The business, which can turn out about 1,500 products per day, still prints the majority of its output in plastic — the material accounts for about half of its output, according to Weijmarshausen — but has diversified to add multiple higher end materials, including ceramic, stainless steel, brass, bronze and most recently gold.

How does 3D printing in gold work? Weijmarshausen explained that for higher end materials the process becomes a mix of old and new manufacturing techniques.

“We use the term 3D printing and actually it’s a misnomer, right, because it’s just the term that we now use for all the technologies that are also called additive manufacturing. And with gold it’s a mix of the new and the old — where we print in wax actually,” he said.

The memes are coming into real life

“Then the wax model is added to this tree of wax models and you encase that in gypsum. You burn out the wax and then you cast the gold — or the silver — into that empty space. You take away the gypsum after it’s cooled down, and you polish the model.”

“I think 3D printing will displace some part of manufacturing but a large part of mass manufacturing will always be around,” he added. “The insight that we got at Shapeways is that where do you want to use 3D printing, for what kind of things — it’s for things that you’re really passionate about.”

He also talked about how Shapeways’ 3D printing services business will mesh with a future of mass adoption of home 3D printers.

Home 3D printers are tools, said Weijmarshausen, whereas Shapeways’ business stands out by being an end-to-end service that removes the effort and expertise required by DIY.

“There will be printers at home, and there will be services and I think the proposition will be completely different. The printer at home is a tool — and if you’re good at using a tool you can make amazing things. But currently there is also limitations and if you want to keep up to date you need to buy a new printer every year or so,” he said.

“We have a totally different proposition — not only that we can use high end machines, and different materials already, and we will keep investing in having the best of the best, but we also offer an end to end service. It’s the same with paper; to me if you go to ShutterFly you can get a photo album. You have a printer at home that can print photos but making the photo album would take a lot of time and handiwork.”

Offering higher end materials mean Shapeways is also able to support niche manufacturing use-cases — including having a customer who is building a DIY nuclear fusion reactor, using ceramic parts printed by Shapeways.

“We were really surprised that a guy in Brooklyn was working on a fusion reactor – and he reached out to us and said without Shapeways, without the ceramic parts that you guys print for me this would never be possible for me to do,” added Weijmarshausen.

Another unexpected development being powered by 3D printing is that people are using Shapeways to make 3D versions of Internet memes, such as Sad Keanu, according to Weijmarshausen.

“They used to be only in pictures on the web but now what is happening is that people are modeling those memes are we see the next big thing like Success Kid or Mobius Bacon Strip. The memes are coming into real life,” he said.

He also touched on the need for 3D modeling skills to become more mainstream to help shape and drive a future of mass adoption of micro manufacturing.

On the education point he was hopeful, noting that there has been an “explosion” of people able to use 3D modeling software since Shapeways was founded, and expressing specific excitement about the current generation of kids who are effectively acquiring 3D modeling skills by stealth by playing block-building game Minecraft.

“One of the things that surprised me when I went through this experience at Shapeways over the last seven years is the explosion of people who can use 3D software,” he said. “Plenty of people are learning at schools, even high schools here in the United States. Lots of people are downloading [3D modeling software like] SketchUp and they’re learning.”

“I believe if you learn something young enough it becomes natural to you. I was at a science festival in Washington a few weeks ago, and I asked a crowd which was filled with kids between 10 and 18 years old, and I asked so who’s on Minecraft? And the whole audience put their hands in the air. And I said, what if you can hold your Minecraft design in your hands? And they all wanted that. It was fun to see the reactions.

“As a result you could argue that Minecraft now is a 3D software modeling tool — which it was never intended to be.”

Source: Techcrunch.com

Called N12, the design comprises discs of varying sizes, linked together by springs.

These circles are smaller on parts of the garment that need to curve round the body and larger on areas with flatter contours.

The designers envisage that bespoke items of clothing could be made according to a body scan of the customer.

