Sep 28
You can run into some weird dudes on the subway, but for the most part it’s a pretty normal experience. That is, unless you record it with a digital scanner; then it turns into a glitched-out digital funhouse. On acid.
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Sep 20
“We get to set the standard in desktop 3D scanning,” Bre Pettis says, beaming. “When we looked out at the world and saw what 3D scanners could do, we wanted to make something that could make really high quality models that you could create on your MakerBot.” The CEO can’t stop smiling at the close of the Digitizer’s official press launch. It’s the smile of a man who has just shown off a major piece of the puzzle — an object that helps answer the question of just how, precisely, average consumers can create products to 3D print.
“We’re really building out an ecosystem,” he says of the scanner, which joins the Replicator 2, MakerWare software and the Thingiverse online database in the MakerBot portfolio. “The game is on, we’re building a nice suite of products that work really well together.” It’s a pricey piece, of course, coming in at $1,400, but Pettis insists that it’ll give users a much fuller experience than hacked Kinect-type solutions, thanks in large part to the Digitizer’s software solution. “There are DIY options out there, but we’ve spent the time and energy on the software to make this a really seamless experience.”
And as for a potential Replicator / Digitizer bundle deal, well, Pettis is only saying, “stay tuned.”
Filed under: Peripherals
Sep 18
A team of Australian researchers recently climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa with a 3D scanner and came back with the most detailed map of the building ever. At first you might think that the beautiful results were meant for a museum, but this detailed scan will help scientists protect it from ruin.
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Sep 17
3D scanning has been around for years, but it’s traditionally required the use of a clunky device. Today, a Bay Area startup has unveiled a tiny alternative: The Structure Scanner, a diminutive 3D scanner that hooks right into your iPad, allowing you to capture 3D information about the world around you.
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Aug 22
MakerBot’s $1,400 Digitizer Now Available To Pre-Order, Will Ship By Mid-October
Posted in: Today's Chili
The folks at MakerBot have been teasing their Digitizer desktop 3D scanner since this past March, but now they’re just about ready push it out the door. For $1,400, you too can scan all the little knick-knacks in your life and turn them into 3D schematics to print or share with others.
In case you haven’t been keeping tabs on the Digitizer, here’s how the thing works: you place an object on its central turntable and fire up the device, at which point a pair of lasers (for greater accuracy, naturally) will scan the object’s surface geometry and turn that cloud of data points into a 3D model. MakerBot says the whole process takes about 12 minutes, after which you’re able to push the file to a 3D printer of your choosing and have a grand ol’ time.
There are, of course, some limitations to be aware of. The turntable can only support objects that are 3kg (or about 6.5lbs) or lighter, and you should ideally use the thing a very well-lit room. And while the Digitizer promises to be fast and easy, at $1,400 it’s not exactly impulse buy material.
When we visited MakerBot’s new 50,000 square foot factory in Brooklyn, CEO Bre Pettis referred to the Digitizer as a “game changer” for the 3D printing movement and it’s not hard to see why. For the past two years now, MakerBot’s efforts have largely been about making the process of 3D printing as accessible as possible. With a little bit of tinkering (and some patience for the occasional screw-up), 3D printing novices can get a feel for turning the contents of pre-produced files into actual physical objects.
It’s the other half of that equation that’s so tricky — if you wanted things to print you either had to trawl Thingiverse in hopes that someone had already modeled the thing, or figure out a way to model it on your own. To put it mildly, that’s a fair bit of work. With the advent of scanners like the Digitizer though, the barrier to creating those 3D blueprints and disseminating them to the world is almost nil… as long as you can afford it.
Of course, MakerBot isn’t the only company making it easier to turn physical objects into printable data — hackers and startups have harnessed Microsoft’s venerable Kinect to do just that, there’s a sea of crowdfunded hardware projects that aim to put their own spin on the experience. Still, MakerBot is easily one of the best known proponents of the 3D printing movement, and a device like Digitizer may just be what the movement needs to make 3D printing a fixture of the mainstream.
Jul 31
3D printing is more popular and accessible than ever, and printers are on course to get even cheaper soon. But printing is only one side of the equation; what about taking 3D pictures? There’s a convenient, handheld gadget in the works that could do just that, and way cheaper than anything else has before.
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Jul 31
As a seemingly endless stream of companies work to bring the world its first truly mainstream desktop 3D printer, a number of folks are attempting to bridge a fairly fundamental disconnect: how to best help the average consumer get their hands on 3D models in the first place. Databases are a decent solution — Thingiverse has a devoted community of makers working around to clock to create cool things for us to print out. Simplified software can work, too, but that still requires some artistic talent on the part of the creator. 3D scanners seem to be the most popular solution these days, from Microsoft’s Kinect to MakerBot’s lazy Susan-esque Digitizer.
Fuel3D is the latest company to take its entry to Kickstarter. The handheld 3D scanner is based on a technology developed at Oxford University for medical imaging purposes. Now the company is looking to bring it to market at under $1,000, offering full-color, high-res 3D scans through simple point-and-shoot execution. Once captured, that information can be exported for things like the aforementioned 3D printing and computer modeling. The first three folks who pledge $750 will get their hand on a pre-production model and those who pony up $990 will receive the triangular final version. The company expects to ship in May of next year — assuming it hits that $75,000 goal, of course. After all, Fuel3D can’t exactly print money — yet.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Kickstarter
Jun 08
“We’re not scanning every object in the collection,” Adam Metallo tells me, offering up the information almost as soon as we set foot in the Smithsonian’s Digitization office. It’s an important piece of information he wants to make sure I have, right off the bat. It seems that, when the story of the department’s 3D-scanning plans first hit the wire, a number of organizations blew the scope of the project out of proportion a bit. And while the team’s project is certainly ambitious, it’s not, you know, crazy. It’s the work of a three-person team, still in its nascent stages, attempting to prove the value of new technologies to a 167-year-old museum affectionately known as “the nation’s attic.”
In the fall of 2011, Metallo and fellow Smithsonian 3D scanner Vince Rossi (a duo the institute has lovingly deemed its “laser cowboys”) unpacked their equipment in Chile’s Atacama Desert. “They were widening the Pan-American Highway, and in doing so, they uncovered about 40 complete whale specimens,” Rossi explains. “But it might take decades for them to remove the fossils from the rock, so we were able to capture this snapshot of what that looked like in 3D.” The tool of choice for the expedition was a laser arm scanner, which utilizes a process the duo compares to painting an object, moving back and forth across its surface as the device records the relative position of its axes.
Filed under: Science
May 14
The Smithsonian has been experimenting with 3D scanning for some time now, using tools like laser arm scanners to map models of whale fossils and other ancient artifacts. Now the museum is utilizing the technology to preserve its collection for posterity. Its “laser cowboys” Vince Rossi and Adam Metallo are working full-time to record items for future generations, as part of an extensive effort to digitize 14 million prioritized objects (a list that also includes artwork and lab specimen). After the break, check out a video of the team working to preserve a digital copy of the Philadelphia gunboat, America’s oldest fighting vessel.
Apr 25
3D scanning—though it’s been around since the 1960s—has been in the news of late, with Harvard using the technology to recreate ancient statues and MakerBot announcing a desktop scanner last month. But cheaper, faster, and more accessible 3D scanners aren’t just revolutionizing how we print terrifying models of our own faces. They’re also changing how we understand the city. More »
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