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Windows 8.1 to support 3D printing through native API
As quickly as 3D printers have taken off, they haven't had true OS-level support. Microsoft is fixing that with Windows 8.1: a built-in API will let developers weave 3D printing into their own apps. While the experience will be slightly more complicated than firing up an old-fashioned inkjet, it should include familiar-looking printing dialogs and persistent settings. The only real challenge will be picking up a 3D printer in the first place -- but that's getting easier by the day. %Gallery-192352%
Pelican Imaging shows its array camera serving as a 3D printing tool (video)
While Pelican Imaging's 16-lens array camera will only reach mobile devices in 2014, the company doesn't want to wait to show what its technology can do in practice. It just posted a clip suggesting that the camera's whole-scene focusing and depth mapping could come in handy at a wedding. A guest could not only capture pristine snapshots of the occasion, but create 3D-printed figurines of the bride and groom while they're still at the reception. Is this a niche case? You bet -- but it reminds us that Pelican's array could make an impact well beyond our photo albums. Catch the full video after the break.
MakerBot's Replicator 2 joins Amazon's newly launched 3D printer store
Granted, it's not a 3D printer in every home, but it's surely a step in the right direction. MakerBot announced today that its Replicator 2 will be joining Amazon's new 3D Printer Store, a central location on the site for devices, accessories, books and the like. The store features a number of other devices from the competition, though MakerBot seems to be far and away the biggest name involved at the moment. Surely the days of printing up those Amazon orders can't be too far off, right?
Mataerial 3D printer escapes the tyranny of layers, changes colors on the fly (video)
Anyone who has used conventional 3D printers knows that they work by stacking layer on layer, limiting just what they can create and where. Mataerial's upcoming printer, started by Joris Laarman Lab and IAAC, doesn't abide by those petty rules. Its robotic arm draws instantly solid 3D curves rather than 2D slices, shedding the need for direct support or even a horizontal surface. It's also not bound by traditional approaches to color. As Mataerial injects dye at the last moment, it can switch hues mid-stream and introduce subtle gradients. We've reached out for launch and pricing details, but it's reasonable to presume that such advanced control won't come cheap -- we'd look to the 3Doodler for more affordable in-air artistry.
NASA funds 3D food printer, pizza is the first item on the menu
Last week we had lab-grown burgers; this week it's powdered pizza. NASA's gotten in on the synthesized food action by awarding a $125,000 grant to Anjan Contractor, head of Systems & Materials Research Corporation, to develop a 3D food printer. The first device Contractor plans to build under the six-month grant is based on RepRap's open-source hardware and will be designed to print a pizza comprised of three layers of nutritional powders mixed with water and oil. As the final frontier gets further and further away, NASA's need for a nutritious, long-lasting food supply suitable for space travel grows. Since the powders used in Contractor's design -- potentially sourced from insects, grass and algae -- have a shelf life of about 30 years, his 3D food printer would be well-suited to the task. If your appetite's survived the idea of snacks made from pulverized insects, you can watch the grant-winning prototype print some synthesized chocolate after the break.
Liberator gun made with consumer 3D printer, plastic pistol fires nine shots successfully (video)
Defense Distributed's plan is to put the power of guns in the hands of every person with access to the internet and a 3D printer. Until now, however, we'd only seen the Liberator pistol built using an expensive industrial-grade printer -- despite the fact that the blueprints for gun have been downloaded by thousands of people who don't have access to such a high-end machine. One of those folks decided to put the Liberator in the hands of the printing proletariat by making it with a consumer-level Lulzbot A0-101 3D printer, a nail and some common screws. This new version, called the Lulz Liberator, differs from the original in that it's got a rifled barrel and uses metal hardware to hold it together (as opposed to printed plastic pins). Printing it took around two days and used about $25 worth of generic ABS material, and the pistol produced was fired successfully nine times, but its creator claims it could've shot more. It's still a far cry from a Glock or Beretta, of course, as the gun misfired several times, and removing spent shell casings required the use of a hammer. So, it's not quite ready for prime time, but it's one more bit of proof that the age of printed pistols is officially upon us. [Image Credit: Michael Guslick]
Type A Machines previews aluminum-framed Series 1 Pro 3D printer
If you've navigated through the endless sea of 3D printers at this weekend's Maker Faire, you may well have caught a glimpse of the Series 1 Pro, the latest offering from San Francisco-based Type A Machines. The printer, which is still in the "engineering concept" phase, trades its predecessor's wood frame for a more solid aluminum version. The WiFi-compatible device has a build volume of about 18 liters, according to the company, and will be available in the third quarter of this year. That's the printer up top, pictured alongside Mark II, a little robot printed on the original Series One. Down below, you'll find a short press release.
