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.

   
   

2. 
   

   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.

   
   

3. 
   

   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.

   
   

4. 
   

   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!

   
   

5. 
   

   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

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

Art and 3D Printing: Van Gogh Sunflowers

3D printing is used in many industries, including automotive, fashion, and even art! With the help of 3D printing, artists were able to reproduce Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting into a 3-dimensional masterpiece to make it look like a physical sculpture-like piece of art.

With 3D software, the artists created the sunflowers and then added layer upon layer of 3-dimensional brush strokes to give the illusion of the pained strokes on the original canvas.

The file was then printed on a 3D Systems ProJet 3500 using the visijet-x material and then cast in a silicon bronze. The new piece of art is on display in London at the Fine Art Society.

Try recreating your own fine art masterpiece with Cubify Sculpt.

by Saskia via Cubify

Throw Back Thursday: 1989 interview with Chuck Hull

Did you know 3D printing has been around for over 30 years? Check out this awesomely 80′s Good Morning America interview with our founder, Chuck Hull, from 1989.

by Saskia via Cubify

Adventures of a Cube Printer Extraordinaire – Riley goes to Hawaii

Never doubt the highly imaginative mind of a growing adolescent! The famous psychologist Jean Piaget published his first scientific paper at age 10, and French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical calculator as a teenager. While not everyone grew up as a child prodigy, anyone given the right tools and ambitious attitude can strike genius. Take the story of Riley, equipped with a second generation Cubify Cube, he distributed a hundreds of 3D printed models through the help of 3D Systems and Kickstarter.

Over the past summer, Riley had the once in a lifetime experience to travel to Honolulu, Hawaii– not for the warm weather and surf– but to intern at Skaai Ventures, an up-and-coming biotech company. After meeting Skaai’s CEO Hank Wuh, at a 3D printing event last May, Riley joined the Skaii team to assist as a summer intern.

When they needed a custom built plastic part for the project, Riley offered to print the part himself using the Cube 3D printer. According to Riley, the process saved a the company a lot of time:

“I finished the first design in about thirty minutes. Normally, getting it manufactured would have taken over a week in turnaround time, and cost over a hundred dollars. Luckily enough, 3D Systems sent a cube along with me.”

Hank Wuh was so satisfied with the part, he bought a Cube for Skaai’s office:

“We got the initial first design and over 5 iterations done over the course of three weeks, and my supervisor at Skai was so happy with the printer that he purchased one to keep in the office for in-house manufacturing.”

Riley enjoyed printing parts that had real world applications. So when he returned from Honolulu, he started a Kickstarter project to distribute a design for a ring which shot rubber bands.

“My dad helped me put together a marketing campaign around it, and we were fully funded halfway through the campaign. Normally, kickstarter delivery time is usually three to four weeks delayed, but we managed to get our delay down to less than a week by using our home lab setup, printing over one hundred rings in five days. A backer even commented that we had the fastest delivery he’d ever seen on our page.”

Riley’s not sure what he plans to print next do next with his Cube, but given the success of his Kickerstarter campaign, the future is looking bright!

by Saskia via Cubify

We’ve Got You Covered – New iPhone 5s Cases Released

The new iPhone 5s cases are out, so snap them up soon! There are four different options available, and all of them are fantastic. We have the Ribbon, the Monolith, the Wave and the Godiva Clutch cases available for order now. Each have their own distinctive style and will help you show yours. The Ribbon is effortless modernity, the Monolith is simplicity in clean lines, the Wave is color and sound in motion, and the Godiva Clutch is chain mail fashion at its best. Any one of these showstoppers will have your friends asking where you got it, but more importantly they aim to express the limitless vision of 3D printing available at Cubify. They are available in a range of colors to further express your creative self into the world as you live with your phone day to day. This case will be with you as life happens, all the while making a statement about your unique vision.

by Saskia via Cubify

Featuring Hiroshi Yoshii’s Magnificent Creature Collection

We are very excited to welcome the marvelous creations of Hiroshi Yoshii to Cubify.com. Yoshii is one of the most acclaimed digital artists in Japan and has created over 1,000 3D characters as private works. His designs often sell out faster than he can produce them! That is where the efficiency of 3D printing comes in. 3D printing each unique character allows Yoshii to keep up with the growing demand for his lovable characters while maintaining the outstanding quality his fans are use to. The figures you see here on Cubify were hand-picked from this selection of 1,000 characters to create a collection 3D printed figures. The lineup on our website will continue to grow on a regular basis.

“My characters are created by a harmonious combination of beauty, ludicrousness, and humor,” says Tokyo-based character designer Hiroshi Yoshii. Since 1999, he has created an original creature almost every single day. Yoshii calls his project TDW for “The Daily Work,” and in addition to being quite an adorable triumph, it’s also a thriving example of the artist’s need to make real all of the wonderful ideas in his head.

“I have a few thousand ideas stocked up in my head. When I am doing my sketching the characters seem to call out to me, ‘Make ME! ‘Make ME!’ So when that happens, I put them in to my list of pieces to make next.”

Through a laborious process, Yoshii also creates limited edition art toys by hand, which routinely sell out at shops in Japan and the USA. He is excited to work with Cubify in a collaboration that can bring his wonderful creatures to the masses and you at home. Buy your very own Hiroshi Yoshii character here.

by Saskia via Cubify