Thursday, November 28, 2013

5 reasons we are grateful for 3D printing

When our day-to-days are spent fixating on what we need and what’s next, how cool is it to designate a day exclusively to being grateful for what we have?


Rhetorical question: It’s really cool.


Here are just a few reasons 3D printing gives us something to be grateful for:




  1. We’re in the future.



    We’ve gotten used to having the Internet in our pockets over the last few years, and now we’re at a point where we can weightlessly and instantly send coffee mugs, pairs of shoes, watches, belts, and even car parts across geographies and time zones, all with digital data. Now. Today. We have this technology because our peers and colleagues dreamed it up and made it real. With access to a 3D printer, we can push a button tonight and wake up to our imagination in 3D. Experts and novices, young and old: 3D printing is here and happening.






  1. Unique problems get unique solutions



    3D printing is powering some much-talked-about breakthroughs in engineering, as well as some incredible innovations in medicine. Personalized surgical kits and patient-specific devices are a file and a click away from reality. Thousands upon thousands of medical and dental solutions are already being printed, and this is distinct from the current explorations of bio-printing with human tissues. Prosthetics and braces can be custom fit to the patient and 3D printed to match existing or pre-existing anatomies. Not only did a man 3D print a prosthetic hand for his son, but an animal enthusiast used 3D printing to create a prosthetic for a duck with a malformed foot. The possibilities are endless, with impacts both great and small, and everything is scalable to what matters to you.






  1. Complexity is free



    Striped shirts cost more than solids. You want your latte with soy? That’s an extra 50 cents. We have options all around us that better suit our style or flavor, but even the smallest personalization tends to come at a cost. Not so with 3D printing! A 3D printer relies on your file to create your design, and it follows that design layer by layer. A 3D printer can make sugar sculptures just as easily as sugar cubes. If it’s free, why not have fun with it? It’s that kind of choice that makes this technology so sweet.






  1. It’s nice to our planet



    3D printing creates by building up one layer at a time, attaching materials only where they are needed. This means that by its very nature, 3D printing is a waste-free technology. What’s more, many of the materials used can be recycled or composted. And because 3D printing relies on weightless, shapeless, instantaneously shareable 3D printing files, tremendous amounts of inventory and cross-continental, cross-oceanic transport can be cut down, making a big dent in the carbon footprint of making and manufacturing. About time, too!






  1. It gives us something to look forward to



    Wrapping one’s head around 3D printing can be more or less difficult, depending on how new it is to you. For those dwindling beings that have yet to come around to email (if such beings still exist), 3D printing is nothing short of voodoo. For those that grow up with it, though? Designing for 3D and thinking in 3D terms is set to evolve into a new literacy the world over, and kids are the ultimate boundary pushers. As “Why not?” replaces “Why?”, we are sure to be awed and delighted with what the future holds.






by Saskia via Cubify

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Solved with a Scan: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3D Print Clue

Being an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.) isn’t all cutting edge science, high tech labs, solving riddles and having great hair. Come to think of it though, that’s a pretty central part of the gig, and ABC’s new Marvel series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has hit the ground running with an impressive arsenal of powerful gadgets to aid the agents’ investigations (and of course, that hair).



In the latest episode, “The Well”, premiering on November 19, 2013, the agents call on 3DS’ Sense 3D scanner to set them on the trail of the latest ne’er-do- wells. With access to the tree that once encased the mysterious artifact in question, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team scans and digitally transmits 3D data to their lab, which is rightfully outfitted with a Cube 3D printer. Using the 3D print as a clue, they are able to consult with an expert in the field who recognizes it as the fabled… Well, you’ll just have to watch to find out.



Nothing like a little 3D restoration project to return peace and order to the civilized world!




by Alyssa via Cubify