3D printing future

Fabbaloo

Digital Grotesque: A 3D Printed Room
3D Printing Price Check Update
Design of the Week: Mask 3

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 11:01 AM PDT

In July of this year Digital Grotesque will launch. It's a project to produce "an elaborate, fully-enclosed room that is entirely 3D printed."

Computational architects Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer designed Digital Grotesque and exhibited a 1:3 scale prototype at the recent 2013 Swiss Art Awards in Basel. They hope to produce a full scale version next month. They say:

We explore the new potentials of digital design using a reduced, minimalist approach that nonetheless transcends rationality. Inspired by the natural process of cell division, we develop an algorithm that iteratively divides and transforms the initial geometry of a simple cube. Despite simple rules, a complex world of forms arises at multiple scales: between ornament and structure, between order and chaos, foreign and yet familiar: a digital grotesque.

The room is 3D printed in sandstone at high resolution on a VoxelJet, one of the largest 3D printers available today. While the 1:3 prototype is much smaller than the full scale version, it still weighs 350kg and is 1.2 x 1.15 x 0.6 meters. The digital model is made of a rather large 80M faces.

Via CAAD and Digital Grotesque

3D Printing Price Check Update

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT

What is 3DPrintingPriceCheck? It does exactly that. Jonas Neubert, creator of the online service, just released a significant update to the service, which now includes STL upload, instant quotes from some 3D print services, more materials and even lead time estimates.

The service makes shopping for the best deal easy. You simply drag and drop your STL model onto the web page and it looks up (or estimates) the pricing and lead time for printing said model at popular 3D print services. The services covered now include: i.materialise, Kraftwurx, Panashape, Ponoko, Sculpteo and Shapeways.

But it's much more than simply pricing. Each report includes direct links to the service's description of the material and their particular design rules. You can inspect them to ensure that your print will actually succeed on the least expensive service. It's always better when things work!

3DPrintingPriceCheck also includes filters for service and material type. Using these you can quickly identify which services have the best prices for particular materials, or which service turns around your print fastest.

Via 3D Printing Price Check

Design of the Week: Mask 3

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT

This week's selection is Mask 3 by artist Stuart Wade. Wade has developed a series of 3D printed masks inspired by "native masks and patterns". The others in the series are, of course, Mask 1 and Mask 2, both similar in style but very different.

At first glance, the design of the Masks seem very traditional until you look closer. Then they seem much more futuristic. Traditional inspiration with tomorrow's style.

All three Masks are available at Shapeways in Wade's online shop, "Diligence", where he sells several unusual art objects including some killer bug models. Wade also operates a "Diligence" site offering images and prints of his many fascinating 3D renderings.

You can own your own copy of the 8.3cm tall Mask 3 in a wide variety of materials provided by Shapeways. The least pricey is Sandstone at USD$18.74, while we'd prefer the Mask in Antique Bronze Glossy at USD$175.43.

Via Shapeways

3D Printing News and Trends

GE Aviation to grow better fuel nozzles using 3D Printing

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 06:42 AM PDT

GE Aviation working with Sigma Labs are advancing quality processes in the Additive Manufacturing of jet engine components such as fuel nozzles. A 3D Printed jet engine fuel nozzle can be 25 percent lighter and as much as five times more durable than the current nozzle made from 20 different parts, say GE. The nozzle can, for example, better resist carbon deposits and coking. The new "

Fabbaloo

3D Printing to Change the Shoe Industry?

Posted: 16 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT

James Shorrock writes on Hypebeast his thoughts on how 3D printing could change the future of the shoe manufacturing industry.

He proposes that while shoe prototyping has already led to much more rapid shoe design, eventually shoes could be 3D printed directly, based on current experiments with different materials. Once the correct cushioning and aesthetic qualities are achieved, then it's only a matter of production capability:

As soon as the time needed for the printing process drops to minutes not hours, and as equipment becomes cheap enough to purchase on a wide scale, 3D printed shoes will become more and more ubiquitous.With the current pace of technical progress, we would expect 3D printed shoes to be a reality within the decade.

Certainly costs and speed would have to be much greater to enable practical shoe manufacturing and that might happen in that many years. But we think there's another twist in this puzzle of much greater significance.

If you 3D print shoes for manufacture, we suggest that EVERY shoe should be form fit exactly to the wearer's foot. People will pay more for "perfect" shoes - your shoes require the most careful fitting of any worn item. Everyone knows what happens when you wear a poorly-fit shoes.

In time personalized shoes should become the norm and we'll giggle at those still wearing mass manufactured shoes.

Via Hypebeast

i.materialise 3D Printing Service Blog - watch us make the future (feel free to join in)

3D printed shoes hit the catwalk of the Royal Academy of Fashion

Posted: 16 Jun 2013 07:20 AM PDT

3D printing is on the way to conquer the catwalks again. This time it’s not Iris van Herpen, but Pierre Renaux, a master student at the Royal Academy of Fashion in Antwerp, to push the 3D printing revolution forward in fashion.

Pierre Renaux just opened the fashion show in Antwerp with his collection. All the shoes in the collection are 3D printed (and fabulous).

Polyamide shoes, dyed in black.

A prototype of the shoe on display.

Pierre: “The concept for that shoe is a classical reflection upon organic and mechanic, and how to achieve a symbiosis of the two.
My research led me to the disease known as ostheoporosis, which occurs when the body gets older and the bone density is reduced, causing more risks of fractures. I imagined that, in a way, women were becoming little by little empty of matter with age, which i find very poetic.”

“Also, the shape of the shoe itself, with those tendons and tensions, was probably subconsciously inspired by the cranes and roadwork right by my window in Antwerp.”

The shoes are featured in a photoshoot of the Show Off magazine and for those of you who want to see the real thing: The shoes will be bought by the Momu as a part of their archive and will be exhibited for the whole summer in the museum in Antwerp!

Fabbaloo

More Fashion Designers Moving to 3D Printing

Posted: 15 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT

We may be past the pioneering stage in 3D printed fashion. While there have been several experimental forays into 3D printed clothing and accessories, we're now seeing more fashion designers join the 3D printing movement.

Today we're reading of designer Catherine Wales, who previously worked on projects for Yves Saint Laurent, has developed an eight piece collection specifically using 3D print technology.

The pieces are form fit directly for the model. Wales starts the process by precisely measuring the subject and then designing the piece around that shape. She says:

I start by scanning the body and importing that data into a 3D software programme, then design the product around the curves of the body, so that they fit like a second skin. I also use my pattern cutting and fit knowledge to add or cut away from that shape in areas that will provide lift or desired reduction.

This work may be seen by you if you happen to visit the Arnhem Mode Biennale in the Netherlands before the end of July or the Design Museum in London in August.

These works are no doubt expensive to produce, but are unique to the individual. Uniqueness counts in fashion and that is something best done by 3D printing.

Via Business of Fashion