Feb 16
Valentine’s might be over, but who can really resist a chocolate treat any time of the year. Especially when it comes in a bite-size form of a Ford Mustang that … Continue reading
Jan 19
If you followed along with this year’s CES coverage, you know that one trend that emerged over the past couple years is here to stay. If you haven’t made your peace with the 3D printing revolution, you should.
One company that’s taking the 3D-printed bull by the horns is 3D Systems, an incumbent in the space. The company revealed the Sense, a hand-held 3D scanner in November that is meant to compete with Makerbot’s Digitizer and Occipital’s Mobile Structure Sensor.
The Sense, which is about as big as a staple gun, can scan objects with your help. Unlike other scanners, the Sense is meant to be held and circle the object its scanning. This means that it can be difficult to get a perfectly accurate reading, since human error becomes more of a factor.
However, the price point ($399) is pretty amazing for what it does, and when used properly, it’s incredibly accurate.
John’s impressed. I’m impressed. What do you guys think?
Jan 16
Today the teams at 3D Systems and The Hershey Company have announced that they’ll be teaming up to bring their own special blend of 3D-printed chocolates to the universe. Lucky … Continue reading
Jan 11
In the 3D realm of CES 2014 we caught up with 3D Systems, a crew that brought so many new products and services to the show that it was difficult … Continue reading
Dec 04
Stratasys, one of the two giants in the 3D printing market (the other is 3DSystems), is on a roll. This summer it bought one of the biggest and beloved home 3D-printer makers, MakerBot, and watched its printers churn out the first 3D-printed gun. Now it’s back in the news for suing printer reseller Afinia for infringing on its patents.
These patents cover some of the most basic aspects of 3D printing, from the process of creating “infill,” the cross-hatched pattern that printers use to support the inside, to the heated plate that keeps objects stuck during printing. MakerBot, in fact, has long infringed on these very same patents and, for most of its existence, has skirted lawsuits, albeit with positive results. Many smaller manufactures haven’t been so lucky.
Even Formlabs, makers of the Form One stereolithographic machine, weren’t immune. They went to market last December while facing down 3D Systems lawyers for daring to use a similar printing technique.
Why is Big 3D finally paying attention to little guys like Formlabs and Afinia aka Microboards Technology, LLC? It’s because they’re finally getting traction in the home market. While it’s usually fine for B2B companies to snipe each other – nobody cares when big CRM smashes some puny competitor – this sniping is actually hurting the industry. By slowing down the adopting of home 3D printing, Stratasys and 3D Systems are cutting into their own bottom line. IBM, in the 1980s, never actively attacked the “clones” that sprung up on the market and we now have a variegated ecosystem of hardware that ranges from mobile devices to mainframes. No one stopped Linux from copying techniques and tricks used by Unix and, eventually, Windows, and the result is a deep and rich vein of open source computing prowess.
Patents served Stratasys and 3D Systems well when 3D printing was hard. To compete with them, competitors had to have deep pockets and be ready to pay licensing fees. Now that literally anyone can build an MakerBot-like FDM machine out of a few simple parts – this guy made one for $100 – the impetus for protection is far more mercenary. They are, in short, threatened.
The EFF has been trying to swat down fake patents, for better or worse, but the problem will continue to plague small makers until the patents expire. It does not benefit Stratasys to troll the small guy (unless it’s to protect its MakerBot investment, which would be a delightful bit of irony) and, in the end, it hurts the industry as a whole. The more people who know how to do home 3D printing, the more people who will be interested in professional products. That said, perhaps Stratasys is concerned that the home 3D printers will supplant its professional business. If this is the case, it’s a baseless fear akin to Ford being afraid of go-kart hobbyists.
Patents are fine when they truly protect the filers from predators. When the filers themselves, become the predators, however, the issue clouds the market, destroys innovation, and makes the big guys look mean. That’s not good for anyone.
Dec 02
Everything from photography, to television, to printers made the eventual evolution from black and white to full color. And following in those technological footsteps is the 3D printer, with 3D Systems recently announcing what it’s claiming is the world’s first continuous-tone full color plastic printer called the ProJet 4500.
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Nov 29
This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: PS4, Xbox One, And The Sense 3D Scanner
Posted in: Today's Chili
Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. What are you thankful for?
