expression of your idea in an object. This object could be a keepsake, a Design Academy graduation project, an invention, a jewel, an art piece or a product meant for sale. For each object we will use all our skill, years of experience and equipment to create the most accurate representation of your idea that we can. We will treat each file and each 3D printed object with care and take the time to give you the advice you need. And to show the world what your idea and design skill and our manufacturing leads to
Interview with Karl Willis of Interactive Fabrication
Karl Willis is the man behind the Fabricate Yourself, a tool that lets you strike a pose in front of an Xbox Kinect and then 3D prints the results. Karl works at Interactive Fabrication, a team at Carnegie Mellon University that is developing tools that let anyone design for digital fabrication. The image above is a screenshot of Karl”s Kinect scan and the image below is a point cloud of the scan. We virtually sat down with Karl so he could tell us about his work on Fabricate Yourself.
Who made this?
The programming was done by me. It was kept running during the conference with the help of Cheng Xu, Nicolas Villar and James Scott.
 Why?
The bigger picture is to explore new interfaces for digital fabrication. Specifically ones that are accessible, but still empower people to be creative. ”Fabricate Yourself” came about as we brainstormed what to do with a 3D printer Stratasys had provided us with, and how best to document the conference community.Â
I have a
Peter Jansen”s Motionless Motion
Peter Jansen is an artist inspired by human motion. He, studied  “Physics and Philosophy at the university. For a number of years he worked as a guide, accompanying groups on survival and canoe trips, after which he dedicated his live entirely to the arts.” He makes many designs including the wonderful items you can see in the .MGX store in Brussels. “In his recent sculptures he captures sequences of human movements in space and time, in a single frame.” He made the sculpture Motionless Motion with us in Alumide. You can see more of his work on his website here.
Who invented the Penrose triangle?
A few days ago Ulrich Schwanitz claimed to have 3D printed a Penrose triangle, hereto thought to be impossible. The news appeared on FastCoDesign. Ulrich did not want to disclose his secret and wanted to let people guess. Designer Artur Tchoukanov saw the post and managed to come up with a solution. He explained this through renderings and shared the solution on Thingiverse. Then Boing Boing posted about the solution. So who invented the 3D printed Penrose triangle? Was it Artur or Ulrich?
Ulrich was first, of this there can be no doubt. But, he did not disclose his solution. Artur did. If we make a paralell to Intellectual Property law and Ulrich claimed to have invented something but Artur disclosed it in a patent application, then Artur would be the inventor. Even if Ulrich could claim that there was prior art. This might lead to Artur not getting a patent but it would not lead to Ulrich getting it. Ulrich decided to keep his invention a trade secret. The risk you run when yo
Naim Josefi”s Melonia shoe nominated for a Brit Insurance Design Award
Naim Josefi”s 3D printed Melonia shoe has been nominated for a Brit Insurance Design Award. This is one of the most prestigious awards in design and we are proud that this shoe was made by our company. We interviewed designer Naim Josefi to discover how the Melonia was made.
Why did you make your Melonia shoes? I designed the melonia shoe to show my view of the future, a better,made to measure, easier and more sustainable design with a touch of love.Â
With whom did you collaborate with on the project? I worked with Souzan Yusouf, studying at Konstfack University of art and craft , to become an Industrial designer.
How did you make them? I left my design sketch of the melonia shoe to Souzan, which she formed in the 3-d modelling software Rhino.Â
Are they currently for sale? Yes they are for sale, but I will when time is given produce the melonia shoe for stores.Â
Are they comfortable? They are relatively comfortable, but they are not made for a stroll in t
Cloning the RepRap Prusa in under 30 minutes
The grounbreaking research/hacking team at The University of Washington’s Solheim lab have begun cloning RepRaps. The RepRap project is a project that aims to make an open source self-replicating 3D printer. If sucessful this would make 3D printers available for the cost of the materials alone. At the Solheim Lab the Open3DP project is undertaking lots of research to support open 3D printing innitiatives. They have just now annouced that they can produce all the plastic parts for the Prusa Mendel in 30 minutes using molding. They call the resulting Prusa clones Clonedels. They represents a significant cost and time saving for producing the Prusa and should help put 3D printers into the hands of more people.
The Prusa Mendel is the simlpest 3D printer in RepRap’s line up. Open3DP’s RepRap breeding program set itself a goal of producing ten Mendels in ten weeks. The team redesigned the parts to they could be used for silicon RTV molding. They then 3D printed the parts and pr
i.materialised a fruit bowl
Mille et une fruits by Mika De Bruijn
I”m fascinated by graphic patterns and geometrical patterns in particular. Also, I was looking for a new item in my interior that could match both the modern style of my furniture and the souvenirs I gathered during my travels to North Africa and the Middle East.
Inspired by the “Honeycomb” fruit bowl in the .MGX collection, I designed my own version in Rhinoceros, incorporating the previously mentioned elements. Since a free form shape like this one is practically impossible to manufacture using conventional techniques, it was great to be able to print it through i.materialise.
-Mika De Bruijn
The Mille et une fruits bowl was 3D printed in polyamide on an Selective Laser Sintering system.
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Unfold”s L”artisan Electronique A virtual pottery wheel
I love Unfold. The Belgian design duo are fun & good designers that have a string of interesting projects under their belt. Last year they unveiled their L”Artisal Electronique. This is a virtual potterywheel that you can use. The resulting designs can then be 3D printed on Unfold”s ceramic 3D printers. The duo developed made their own ceramic 3D printing process using RapMan 3D printers. I think its an amazing project and wanted to share with you a video I just saw of their virtual pottery wheel in action. Its months old, eons in 3D printing time, but I really enjoyed watching it and would not want you to miss out. Also, when is someone going to put one of these in every mall?
Designguide.tv interview from Unfold on Vimeo.
Via Gert Kruitbosch.
Colleen Jordan”s Wearable Planter necklaces, wear a plant wherever you go
Colleen Jordan has made some lovely Wearable Planter necklaces. The necklaces are 3D printed and then finished by hand. A small plant or cutting is then added and you can have your very own portable garden to take with you wherever you go. Colleen sells her necklaces on Etsy. They are $55 and you can add $15 for international shipping and $5 for shipping in the US.
One designer with a great idea using 3D printing and a sales platform like Etsy to create a beautiful thing and sell it worldwide. It is a great idea and you should think about doing that too. Â
via Greenmuze.
Who is (y)our Business Process Manager?
My name is Wim Verstraeten. Consider me a battle scarred veteran in the field of the online ordering of 3d printed models. I date back from the era where Materialise was the only firm to have an online 3D printing service with its NextDay service which was started in 1997. I’m talking about the time when only the happy few had a mobile phone and Amazon and eBay had existed for almost 4 years.
I started in 1999, when I walked into the Materialise office to offer my services. I was intrigued by Magics Communicator, a free online collaboration tool for 3d models. At that time online video meetings were not free and broadband usage was expensive. Magics Communicator helped people to discuss and visualize their project, allowing them to instantly see the operations of their communication partner on the 3D model.
It was that tool that I upgraded to interact with the renewed NextDay Service internet website. Later on I converted the NextDay service to what we now know as OnSit
