At Comic-Con last week, the most frequent question we got was, “who’s using it?”

Well not only are the writers and producers of Futurama using a MakerBot, they are making characters from the show and giving them away on the Futurama Live! weekly webcast. Here’s a still shot of Co-Executive Producer Patric Verrone from the show last Wednesday next to the Futurama Thing-O-Matic. Click the image or the link above to watch the show, and scroll down to see what he looks like with a MakerBotted Brain Slug on his head.

Last week, Creators/Executive Producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen joined some writers and actors from the show to talk about upcoming episodes and the history of the show. We got to hear the voices of Fry, Bender, Professor Farnsworth, Kiff, and Zapp Brannigan, and at a couple times during the webcast, the group took questions from viewers.

Get this: One lucky questioner was awarded a Bender figure made right on the Thing-O-Matic, so be sure to watch the next one and chime in with questions! It is insanely cool to see this group using a MakerBot, especially to make exclusive copies of the show’s characters. Mr. Verrone even took one of the Benders to Comic-Con and gave it out during the Futurama panel. It is safe to say they are as big of fans of MakerBot as we are of Futurama.

Extra! These guys assembled their Thing-O-Matic themselves. Wicked.

Whenever we meet MakerBotters out in the wild, we remind them that they are in excellent company. Here’s one more for the list. Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and Patric Verrone, the executive producers of Futurama, have a MakerBot in their office! Watch the video above to hear how much they love using it.

Thingiverse fans probably already know that Futurama is a popular theme for designs. So how freaking cool is it to find out that they, including the creator of The Simpsons, use a MakerBot on the daily? And in their downtime, they’re scanning each other with a Kinect.

Let me ask you: do you think these guys should have a Thingiverse page?

Hat tip: @BrianKayton

Send this video to the fathers in your life this weekend! 
And check out what else you can do with a MakerBot on Father’s Day!

Did you all catch the adorable R.Maker Adventure at the end of S02E10?

Don’t let the week end without subscribing on YouTube or iTunes to MakerBot TV!

In this episode we visit the home (/printing factory) of MakerBot enthusiast Mark Cohen. When I met with Mark he had 5 working MakerBots in his garage (he now has 7!). Find out how he’s managed to sustain his hobby of printing by… printing. And treat yourself to a tiny dose of awesome MakerBotted stop motion animation.

We’ve been up to all kinds of fun at MakerBot these days – announcing The Makerbot Replicator, revealing an all new version of Thingiverse, killing it at CES. And now I’m pleased to have the honor of dropping one more awesome bomb on your day – this video!

This all new stop-animation music video was made with Michael Curry’s playset characters and a number of other MakerBot-made pieces! The princesses story was written by MakerBot CEO and co-founder Bre Pettis and the song was written and performed by local Brooklyn musicians Scary Car (Bryan Scary and Giulio Carmassi). It’s fun, it’s catchy, and incredibly awesome!

ABS, PLA, PVA, Oh My! In this episode of MakerBot TV we explore the ins and outs of our three printable plastics. Find out what they’re made of and how to print with them. Also hear about the tiny green men that are invading the Bot Cave! Don’t miss this stellar episode of MakerBot TV! Thank you Thingiverse users tbuser for the f-bomb design and gpvillamil for the flying saucer and tiny green men. 

With projects like the MakerBot Zoetrope animation appearing at the Detroit Maker Faire and a few 3D artists jumping feet first into the world of modeling for 3D printing, the 3D graphics and animation world now recognizes the value to a digital artist offered by a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic on a designer’s desk.

Check out this great article in the latest issue of 3D Artist Magazine from the UK, introducing MakerBot and Thingiverse to their community. (And we encourage you to check out other great 3D modeling, painting, lighting, and rigging articles in the rest of the magazine!) MakerBot looks forward to more cross-pollination between DIY fabbers and those who have until now have worked exclusively in the digital realm.

Welcome to the physical world, friends! We can’t wait to print out your Yodas and Octopi and anything else you dream up to share with us on Thingiverse!

Edit: Please note, the group photograph in the bottom left of the page above was taken by Richard Allen and appears in our blog with his kind permission. David Neff, our general manager who is also a professional photographer, is responsible for the other MakerBot-related images.  We apologize for the confusion.

3D printed zoetrope

Each of these twelve sections was created with a 3D printer and then put together to show a figure walking.  Old school zoetropes had a thin wall all around the edge with slits through which you can observe the action.  As the zoetrope was rotated, the small glimpses through the holes in the wall would create the illusion of animation.  Newer zoetropes tend to use synchronized strobe lights so that the light comes on for a brief moment exactly when each segment reaches the point in the rotation where the prior segment was when the light was last on.  While still a work in progress the artist, Sam Ellis, has updated his website to show some more pictures and details.  He’s even promised to share the code for his work!

While we’ve seen animation using 3D printing before, this is probably the best example of something we could all be doing with our MakerBots right now.  Here’s what I’m hoping for – a stop motion video or zoetrope with a Gangsta.

Apple made with 3D printing technology, Apple Core Stop Motion Video Art

“Het Klokhuis” (The Apple Core) is a Dutch youth science show which covers all sorts of sciencey things.¹ The interesting thing about their stop motion animation introduction sequence is that it uses 3D printed models!

1. Photo from creativereview.co.uk [↩]