My list is short, but sweet: I’m thankful for you guys, gaming consoles, and 3d scanners.
Nov 25
If we’ve crossed paths in the past week, there’s a pretty good chance I’ve scanned you. This extends well beyond the human race, into the realms of animal, vegetable, plush toy and fruit bowl. Some subjects were too small to be scanned, some too fidgety and, in the case of my attempted 3D selfie, not nearly flexible enough. Such issues were mere roadblocks in my strange one-man journey to 3D-scan the world. I may have a problem. I admit it. For starters, I’m not completely sure what I plan on doing with all these scans, but while such questions are entirely logical, they’ve yet to curb my enthusiasm for the device. Sense is one of those propositions that seems too good to be true: a user-friendly, (relatively) portable 3D scanner capable of capturing objects up to 10 feet by 10 feet, and at a fraction of the price of the competition.
If the product is indeed what 3D Systems claims, it could fill a major hole in the consumer 3D-printing market. In recent years, 3D-printing companies have largely focused on the printers themselves, which have gotten cheaper and easier to use. At the same time, the race to dominate the category has often caused companies to ignore the question of how those without extensive CAD experience can create 3D files in the first place. MakerBot unveiled its solution back at SXSW: the $1,400 Digitizer, a rotating, desktop scanning bed capable of capturing objects up to eight inches by eight inches. 3D Systems’ Sense takes a wholly different approach: This is a $400 handheld scanner that can digitize an entire human being.%Gallery-slideshow123207%
Filed under: Peripherals
Nov 22
Motorola Taps 3D Systems To Produce Parts For Its Crazy Modular Smartphones
Posted in: Today's ChiliBack when Motorola revealed that it’s seriously trying to bring modular smartphones to the masses, it left more than a few of the particulars shrouded in secrecy. Granted, that’s probably because most of the particulars haven’t even been fleshed out yet, but the Google subsidiary is slowly starting to reveal its vision for how these crazy things will actually be made.
Their approach? 3D printing, and lots of it. Motorola has just announced that it’s locked up an exclusive partnership with 3D Systems that will see that printing pioneer producing “Ara smartphone enclosures” and the nifty component modules that snap onto the phone’s main body.
Haven’t been keeping tabs on Project Ara? Here’s the gist of it – Motorola has apparently grown a little weary of the traditional notion of a smartphone where all of the things that make it tick are wrapped up in a plastic body, away from curious eyes and prodding fingers. Now that Motorola has basically inherited Google’s penchant for kooky ideas (not to mention the money), it’s working on creating a phone body with a display (they call it an “endoskeleton”) that users will ultimately be able to snap new components into as needed. Growing weary of your old camera? Pop a new one on there. Need a snappier processor? That’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Now 3D Systems is an interesting player, to say the least – while it’s devoted resources to cracking the consumer market with low-cost printers and 3D scanners for the past two years or so, it’s bread and butter continues to be the sort of hefty, industrial printers that can turn around jobs at a much faster rate. That’s not to say that the company in its current form is ready for the sort of rigor Project Ara demands, so 3D Systems has apparently been asked to create a “high-speed production platform” to churn out those modules and enclosures with the quickness. At this point there’s still no word on when production will start (Motorola is still soliciting early feedback from its so-called “Ara Scouts”) but the company has said that it’s aiming to get the alpha version of its Module Development Kit out the door and into hackers’ hands some time this Winter.
Sep 10
3D systems buys sugar printing firm for future breakthroughs in tooth decay
Posted in: Today's Chili
3D Systems has been on a bit of a shopping spree lately, snatching up companies left and right for its portfolio of print offerings. This latest deal is a bit sweeter than most, however. The company has picked up Sugar Lab, an LA-based startup that prints edible 3D objects in sugar. This isn’t quite the breakthrough in 3D-printed food we’ve been waiting for, but it certainly suggests that the company is taking a much more serious look at the space, as CEO Avi Reichental suggested during our interview at Expand back in March.
We reached out to the exec for comment on this latest acquisition, and he told us: “We are all foodies at heart, and for as long as we could remember, food provided a great canvass for our creativity. Adding third dimension to food creation is one of the most exciting initiatives I am involved with.” At the very least, it takes us a step closer to the Star Trek cake we’ve wanted since we were 10.
Filed under: Peripherals
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