Record Labels Lawsuit Against Vimeo Lipdubs Moves Forward, With Some Good News And Some Bad News
Barry Eisler's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
The Death Rattle For Blackberry: Once Again, Markets Change Very Quickly
Another Day, Another Loss For Broadcasters In Quixotic Campaign To Kill Innovation

Awesome Stuff: 3D Printing And Scanning Keeps Advancing

Innovation

from the on-and-on-and-on dept

Sat, Sep 21st 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick
Welcome back for another week of awesome stuff, our weekly post on interesting crowdfunding projects. First off, just last week, awesome stuff was about reclaiming classic culture, and I expressed disappointment that only two campaigns could be found having to do with public domain materials. I should have waited a week because a new project launched which is a great companion to last week's Musopen's Chopin project. This time it's a project to record and release Bach music as well. Check it out.

But on to this week's offerings. It really was just a little less than four months ago that we had an awesome stuff post about 3D printing, marveling at how quickly the space had advanced (and gotten cheaper). And it seems like in just that short period of time there's been some continued movement in the 3D printing and 3D scanning world. There are so many 3D printing and 3D scanning projects going on right now, so let's point out a few.
  • First up is the somewhat astounding Structure Sensor device, designed to turn your mobile device into a full 3D scanner. The video is slick, but if the device can do what it shows it's really quite impressive. From simple scanning of rooms or items and turning them immediately into 3D models to playing augmented reality game that really takes advantage of where you are, something like this seems to have a ton of potential, all hooked up to your mobile device. Watch the video and get inspired.
    Apparently there is tremendous demand for this sort of thing. The project only launched a few days ago and already is well past half a million dollars with over a month to go. This looks like another massive Kickstarter success story.
  • As you'll see below, there are a ton of 3D printers out there, each one emphasizing different features. It can get a little difficult to stand out from the crowd. However, the Peachy 3D Printer and Scanner caught my attention. First off, it's $100. Yes. $100. The current "floor" for low end 3D printers has been around $400, so if this guy can really do $100 3D printers, that's very interesting. But perhaps even more interesting is that when you watch the video, you realize that he's not building yet another 3D printer by riffing off the way everyone else tries to do it, but he really rethought how a 3D printer could be built. It doesn't look like most other 3D printers, and doesn't appear to really work in the same way as other 3D printers. The fact that he built his first prototype almost entirely with "objects around the house" is kind of crazy. That said, it's pretty clear that this project is very early. The output quality of the Peachy Printer is clearly much, much lower than most other 3D printers on the market. So there's an element of "you get what you pay for" going on here. But, still, it's inspiring to see this attempt to just rethink how a 3D printer could work (and how it could be pretty cheap).
    With this project, people are really betting on a dream. The project is still very much in the early stages, and needs a lot of refinement. His expected delivery date isn't until next summer, and as pretty much everyone who's ever backed a Kickstarter project knows, projects always run late. Either way, the project has already raised about a third of its $50,000 (CAD) goal, with a month to go, so it will likely reach its target.
  • Next up, we've got the 3Dsimo, which is a 3D printer "pen." You may remember the 3Doodler, which was one of the most successful projects on Kickstarter from earlier this year (raising $2.3 million). The 3Dsimo looks like a fairly similar offering, though it seems to be getting almost no attention at all. These extruder pens are a little different than a true "3D printer" but I'm expecting the market for these to develop separately as well, as people realize how handy it can be to "freehand" create a 3D object.
    As mentioned, this project seems to have received almost no attention. Unlike the 3Doodler which shot through its goal in almost no time at all, the 3Dsimo opened its campaign a week ago and only has six backers. It's a long way away from reaching its goal. Remember, running a crowdfunding project requires more than just putting it up and hoping people come.
  • There are so many other 3D printers and scanners currently in the midst of crowdfunding projects. So rather than doing the typical "deep dive," I figured I'd do some quick hits on a bunch of them:
    • Zim: a dual head WiFi 3D printer, that has a really nice compact design, with a focus on being easy to use. Priced at the lower end (different models, all well under $1,000). You can remote control it from your smartphone, which is cool, complete with a camera so you can see how the printing is going even if you're not there.
    • Phoenix 3D Printer: a more traditional 3D printer, hitting that "sweet spot" on the low end of $400. This one looks like a ton of other 3D printers, but they claim that the software is a lot nicer, though it's a bit tough to tell.
    • Lionhead 3D printer and scanner. These guys also talk up their software, and the printer is definitely a higher end printer, with 3 or 8 print heads, designed for ease of use and to look nice... but with a much higher price point. This is definitely more in the tradition of premium 3D printers.
    • gMax 3D Printer. A traditional looking 3D printer, priced slightly over $1,000, the focus here is on being able to print big things. So if you think you'll be needing to print larger items, this one may be worth checking out.
    • ZEUS, which they claim is the "first" 3D printer/copy machine, but since some of the other projects in this very list do that too, this claim is a bit suspect. This is also a premium priced offering, between $2,000 and $2,500. The device itself is nicely designed, complete with a 7-inch touch screen. Of all the 3D printers, this one has more of a "consumer ready" feel, but not exactly a consumer-ready price.
    • On the 3D scanner side, I'll point to both the Dimbody and the Rubicon, which offer fairly similar products, though at first glance they're much more limited than the Structure Sensor above.

