Posted on 02/14/2013 10:11:45 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Spend a few minutes talking with Clèment Moreau, and you’re apt to start dreaming up your own three-dimensional (3D) creations: a customized toy, a work of art, or even a working robot. But as co-founder of 3D printing company Sculpteo, Moreau is less interested in hobbyist-only pursuits than he is in what professionals can do with the still-nascent technology.
Sculpteo is a 3D printing company, but it doesn’t make 3D printers. With facilities in France, America and Israel, Sculpteo maintains its own manufacturing operations for 3D printing services. Companies and individuals send in their 3D renderings, and Sculpteo prints their designs using a process that involves lasers and plastic compounds reduced to a powder form.
This is almost the reverse of the engineering revolution sparked by Henry Ford with the Model T automobile. Instead of creating a system for efficient mass production, Sculpteo is building a global-scale manufacturing process for goods that aren’t intended to be mass-produced.
The limitations of in-home 3D printing
Several companies sell 3D printers for in-home use, but there are major hurdles to overcome in the consumer 3D printing market.
First, the technology requires a level of technical expertise few consumers possess. Second, the practical applications of consumer-grade 3D printing technology remain limited so far. (Basic 3D printers are often used to create ornamental objects and minor tools and accessories.) Third, retail 3D printers are still relatively expensive, ranging from a few hundred dollars at the low end, to several thousand dollars at the high side...
(Excerpt) Read more at smartplanet.com ...
Ping
Come to think of it, it's not even a real gift because she gets reimbursed for the price of the apps we review. wtf??
Anyway, this app is really well done on how you can manipulate and "sculpt" a play figure by dragging and pinching with your fingers on the ipad screen. I only tested it so far for 40 minutes yesterday with a basic man figure. It is easy to get started but the details work at the end is a bit challenging. I am sure with time a person gets better with controls for details and the app probably isn't meant for a lot of high details.
The app is real fun and I can recommend it just on the wonder factor alone. (this is not an ad, I am just discussing and showing what is new out there.)
Autodesk 123D Creature - Available 2.13.13
Bring Your Creatures To Life with 123D Creature [btw this isn't the website my wife does reviews for]
Today I’ve read that Staples will have 3D Printing. Then I read that South Africa will print airplanes in Titanium and then I read that the UK has developed Titanium that is 1/10 the cost.
I like this, I find it exciting. I’ll be buying my 3D Printer in April. I can envision a world where whatever we want will be sold for 99 cents, just like an app.
I forgot to mention (which is why I posted - Duh!), when you are done creating your figure, you can buy it from a 3D printing service and they will mail it to you.
This is going to be a HUGE industry in five years, don’t you think?
Definitely think so. It might be a new kind of economic engine.
” I can envision a world where whatever we want will be sold for 99 cents, just like an app.”
That world is well into the future, At this point in time, most 3-D printers can only print one material at a time, or only one material (ink) period - usually a plastic. If you move to printers that are capable of a wider range of materials - say metals or glass, then the costs skyrocket as do the economic limitations for their adoption. The market for 3-D printing regardless of the constant flow of uninformed media hype is still almost exclusively limited plastic prototyping. It isn’t going to threaten Chinese manufacturing, it isn’t going to create weapons, it isn’t going to build anything that is multi-material and complex - or compete with existing cheaper and faster mass manufacturing processes.
The report is crap; limitations are what 0bama pointed out because he does not want anyone making plastic magazines for home use...plus two springs.
Note a HedgeFund manager Citrone purposely tried to shrink 3D Printing, ticker DDD yesterday...this is a big Lib Hedgie...
Arcam AB, a Swedish company makes electron beam 3D printers that use titanium. It's not all plastic.
What do you think you will buy?
I’ll probably be buying from Solidoodle just because they are cheap. 3D plans and software are open source. You can buy all the components cheap, but I don’t have enough confidence in myself to build from a kit.
www.solidoodle.com
Solidoodle has 3D printers starting at $499.
Thanks, I am interested in this technology.
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