Formlabs ships first Form 1 3D printer, Kickstarter backers should see theirs next week
Some might say it's been a long, long while since October -- with "some" referring to the swath of Kickstarter backers who've been waiting oh-so-patiently for a Form 1 to call their own. Formlabs has just confirmed via a company blog post that the very first Form 1 3D printer shipped out today, as the Collector's Edition Form 1 and half of the Initial Formation tier of pledges hopped on a variety of delivery trucks. The rest of you backers can expect to begin printing "by the end of next week." For those keeping count, the Form 1 is actually a few months behind schedule, but in all honesty, that's pretty good considering the up-and-down nature of crowdfunded projects that manage to find the limelight. The outfit is reminding folks that Form 1 units are shipped as they're produced, fulfilling Kickstarter rewards and preorders by priority. Specifics on group deliveries won't come for a few more weeks, but those in the Bay Area can swing by Maker Faire (or ICFF if you're in the Big Apple) to catch an early glimpse. Oh, and if you're just now hearing of this thing? You can place a $3,299 order right now, but you probably won't get it until July. Them's the breaks, kids!
The Daily Roundup for 05.06.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Staples selling 3D Systems' Cube printer online, select retail availability starting in June
Staples is pushing its consumer printing offerings into the third dimension. The office supply chain has begun selling 3D Systems' Cube printer through its site, as of this morning. Come the end of June, the WiFi-enabled, semi-portable printer will be hitting a select number of retail locations for $1,300. The Cube's availability follows news of some higher-end 3D printing offerings at a very select number of Staples locations. Check the source link below to pick up the Cube in one of five colors -- and if you need some enthusiastic testimonies regarding the revolutionary nature of consumer 3D printing, be sure to click through to the press release below.
iMakr 3D printing store opens in London, carries Solidoodle and more
The notion of a physical store dedicated to 3D printing is still new to us, and Solidoodle's Asia-focused plans didn't give much reassurance that we'd see more shops in English-speaking countries all that soon. iMakr may have just come to our rescue by opening what it claims is the world's largest 3D printing store in London's Farringdon area, occupying 2,500 square feet across two floors. The showroom has both workshops as well as printers to buy on the spot, including the Solidoodle 3; we've reached out to get the full selection, although iMakr's online channel already sells MakerBot's Replicator 2 and a few less immediately recognizable brands. We're still far from having a 3D printing store on every corner, but the London store gives the retail concept some legitimacy.
Visualized: A walk through the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo
We didn't find much in the way of news at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo here in NYC (and, we're sad to say, our press badges were just old-fashioned 2D printed), but there was plenty to look at, thankfully. Between the slew of business and consumer devices and the boatload of printed objects, the event was part business conference, part art show. And while the real star was the still-fresh world of desktop home printers, plenty of companies brought out their big-gun industrial devices (including at least one really sweet giant 3D scanner). Peep the gallery below to check out some of the eye candy from the event.%Gallery-186504%
Oxford University researchers create new 3D printed 'soft material' that could replace human tissue
Water and fat -- those are the two primary building blocks Oxford University researchers have used to 3D print the droplet you see above. Sounds unremarkable until you consider its intended application as a human tissue replacement. By stringing together thousands of these so-called droplets (which measure about 50 microns across) using a custom-built 3D printer, the Oxford team believes it has engineered a "new type of material" that could eventually be used to ferry drugs throughout our internal systems to a specific target site, fill-in for damaged tissues or even mimic neural pathways via specially printed protein pores. The potential applications for medical science are impressive enough, but consider this additional benefit: since the droplets contain no genetic material, scientists can completely sidestep all the ethical red tape surrounding the alternative stem cell approach to artificial tissue. At present, the team's been able to string about 35,000 of the droplets together, but there's no real cap as to how large or even what type of networks can be made. If the money and equipment are willing, this Oxford team can make scifi dreams come true.
Notre Dame students highlight method for 3D printing skeletons of living animals
Can you really claim to love your pet if you haven't printed out its skeletal structure for your mantle? Sure everyone expresses themselves in different ways, but the "3D Printing of Preclinical X-ray Computed Tomographic Data Sets" outlined by a team of Notre Dame students and a rep from MakerBot certainly beats getting your pet's face printed on a sweater. The researchers have outlined a method for CT scanning live mice, rats and rabbits and printing out their skeletal structures in plastic. There are some cool research applications for such functionality, but more importantly, who could ask for a creepier gift for the pet owner in your life?