And... that's it for this extra long awesome stuff. Maybe in a few months we'll revisit the 3D printing and scanning space again to see just how rapidly it continues to innovate, advance and change.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: 3d printing, 3d scanning, awesome stuff

21 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2013 @ 2:12pm

    [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

    Does anyone know how I can configure NoScript not to completely hide the Kickstarter and Indiegogo embeds on the weekly Awesome Stuff posts? "Temporarily allow all this page" does nothing. I don't even see Kickstarter there, nor placeholders, nor items under Blocked Objects. Iframe blocking off doesn't help. Firefox's object inspector shows the iframe and contained html, head, and body elements but shows the latter two as empty. Manually going to Kickstarter and adding it to Noscript's trusted site list doesn't make the embeds show on Techdirt pages either. I'm probably missing something "obvious", but I can't find it, and googling availed me of nothing. So ... anyone?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 21 Sep 2013 @ 2:45pm

      Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

      Hmm. I just checked, and I can definitely see them with NoScript (which I regularly use anyway). I have granted permission to Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and don't see any issue. So... not sure what would be blocking it on your end?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2013 @ 7:58am

        Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

        Even "temporarily allow all this page" doesn't make them show up. This is with the current versions of both Firefox and NoScript. I'm also using ABP with the default settings, but that certainly shouldn't be blocking Kickstarter.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Greevar (profile), 22 Sep 2013 @ 10:04am

          Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

          You're probably in https and FF will not display insecure items on a https page.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2013 @ 8:54am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

            Hm. I am using HTTPS Everywhere, but I was doing so before this problem started. It started right at the time I had a browser crash that caused it to forget all of its NoScript settings (NoScript was back to factory-install settings after), which crash was (apparently) caused by a power failure while it was running, followed by a second one while the affected computer was in the middle of rebooting, which somehow gummed something up enough for me to need to use the last System Restore checkpoint from the recovery console to boot up afterward. (At least I didn't have to reformat...)

            The timing coinciding with that crash points to a NoScript setting as the cause -- a setting I had configured to let the Kickstarter embeds get through, lost in that crash, and haven't succeeded (yet) in recreating.

            [ link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              Greevar (profile), 24 Sep 2013 @ 10:08am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

              I'm not running "no script" and I can't see the videos posted here on Firefox. I have to exit https mode to view them.

              [ link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Anonymous Coward, 24 Sep 2013 @ 10:19pm

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

                That doesn't make sense. I had no problem after I started to use HTTPS Everywhere, but I did after I lost my NoScript settings, which points to NoScript.

                Both of our experiences can't be how it works/doesn't work. They're contradictory. Mine say HTTPS can't be the cause, because it used to work fine, and NoScript must be, because it stopped working when I lost my NoScript settings. Yours say NoScript can't be the cause, and HTTPS must be. Those clearly can't both be true.

                What the hell is going on here?

