Industry Leaders Discuss Consumer 3D Printing Market [Video]
[Philip Lelyveld comment: around 45 minutes in they discuss patent protection.]
[on 3D Printing]
Dale Dougherty, co-founder of O’Reilly Media, hosted a panel on consumer 3D printing at the MIT/Stanford VLAB in April.
3D Printing is poised to become a part of our daily lives, allowing consumers to make things in a new era of mass customization. Once an expensive technology used by engineers, 3D printers today print car bodies, medical and dental prosthetics, high-fashion shoes and much more. Layer by layer, 3D printers deposit material to build up one-of-a-kind products, even with complex internal shapes.
Virtual marketplaces, cheaper printers and cloud-based consumer software are transforming the 3D Printing ecosystem, bringing the technology within the reach of everyone. With a current market size of $1.3 billion, the 3D printing industry is set to explode to $3.1 billion by 2016, according to industry consulting firm Wohlers Associates.
Join us and our industry leading panelists to understand business models and see the technology in action.
Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen joins leaders from 3D Systems, Autodesk, and London College of Fashion, and MAKE Magazine in the video below.
Watch the full video here:
Apple Patent Shows Off Safari 3D
... Instead of wearing the glasses one usually associates with 3D interfaces, the patent indicates how other existing Apple patents can be used in a GUI to overlap and stack elements and content. ...
Firstly, there seems to be “Rotating Titles of URLs, Emails, Documents and Apps” that were detailed in a separate patentapplication. With this patent (that is pictured above) windows or elements are exposed edge-on until users wish to peruse them; which will then cause it to rotate forward into full-view. Secondly, is a patent that details how open windows are shown in a 3D form. That particular interface is tied in with yet another patent that apparently describes the presentation and browsing methods of items in a tilted 3D area. This leads to a picture similar to a 3D interface through which users can flick through windows much like how we view images or file icons in Cover Flow. While we know that there is a chance that none of these patents might see the light of day snuggled in an Apple product, the concept behind these patents does provide an interesting aspect of things and a look into the keen minds currently running around at Apple.
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NEW material for 3D printing: white plaster
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this gives you a sense of materials costs for 3D printers]
Been looking for a way to test out your larger 3D designs without having it cost a fortune? We have just added White Plaster to our materials catalogue and your 3D product can be made for as low as $.69 a cubic centimeter!*
Because of this low price, white plaster is a great material to evaluate the aesthetics of your larger design before committing to a more expensive material.
See the material page for all the details and design specs.
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Get your own custom 3D-printed doll in Makielabs’ public alpha
A startup called Makielab is hoping to disrupt the toy market by 3D-printing customised dolls to your exact specifications and offering an identical online avatar doppelganger. Or dollpelganger.
"Makies is currently what looks like an action-figure builder, but it's a bit more than that," explains Alice Taylor, CEO of the company and former commissioning editor for education at Channel 4, in an email to Wired.co.uk. "While Makies means a customer can come and build and create the action doll of their choosing, they also get an avatar version too, which happens to be standing in a 3D space. Stuff that you do digitally will result in physical unlockables, and vice versa."
Taylor has been experimenting with the idea of dolls that can talk to the web for some time. In early 2000, she set up stortroopers.com, which allowed users to build Creative Commons-licensed avatars on the web. A decade later, ...
However, she cautions that 3D printing shouldn't be seen as the future of manufacturing. Neither of the two main types of 3D printing are as cheap, fast or produce as smooth a finish as injection moulding. Nor can they cope with the range of colours often required in toys. "So 3D printing is not exactly ready to replace injection moulding today," says Taylor. "And won't be until it can compete head to head with those factors -- speed, price, colours. Our action dolls are made in London, and we send a batch of faces to print and have them back within four days. In the future, with our own machines, it'll be same-day stuff. Boy is that an exciting thought." ...
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What A Show! China’s Movie Theaters Have Improved Dramatically
... To get to the box office, you had to walk through a Hershey's store, which the kids thought was a great idea.
The theater's concession stand was limited: mostly bottled water and sweet popcorn. But the theater itself was great: stadium seating, assigned seats, three-story screen and English with Chinese sub-titles. During the opening credits, lots of people continued to text on their phones, but once the action began the audience seemed gripped.