MakerBot and OUYA join forces to let you print your own console enclosure
How to pass the time as the first OUYA consoles start shipping to backers? Well, if you've got a 3D printer at home, you can spend the hours printing your very own enclosure for the Android-based console. The gaming company has joined forces with MakerBot on a 3D printing development kit that'll let you customize your case at home. The plans, which were apparently optimized for the second generation Replicator, let you go crazy with custom designs and patterns, because while the rest of the world will get their chance to pick up a console this summer, yours can still be a special snowflake. You can check the plans out on Thingiverse in the source link below.
Live from Expand: 3D Printing Goes Mainstream (video)
Is 2013 the year that 3D printing goes mainstream? The technology is already decades-old, having been used to great effect in the world of industrial prototyping, but as more and more companies enter the fray, the world of consumer-facing printing seems less and less of a pipe dream. Is the world ready for a 3D printer on every desk? Join us as we speak to Hod Lipson, Professor of Engineering, Cornell University; Max Lobovsky, Co-Founder, FormLabs; and Avi Reichental, President & CEO, 3D Systems. March 16, 2013 1:00 PM EDT For a full list of Expand sessions, be sure to check out our event hub.
Makerbot and Adafruit selling special edition 3D printer: Raspberry Pi, other kits included
We honestly hadn't given it much thought, but now that it's been brought to our attention, Makerbot and Adafruit really do make an awesome duo. Think about it: one makes 3D printers, the other sells Arduino boards and pretty much everything else a tinkerer could possibly want. So it makes sense that the two companies are teaming up on something: we just heard they've started selling a limited edition version of Makerbot's Replicator 2 3D printer, which will come bundled with three DIY kits you'd normally buy on a site like Adafruit. These include the Raspberry Pi, which you all know very well, along with the Timesquare DIY Watch Kit and MintyBoost, the open-source hardware charger. You might wonder why someone might need all that in one box, but the idea is that you can use the printer to create the sorts of custom parts that don't necessarily come with the kits -- something like a band to go with your Timesquare watch, or a case for the MintyBoost. All told, you'll need $2,296 before you can make this your next impulse buy. Don't get too put off by the price, though -- the Replicator 2 by itself would cost $2,199 without any kits included.
Gigabot is a huge consumer 3D printer awaiting your Kickstarter dollars (video)
The standard crop of 3D printers are all well and good, but what about those times when you need to print something really, really big? Gigabot's hoping to fill in that gaping void with a build envelope of 24 x 24 x 24 inches -- 30 times the volume of a standard consumer device, by its calculations. The device is a beast, naturally -- and metal one, at that. It's so big, in fact, that it can support a full-sized laptop sitting atop an attached arm. The project is the brainchild of re:3D, an Austin-based startup, which has turned to Kickstarter to help bring the Gigabot into the world -- and from the looks of it, the company should hit its $40,000 goal, no problem. You can pick one of these up for a $2,500 pledge, which gets you everything you need to build one at home. Video of the printer in action after the break.%Gallery-181192%
Patient has 75 percent of his skull replaced with 3D-printed prosthetic
Earlier this week, an un-named man in the United States had 75 percent of his skull replaced with a 3D-printed plastic prosthetic, the first-known operation of its kind. The transplant was carried out by Oxford Performance Materials, which received approval to carry out such procedures from the US Food and Drug Administration last month. The company crafted the artificial skull based on a 3D scan of the patient's head, and the polyetherketoneketone prosthetic sports holes meant to encourage the growth of new cells and bone. According to the firm, about 500 people in the US could benefit from this technology each month. It's a fascinating implementation of a technology that's better associated with figurines and animation, but here's hoping we never witness the innovation firsthand.
Solidoodle 3D printing stores set to bring 'upscale fashion shopping' to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan
Looking for an "upscale fashion shopping experience" in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Belarus? Solidoodle's got your back. The company is set to launch 3D printing stores in those areas, featuring its low cost 3D printers and "lifestyle" items created on said devices. The Russian store is set to be the first to open this summer. The company also used its press conference today to announce plans to sell printers in Brazil, Canada, Korea and Japan, as well as a join initiative with Georgia Institute of Technology's Mars Society to test the devices in "harsh environments like Mars" (places like Utah, apparently). More info on the announcements can be found in an exceedingly enthusiastic press release after the break. Update: Solidoodle shot us a note to let us know that the retail locations won't be offer existing printers, but rather a "yet-to-be-announced model" from the company. A 4D printer, perhaps? Fingers crossed.