                [ link to this | view in chronology ]

                • icon
                  Greevar (profile), 26 Sep 2013 @ 7:26am

                  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

                  Chances are, the crash coincided with the update to FireFox, which added the restriction on insecure elements on a https page.

                  [ link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • identicon
                    Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 1:06pm

                    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

                    What "update" are you talking about?

                    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

                    • identicon
                      Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2013 @ 4:25pm

                      Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

                      Well?

                      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2013 @ 9:04pm

          Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

          1. Find out what is the problem first, disable NoScript and see if it works, it may be another plugin, it may be 2 addons that don't work well together, Ghostery also blocks third party websites, start disabling addons one by one to find out which one is causing the problem.

          2. Go to the website of the maker of the addon or browser and see if anybody else recently had the same problem, after that try asking help there.

          3. If you are told the problem is not on their end then you bug the operator of a website.

          This is what I do and I have no problems with it.

          1. Create a sandbox for an insecure browser. Put a browser in a virtual machine, and save that orginal pristine state he has, this way it doesn't matter what happens everytime you fire it up it will always be clean and any malware will be contained there.

          2. Have a secure browser that doesn't allow scripts ever for any reason, if you see something you want to watch copy and paste the url into the sandboxed browser to watch it.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2013 @ 8:57am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

            Sounds both "complicated" and "expensive". What's virtual-PC software go for these days? $200? $300?

            [ link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              mischab1, 23 Sep 2013 @ 10:35am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

              "What's virtual-PC software go for these days? $200? $300?"

              Win XP Mode is free if you have certain versions of Windows 7.

              [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          btrussell (profile), 23 Sep 2013 @ 1:42am

          Re: Re: Re: [Meta] What's needed to make kickstarter embeds show with NoScript?

          "temporarily allow all this page"
          Sometimes this needs to be done two, maybe three times.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    fb39ca4 (profile), 21 Sep 2013 @ 9:08pm

    Also

    There's also this $100 selective laser sintering printer being Kickstarted at the moment:

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117421627/the-peachy-printer-the-first-100-3d-printer -and-sc

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 21 Sep 2013 @ 9:10pm

      Re: Also

      There's also this $100 selective laser sintering printer being Kickstarted at the moment:


      Er, that's the number 2 items in the post...

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    xofter marlow, 22 Sep 2013 @ 7:16am

    "This can be happened by using 3Dsimo which simply and fast."

    Oh brother, how often have I heard that promise?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    mischab1, 23 Sep 2013 @ 10:41am

    Peachy Printer

    I like how Peachy Printer was 1/3 of the way to it's goal Saturday morning and 48 hours later had surpassed it's goal 4 times already.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2013 @ 11:23am

    Tip of the iceberg

    There is a complete production path being created. Filastruder was a KickStarter, designed to change resin pellets into filament. There is a filament winder - to windup the extruded plastic. MatterForm.net has a significantly better scanner than MakerBot's, nearly ready. There is a Doodle3d so kids can turn 2D drawings into 3D objects. There is a RigidBot regular and a BIG! (16"x12"x10"). And even if you don't have your own software or printer there is Tinkercad or 3Dtin (as well as all the AutoDesk 123D products) and i.Materialize, Shapways and Ponoko to verify, print and ship or even sell your designs.

    It's a whole new world for makers, tinkerers, and crafty folks.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Matt, 1 Oct 2013 @ 5:18pm

    Freehand

    A freehand 3D printer will surely become the new wave of art that takes over 3D animation.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    rupesh, 25 Jan 2014 @ 9:39pm

    Mobile printer

    Even mobile printer is also available checkout here http://incredibleengineering.com/lg-mobile-printer

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


Record Labels Lawsuit Against Vimeo Lipdubs Moves Forward, With Some Good News And Some Bad News
Barry Eisler's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
The Death Rattle For Blackberry: Once Again, Markets Change Very Quickly
Another Day, Another Loss For Broadcasters In Quixotic Campaign To Kill Innovation
Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

Friday

09:27 Reminder: Take Our Survey On What Forces Will Impact The Future Of Work (21)
More arrow

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.