MakerBot Industries

Once again, like a groundhog on February 2nd, the MakerBot software crew emerges from our den of creativity to blink at the sun and tell you that summer is only a few weeks away. But, unlike our friends of the Marmota monax species, we come bearing gifts. Gifts of software, firmware and shiny new features!

ReplicatorG 0034 Released

Since we last announced a new ReplicatorG, we’ve quietly released a few intermediate versions, but for most users this jump will be from ReplicatorG 0029 direct to ReplicatorG 0034. That jump includes a lot of under-the-hood changes and a few UI and usability improvements. They include: faster two-stage warm-up for printing, new UI for the Bot Control Panel, Nozzle Offset tweaking, alternative preferences system, spelling mistake fixes, updated print anchor code, updated start and end gcode, fixed dual extrusion bugs, skeinforge 47 for The Replicator, new GCode commands, and much more.

Installers

To make our Windows and Mac friends happy, we have wrapped ReplicatorG in installers!  And we’ve even made some instructions about how to use them! Sadly, our Linux users are stuck with ye-olde tar.gz installer for the moment.

And more!

After the break, we’ll tell you a little bit about some user interface changes in this new version of ReplicatorG.

Replicator Firmware 5.2 Released!

This firmware is smarter than ever! On some of our first batch of bots, the distance between the Right and Left extruder is further than expected. Replicator Firmware 5.2 includes tools to customize that setting, so your dual material prints can be more accurate than ever. To update your firmware on The Replicator, follow the instructions in the Upload New Firmware wizard found within ReplicatorG’s “Machines” menu.  Make sure you choose “MakerBot Replicator (MightyBoard)” !

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Amy Buser Reconstructed

People have been using the Microsoft Kinect with 3D printing for a while now using excellent programs like Kyle McDonald’s KinectToStl.  However, until recently, most programs can only capture one side of an object which creates a kind of relief sculpture.  To get around this limitation, you could take multiple scans and manually merge them. (hard)  Others like the blablabLAB calibrates and positions multiple Kinect sensors around a scene. (expensive) Last year Microsoft demonstrated something called Kinect Fusion that allows you to carry the Kinect around and dynamically capture all angles of a scene in real time.  Unfortunately, they did not release any software.  Profactor has just released a beta version of free software called ReconstructMe that works a lot like Kinect Fusion.

I’ve scanned a number of things so far, check out the reconstructme tag on Thingiverse!  ReconstructMe works a lot like the Polhemus scanner we used to scan Stephen Colbert where you walk around and wave the Kinect across a scene to capture all sides.  Although the resolution is lower, at least you don’t have to dust your hair in corn starch!  As a matter of fact I’ve found the best way to scan a person is to have them sit in an office chair, point the Kinect at their head, and then slowly spin themselves in a circle.  Once you have a raw scan, I suggest using the free version of NetFabb Studio Basic to rotate it, Cut away the parts you don’t want, and then Repair it to make it solid and suitable for 3D printing on your MakerBot.  The Ponoko blog has an excellent video explaining the process.  You can also place objects on a turntable, like a lazy susan and spin it by hand.  Just make sure that anything ReconstructMe sees within it’s scanning area all rotates in the same way.

There are some limitations to ReconstructMe.  It is Windows only.  In order to do real time reconstruction, you need a fairly powerful video card as it does the calculations on the GPU.  There is an offline recording option that allows you to record on a slower computer and then process it later using a more powerful computer.  However, you don’t get the realtime feedback alerting you when you move too fast or go out of alignment.  Due to the low resolution of the Kinect camera, it’s not that great for scanning small things.  For that, you might want to try something like Spinscan.  However, for scanning large objects like people – it’s awesome!  So go download ReconstructMe and be sure to tag anything you make on Thingiverse with the reconstructme tag.

Tony Buser Reconstructed by tbuser

I made a 360 degree scan of myself using reconstructme.net a kinect and an office chair. Quality would probably be better if you had someone else to wave the kinect around your head. At the least, they'd be able to capture the top of your head. :)

This thing brought to you by

Amy Buser Reconstructed by tbuser

Scanned my wife using a Kinect and software from reconstructme.net This time instead of turning in a chair, I waved the kinect around her manually.

This thing brought to you by

Christoph Heindl by tbuser

I cleaned up this sample scan created with a Kinect and the ReconstructMe software from reconstructme.net/2012/02/10/upper-body-cad-models

This thing brought to you by

OpenJsCad: like OpenSCAD, but using JavaScript

There’s always room for another open source Solid CAD modeller! While I’m a huge fan of OpenSCAD, it does have some limitations.  While you can do some amazingly complex operations in OpenSCAD, you cannot reassign values to variables.  This means that a lot of the usual programming techniques are simply not applicable to OpenSCAD.  With OpenJSCad, you can use dynamic arrays and store solids in variables.

So, if you’re rocking Chrome or a WebGL browser, check out joostn’s OpenJSCad!

ReplicatorG 0029 is now available. This release is a minor update, with only one new feature, one click Print-O-Matic defaults. MakerBot operators indicated that they wanted a better and easier way to put Print-O-Matic settings back to the Defaults we recommend. So we added a ‘Defaults’ panel to Print-O-Matic for resetting to the Factory defaults for all of our Stepper based extruders. Since there are a lot of new Bot Operators during the Holiday season, we choose to roll this now to make it easier to tinker with their new bots.

If you are new to 3D printing, this is a really helpful set of buttons. New users can now test and experiment with Print-O-Matic settings to their hearts’ content, safe in the knowledge the factory defaults for Print-O-Matic are a button click away!

