Developments in the field seem to be coming pretty rapidly these days, so I thought it'd be nice to have a single thread dedicated to advances in the tech. (To give you an idea an idea of how fast the tech is advancing, the oldest of these articles are from January of this year.) Let's start with things on the consumer front: Makerbot, the folks behind one of the home 3D printers has come up with a cheap 3D Digitizer. Of course, one of the things you'll need for your 3D printer is plastic. Here's one fellow's solution to that problem. One has to ask: Why buy the pellets, when you can just recycle the plastic you already have? Another one, which, like a doctor, allows you to "bury" your mistakes. Then there's the 3D printing "pen," which at $75, is too awesome for words. (Currently, funding has reached $2.1 million, beating their goal of $30K by a wide margin.) BBC piece on 3D printed gun parts. The video is less about the technology, and more about the legality, but you do get to some 3D printed gun parts, to get an idea of what's possible. Sort of half commercial, half consumer, UC Berkley has come up with a vending machine which produces 3D printed items. One the medical front, we've got, a man who had a large portion of his skull replaced with a 3D printed implant. Developers build a $150 3D prosthetic hand for a child. Doctors use 3D printed replicas of body parts to help prepare for surgery. 3D printed meat still needs work. We're now also able to build 3D printers that work on the nanoscale! There's now also a tradeshow for industrial metal 3D printers. MIT has now developed 3D printed objects which can assemble themselves. (No word on if it'll call IKEA and complain that it failed to print out all the parts for your new futon.) That's it for now. Feel free to add any articles on the subject you might find. I think its clear, though, that we are living in the future!
It'd be very interesting & cool to combine this tech (&/or some of it) with Soylent Green battery tech somehow.
We're getting a lot closer to being able to print computer chips, it seems. Much more, including pics and a video at the link.
So, two interesting bits that jumped out at me. Nanoscale 3D printing and self-assembling printed objects. Put 'em together and what have you got? Bippity-boppity-Borg.
A number of 3D printing related patents expire next year. More at the link. One thing I didn't realize is that some models of 3D printers are so much in demand that nobody can build them fast enough.
Um...call me crazy....but they seem to have a method of multiplying their manufacturing capacity right at hand...
They're not quite to the point where the machines can duplicate themselves, that's still probably a decade or so away, but you can bet that the Chinese slave labor factories are already tooling up to start making the machines for pennies on the dollar.
Public domain patents are being turned into 3D renderings which can then be printed out by anyone with a 3D printer. 3D printing is the 6th fastest growing industry in the world. Personal 3D printers can pay for themselves in as little as 2 years! It should be noted that they picked one of the more expensive home 3D printers, and didn't incorporate technologies which allow you to recycle the plastic, so potentially, the payback time could be much shorter.
True, but they also didn't indicate how much personal time it takes to use the printer in that manner - an average of 25 hours of work per object created by some estimates. So we aren't there yet - but we'll continue to see iterative advancements, and its getting a hell of a lot closer day by day. Nice updates, thanks.
On my phone so no link, but I read an interesting piece about one of the founders of the pirate bay. He was saying that TPB needs to shut down in order to speed up the development of a replacement. The current model is too insecure, too susceptible to being taken down. It's been hard enough fighting the RIAA and MPAA. When the entire world manufacturing economy is coming after you for hosting files that allow you to 'print' their product shit will get super crazy.
Here is the next piece of the puzzle These cats are on Kick Starter. They are funding a project to make a $1,000 3D scanner. The ones I work with cost upwards of 6 figures. The ones that hobbyists and small scale modelers work with cost between $15,000 and $20,000. To get a $1,000 scanner out there would be industry shaking. But it's not just about the scanner its self. These guys are also working on the stitching software so that you take your multiple shots, thrown them in the stitching software and presto, instant 3D model. Think of all the things you could do with this from hobbies to building 3D models in Revit or AutoCAD of smaller spaces. Combine this with a 3D printer and BLAM!!!!
Actually, you can already do this. AutoCAD's 123D Catch app does it, this program will do it, with a modified laser level and digital camera, and you can easily modify a Kinect from a 360 to be a 3D scanner.
Yeah but look at it this way. That is a jury rigged option. This would be a purpose built single unit with the integrated stitching software
Oh, I agree, but many of the alternatives are significantly cheaper. The Fuel3D unit might have other benefits, like a higher rez camera or faster data transfer speeds as well.
Plus consider that the other options are, like you said, low resolution solutions. You won't be able the capture the same amount as detail as you would with this unit.
UPS stores are going to start offering 3D printing services. Which in a way is pretty cool, from a half added teleportation sense.
This software has the potential to be huge, when it comes to 3D printing. It allows to take a single photograph of an object, and with a few quick mouse clicks, create a 3D rendering of that object. Think about it, you have a photograph something (fairly simple, for now), say a window crank from a classic car, you let the software create a 3D render of the window crank, you then export it to an editing program to insert screwholes, and other internal features that aren't visible in the photo, then export that file into your 3D printer, so it can be printed out. That cuts out a huge amount of design work, and the need to learn complicated software like AutoCAD, for the average person. (Then imagine what an expert with those programs could do with the technology, and then imagine what the next generation of software will be able to do!) (The software's called 3-Sweep, BTW.)
Amazing 3D printed room made out of sand. It was designed using algorithms based on HR Geiger paintings (you know, the guy who did the concept art for the movie Alien). Watch the video to see how they did it and what it looks like when its done. (The changing light and camera angles make different images appear and disappear. At one point, it looks like there's a dragon's head in the back of the room.)