The ticket price was a crushing $25 a pop (vs. about $12 for a 3D IMAX movie in Washington, D.C., according to Fandango), but the theater was nearly 90 percent full for a 5:20 show on a Friday evening. The experience was as good as anything you would find in a Western, post-industrial country and probably better than some. ...
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Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Squares launches 3D ad
[Philip Lelyveld comment: watch the video at the link. Wear headphones - it may be 3D audio. It is very clever.]
Rice Krispies Squares was launched back in 1997 for women seeking an alternative to chocolate.
The 3D interactive cinema ad has been created by glue Isobar and Superglue for Rice Krispies Square's Rocky Road variant.
The campaign marks a continuation of Kellogg's 'It All Lies' campaign and claims to be the first 3D cinema ad that can be tasted.
The ad will be rolled out in cinemas from May 25 during trailers of the new 'Men in Black' film.
Kellogg's has big ambitions for the campaign. It believes that by the end of cinema ad, consumers will be able to taste the flavour of the Rocky Road in their mouth through the use of "audio flavour technology." ...
"We are always looking for ways to push the boundaries with this brand so taking it 3D seems like a no brainer." ...
See the full post and the video here:
3D-printed bikini proves they’ve thought of everything
Revealing swimwear isn’t usually the topic of conversation at RAPID, an annual trade show for the market of “additive manufacturing.” The industrial tech show is usually more focused on manufacturing processes and how to reduce bottlenecks in large-scale plants. ...
At this year’s show, though, there was an event called the 3D Fabulous Fashion Show. Models were put out on stage wearing everything from glasses to bikinis – yes, bikinis – that were created not in a sweatshop in Indonesia, but in an office with a 3D printer. ...
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3net Doc Features Rare 3D Vietnam Era Photos
A reminder that 3D technologies have had their ups and downs a number of times in the last 150 years can be found in groundbreaking the new 3net documentary Sky Soldier: A Vietnam Story in 3Dthat the 3D channel is airing on Memorial Day.
Stereoscopic still photos were wildly popular in the last half of the 19th century and thousands were taken during the Civil War, but the technology had fallen out of favor by the 1960s. Recently, however, producer Tom Jennings came upon a rare cache of 3D photos that had been taken during the Vietnam War by Major Joel Glenn, a Silver Star-decorated soldier who had served two tours of duty in Vietnam. ...
While the 3D photos were in pristine shape, some shots required extensive work to recalibrate them for video. During the 1960s, 3D photos were shot with a camera with two lenses, producing a shot for the left eye and another for the right eye that were then developed into a slide that was viewed in a 3D viewer. "It was a very painstaking process," to realign photos so the focus and resolution was correct on video, Jennings says.
The production also broke new ground by actually filming Judy Glenn showing her husband's photos with a 3D projector. While the viewers watching the projection could be captured with a normal 3D camera rig, the crew had to take the glass from 3D glasses and put them over the camera lens in order to film the projector in 3D. ...
The special ends as Glenn returns to his Florida farm with his cherished photographs, which may very well be the only 3D account of the Vietnam War in existence.
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Blindside, a new “3D audio-only adventure game” for iOS
... BlindSide is an audio adventure game, set in a fully-immersive 3d world you’ll never see. Put on headphones, hold your iPhone, and face the direction you want to go. Listen as the world rotates around you and explore the darkness.
You play as Case, an assistant professor who wakes up blind, to find his city destroyed and mysterious creatures devouring people. Will you and your girlfriend be able to find your way without sight? How will you escape? Run for your life, save the girl, and uncover the mystery of the apocalypse--all in the dark! ...
See the full post and see/listen to the video here:
In Seoul, retailer uses 3D QR codes and the sun to deliver discounts only during its quiet times
Korean Emart recently placed 3D QR code sculptures throughout the city of Seoul that could only be scanned between noon and 1 pm each day — consumers were given discounts at the store during those quiet shopping hours.
... Dubbed “Sunny Sale,” Emart’s effort involved setting up a series of what it calls “shadow” QR codes that depend on peak sunlight for proper viewing and were scannable only between 12 and 1 pm each day. Successfully scanning a code took consumers to a dedicated home page with special offers including a coupon worth USD 12. Purchases could then be made via smartphone for delivery direct to the consumer’s door.
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