The project was developed in collaboration with 3D-printing companyShapeways and can be purchased through the online shop.

Photographs are by Ariel Efron.

The information below is from Continuum Fashion:

Designed by Continuum Fashion in collaboration with Shapeways the N12 if the first completely 3D-printed, ready-to-wear, item of clothing. Previous experiments into the use of 3D printing in clothing have remained purely experimental, haute couture items not available to purchase. This represents the first affordable design that will lead the way for more items fabricated using 3D printing technologies.

“The bikini’s design fundamentally reflects the beautiful intricacy possible with 3D printing, as well as the technical challenges of creating a flexible surface out of the solid nylon. Thousands of circular plates are connected by thin springs, creating a wholly new material that holds its form as well as being flexible. The layout of the circle pattern was achieved through custom written code that lays out the circles according to the curvature of the surface. In this way, the aesthetic design is completely derived from the structural design.” Mary Haung, Continuum Fashion

The patterning starts with a curved surface, some geometry to indicate edges and value ranges for the circles sizes and tolerance parameters. The pattern begins placing circles at a point near the edge. Each subsequent circles tries to stay as near to the nearest edge geometry at possible. The circle’s size is determined with this nearness and by the local curvature of the surface. Curvier areas get small circles and flatter areas larger, both to help with accurately approximating the surface and to ensure flexibility where it is needed and efficiency of pattern where it is not.

Every time a bend or elbow is encountered in the surface edge, a small gap will be left in the pattern. Gaps will also occur near the middle distances between edges where the placement of the next circle is less certain. After the first level of pattern has been created, these open areas are infilled with smaller circles to ensure complete coverage, and to create a more interesting aesthetic pattern.

One of the goals of the circle patterning system is to be able to adapt it to any surface, at any size. This means that future articles of clothing can be produced using the same algorithm, this could be taken a step further into absolute customization by using a body scan to make a bespoke article of clothing, 3D printed to exactly fit that person only.

Continuum Fashion is comprised of Jenna Fizel and Mary Haung. Jenna designs and programs interactive environments at Small Design Firm in Cambridge, MA. She has previously worked at KPF in computational geometry and has her BSAD in Architecture from MIT. Jenna is interested in reinterpreting traditional crafts and manufacturing using computational tools. Mary has a BA in Design and Media Arts from UCLA, and a MA from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). Most recently, she worked in interaction design at Local Projects in NYC. Her other notable work includes Rhyme & Reason–a collection of LED dresses, and TYPEFACE–a software piece combining facial recognition and typography.

Shapeways is the online community and marketplace for personalized production where anyone can make and sell their own creations or buy custom‐made products, fabricated on demand in a variety of materials using the latest 3D printing technologies.

With headquarters in New York City and production facilities in Europe and the United States, Shapeways hosts a vibrant community of passionate creatives from around the world.

Model: Bojana Draskovic

Source: Www.dezeen.com

Over at 3D printing marketplace Shapeways.com, inspired individuals are free to post their 3D-printable creations for all the world to buy. And sure, there’s some more benign items like art and iPhone cases littered among the clutter, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find what Shapeways’ masses really want: Goatse, twerking, fresco Jesus, doge—the whole gang’s right here.

Yes, the brilliant design minds over at Shapeways have freed your favorite chunks of the internet from their two-dimensional prisons, all so you can hold the bite-sized morsels of bizarreness with your own two hands. Sure, 3D printing gives us the potential to become damn-near demigods, but we’re still a long way away from that level of mastery. So until then, the internet has been more than happy to content itself with practicing on this veritable hellscape of 3D-printed meme-ery. Plus, it can be all yours just in time for the holidays—because nothing says Merry Christmas like an earring in the shape of, well, you know.

Fresco Jesus

Doge

Twerking Einstein

2, 3

Potato Chip Fresco Jesus

Google Glass Minus the Glass

Raptor-Riding Obama

4

The Goatse Gauge

5, 6, 7

Source: Gizmodo.com