Ye olde workhorse of 3D printing, ReplicatorG,  just got a new release!   Along with the shiny shiny new revision number (which is a perfect number!). it has some great added features.

• Pre-heat for build? Check.
• Build right from the STL View window? Check.
• Better support for international number formats? Check.
• Temperature info right in the Machine Status Bar? Check.
• Squashed some small user reported annoyances? Check.

If you do a lot of 3d printing you’ll love the new updates in ReplicatorG.   The Pre-Heat system will speed up printing on older bots. The ‘Print from STL View’ will make it easier to just click ‘print’ and go.  Plus with temperature info in the Bot Status Bar at the top of ReplicatorG, gone are the days of wondering ‘Is that Bot at temperature yet?’

Overall this update doesn’t add any crazy new features. It just makes printing a little faster, a little easier, and a little more fun.  But why take my word for it?  Why not go download it for yourself.

iPhone dock created in Shapesmith and printed on Thing-O-Matic

How can I model the thing I want to print?

As the population of 3D printer operators continues to grow, answering that question will become more important than ever. Combining parametric modeling and a clean UI, browser-based Shapesmith hopes to provide an open source answer.

The developer, MakerBot operator, and Thingizen Benjamin Nortier tells us all about it.

Q: Who are you and what is Shapesmith?

I’m a software developer with an Engineering background and I’m also a 3D printing enthusiast. Shapesmith is a browser-based 3D modeling tool that I’ve been working on, and am very excited about. It is aimed at users who want to create high-quality parametric models for 3D printing, but who don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on expensive 3D CAD software.

I wanted to design an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) after being inspired by DIY Drones. I realised that it would be very attractive to 3D print aeroplane parts and I was using tools like Blender and Sketchup to design some airfoils or wings.

Because I had worked on a 3D CAD tool for electromagnetic simulation earlier in my career, I was very dissatisfied by the free design tools that were available. This dissatisfaction was reinforced when I bought a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic and started to design some models. So I decided to try and make something better.

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We constantly get great ideas for additions or improvements to ReplicatorG from our users. They range from the fantastic to the fantastical. Almost always it’s hard to tell someone: “No, sorry, we can’t work on that right now.” Since our hardware and software are Open Source, it’s possible for people to add their own features to it, but it’s not always practical.

I’m sure many of our readers know that what Open Source is, but I want to take this paragraph to explain as a refresher. While there is some lawyering as to the exact definition of Open Source, the general idea of Open Source is: Users get the design docs as well as the product, so they can understand and modify what they use. For MakerBot that means our hardware designs as well as our Source Code are available on the web for our users (and anyone else) to inspect, mutate, or just ponder. A great example of how open source super-charges innovation is some of the great work Rob Giseburt has done to tweak his own setup, and support the MakerBot community. Because we open our designs to the community, Rob has been able to create nifty hardware add-ons as well as some great software updates.

We’d like to make this kind of innovation easier for MakerBot users, to help them expand, tweak, and improve their own setup. To that end, we are hosting a “Tinkering on ReplicatorG” class for the New York MakerBot User Group and other makers. It will be an introduction to updating and changing ReplicatorG. The class will be on December 8th, from 6:30 to 8:30PM, at the MakerBot Workshop (314 Dean St in Brooklyn). Hosted by MakerBot’s own Software and Support folks, it will be an hour of setup, tutorial, and discussion, followed by an hour of DIY workshopping. We will have experienced ‘botters on hand to answer questions, help out, and give suggestions.

If you every said “Geez, it would be really cool if this window did X” or “Wow, if only I could make the program also Y” this is your chance for some hands-on help doing that. All you need to bring is a laptop that has a USB port and runs Windows, Mac, or Linux. Well, that and some curiosity and creativity!

The Skinny:
Tinkering on ReplicatorG Class
Dec 8th, from 6:30PM to 8:30PM
@ The MakerBot Workshop
314 Dean Street (between 3rd & 4th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Hot on the heels of ReplicatorG 0026, we are already releasing a new version, ReplicatorG 0027. Most users will see no major feature additions in this version, but there are a stack of bugfixes, including the automated build platform belt issue, as well as  some important user interface improvements and other tweaks. However, for advanced users, we did include support for our experimental DualStrusion process into this release as a full feature, so it’s easier to get those awesome multi-color prints. The UI tweaks come compliments of Rob Giseburt, one of our community contributors. He had a great idea for a design to simplify skeinforge settings selection, and it worked so well we included in into our codebase. Many thanks to Rob!

Some details on the interface tweaks after the jump!

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Autodesk, the developer of Maya and 3DS Max, is helping out the 99% with their improved Assistance Program.

The program has always been available to students and educators, but they’ve expanded it to include veterans, and unemployed architects, engineers and designers.

Awesome, Autodesk!

This guest post is part of Project Shellter.

Tip o’ the hat to Blake at CG General Store!

It’s awesome to have a robot that makes plastic thing for you at your beck and call. However, these wee beasties can get a bit unruly sometimes.

We here at MakerBot have created a feedback form so that all kinds of 3D Printer Developers can get good idea about what works best, worst, and ugliest of using 3D Printers. We all want to solve the most annoying problems first, and this helps us identify them, and fix them quickly.

There is a quick 1 page feedback form, or you can fill out, and extra 2 pages for people that want to give more in-depth feedback. You can also fill out the feedback form for any other Open Source 3D printers if you want. We will collect and send those results to their respective creators, to help cooperatively make all kinds of 3d printing more awesome.

(Random Plant Photo is CC by asgw. Thanks for sharing the photo asgw!)