Why Does 3D Printing Matter? Got a Kinect and a laptop? Get ready to 3D print Volumental's vision is to be able to 3D print more or less anything you can see Image Gallery (7 images) Scanning and 3D printing an object could become much simpler if 3D printing company Volumental is successful in crowdfunding the development of a web app which would allow users to scan and print 3D objects using nothing more than a Kinect sensor and a web browser. View all Though the company already has a web service that allows people to upload scanned 3D models, Volumental says that it needs to refine an app which is better able to differentiate a thing (toys, pets, family members are among the suggestions) from its surroundings in order to be able to print the object in isolation. If funded, the app raises the exciting prospect of being able to scan more or less anything. Volumental is aiming to develop the app inside of three months. Though that sounds ambitious, Volumental is not a beginner in the field of 3D scanning. You can see the team's campaign video below. About the Author
3D Printing Technology Poised for New Industrial Revolution When the TV series Star Trek first brought the starship Enterprise into German living rooms, the concept of a replicator was pure science fiction, a fantastical utopian vision we might experience one day centuries in the future. Replicators, something of a mixture between computer and miniature factory, were capable of creating food and replacement parts from next to nothing. They were highly practical devices, since Captain Kirk couldn't exactly take along a lot of supplies for his journeys through outer space. That futuristic vision, though, has receded far into the past -- overtaken by the present. The real-world replicator-like technology poised to revolutionize the world is known as 3-D printing, though that term is misleading, since the process has little to do with printing. Three-dimensional printers can be as small as a suitcase or as large as a telephone booth, depending on the object they are meant to faithfully replicate from a 3-D computer blueprint. A Slow Process
Family07 back SolarSinter : markus kayser Solar Sinter 2011 In August 2010 I took my first solar machine - the Sun-Cutter - to the Egyptian desert in a suitcase. This was a solar-powered, semi-automated low-tech laser cutter, that used the power of the sun to drive it and directly harnessed its rays through a glass ball lens to ‘laser’ cut 2D components using a cam-guided system. The Sun-Cutter produced components in thin plywood with an aesthetic quality that was a curious hybrid of machine-made and “nature craft” due to the crudeness of its mechanism and cutting beam optics, alongside variations in solar intensity due to weather fluctuations. In the deserts of the world two elements dominate - sun and sand. My first manually-operated solar-sintering machine was tested in February 2011 in the Moroccan desert with encouraging results that led to the development of the current larger and fully-automated computer driven version - the Solar-Sinter.
Snowboard The audacious plan to end hunger with 3-D printed food - Quartz Uber is slavery…Uber will add to traffic congestion…Uber destroys the savings of cab drivers… Hold the litany. Is this the incumbency speaking? And my name isn’t Marie Antoinette. I might get in trouble for this, but I’d like to add a drop of customer experience into the boiling broth of opinions about Uber. No warranties expressed or implied, my perspective is a limited one. After five decades of riding in taxis, both in my native Paris and my adopted Bay Area, I’ve had my share of interesting and sympathetic cabbies, most of whom are more than willing to share their life stories. Unfortunately, pleasant rides with charming drivers are rare exceptions in a succession of dirty Silicon Valley cabs with cracked windshields, duct taped seats, and noisy wheel bearings threatening to seize at any minute. Simply finding a cab can be an unpleasant, complicated experience. The memories must be deeply imprinted. Try doing that with a Paris cab. Actually, this isn’t so puzzling.
Tiffy's glasses in the sun This Mind-Controlled 3-D Printer Generates Creatures From Your Kid's Brainwaves When Bryan Salt, a creative director from the U.K., was a kid, he would dream "of a machine that could create real objects from thought alone: to imagine a thing and it would appear in front of me ready made." Salt is working to make that dream a reality with his Chile-based startup Thinker Thing, which is in the process of creating a system called the Monster Dreamer that can generate 3-D models of creatures built from children’s brainwave data via a sensor-equipped headset. From there, those objects are easily realized in plastic with a MakerBot. I caught up with Salt over Facebook chat, and he explained how exactly Thinker Thing is able to create 3-D models by reading brain waves. Instead, children put on a headset and are presented with a variety of creatures with different characteristics. Let’s say you like a creature with four arms and two eyes and is long and thin. It’s a complicated system.
Big Pictures Primary purpose Summary Potential benefits Who can use the tool? What resources are needed? Development, ownership and support Third sector examples Further sources of information Footnotes The Big Picture Primary purpose The Big Picture is an organisational development framework for identifying the strengths and areas for improvement of an organisation across all of its activities. Each organisation can use The Big Picture in its own way to manage improvement, under the control of those who use the methods rather than an external evaluator. Top Summary Source: The Big Picture seeks to provide organisations with an approach that treats quality and impact issues in a holistic way. The approach suggests bringing as many people as possible together in a room. The Big Picture comes in the form of a workbook. Potential benefits Potential limitations Who can use The Big Picture? What resources are needed? Leadership Proficiencies or skills Staff time 1.
Stereolithography: The Science behind 3D Printing Recreating entire 3D objects directly from the virtual space of a computer to real life is a reality made possible by a number of different technologies. This article will focus on the one 3D printing technology that enjoys the upsides of speed, precision, and thanks to breakthroughs in design, affordability. Stereolithography, or SLA in shorthand, is essentially what the industry calls an “additive manufacturing process” as opposed to traditional methods of “subtractive manufacturing”. The former creates products through adding layers of a material, while the latter creates products through removing parts of a material. The idea was invented and patented in 1986 by Charles W. SLA at Work The process of SLA differs from other 3D printing technologies by using an ultraviolet laser directed at a thick pool of photopolymer resin. With the help of perfectly placed mirrors, the laser “draws” on the resin in cross sections. Results of SLA The Future of SLA