Dragon Bookmark

Simple and stylish, this is dragon bookmark by roland is definitely up as my next print in the queue.  One of the cool things about intricate flat prints such as this dragon is that they should, for the most part, take about the same amount of time to print as a flat rectangular plank of the same volume of plastic.  Sure, some settings – especially those that include extra layers at the edge or ones that slow down the print speed for the outlines – might decrease the overall print time.  However, with such a thin piece the time differential is basically negligible.

For most product having a more intricate design means more creation time, more machine time, more production resources.  This is one of the reasons that 3D design and printing are so very exciting.  With 3D printing, you basically get all the intricate designs and features you want without any additional cost!  Your imagination¹ is your only real limitation.

Untitled by Roland

This thing brought to you by

1. Or the imagination of your designers! [↩]

It’s time! Find out who has been lucky enough to win their very own 3D printer, courtesy of MakerBot Industries…

We collaborated with 3D Artist for the competition and giveaway and were charged with judging the 48 fantastic submissions. It was a tough decision, but we have winners!

The competition asked entrants to design their own pet monster – this could be an adorable companion or a fearsome critter; the idea was to encourage artists to use their imagination, to be innovative within a small footprint.

Artists could use any 3D software to design their monsters, but they had to generate a manifold (watertight) mesh suitable for 3D printing. This meant things like feathers, small joints and thin clothing was going to be a particular challenge.

Characters also had to be designed within 100x100x120mm, with the ability to have different parts printed in different colours. ‘Makerbotability’ was an important part of the design – and judging – process.

Runners up

Our three runners up have each had their designs 3D printed at the MakerBot Industries HQ, soon to be shipped to the talented creators. We can’t wait to see the photos of the winners with their new 3D-printed pets!

Runner up #1: Ben Malouf – aka BenitoSanduchi – with Fat Bunbun. 3D Artist says: “What a monstrously greedy bunny? We could easily imagine this little fella sat on the 3D Artist desks, munching away. Just as long as he sticks to carrots – we’ve got first dibs on the chocolate biscuits!”

Runner up #2: T. Shawn Johnson – aka Whystler – with Teacup Dragon Puppet. 3D Artist says: “This is such a clever idea! While a dragon isn’t a new concept, it’s been scaled down to live in a teacup designed to move: turn her head and make her speak using a tiny rod below her body.”

Runner up #3: Matt Thorup – aka Redbeard – with Pug Monster Pet. 3D Artist says: “This is adorable: cute from the front, nasty on the reverse! We love his quizzical expression and helpless pose – can we adopt him, please?”

And the winner is…

Andreas Böhler – aka andreas – with Pet monster Blobby. Andreas submitted a handful of charismatic monsters, making the hardest part of the judging process choosing which of his entries was the ultimate winning design!

Andrea submitted a lot of  awesome monsters to the contest! This one prints really well and got a lot of likes on Thingiverse!

Check out a bunch of other wonderful entries on Thingiverse.

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!

Dragon Head Trophy by Tony Buser

A dragon headed printer?!  THIS is why I love DIY 3D printing!!!  Not only is this a great mashup, but it’s also a super sweet looking print.  It’s also a constant reminder that I don’t have enough dragon heads on my stuff. ^1 2 3

Untitled by tbuser

This thing brought to you by

1. Plus, you know, there’s the ecological impact of mounting real dragon heads on printers. [↩]
2. And the smell. [↩]
3. Even dragon pelts are smelly. [↩]

Drag(on) Racing

Last night Bre asked me if I wanted to have a design race.  Yes, yes I do. ¹  The rules he proposed were:

1. An agreed upon common word or theme
2. 25 minutes to upload the design to Thingiverse

Since he made up the rules, I got to choose the topic.  Here there would be DRAGONS!

And 24 minutes later, Thingiverse was two dragon designs richer with Bre’s Dragon Blocks and my Dragon design.

So, help us out – which design would you choose?

1. Apparently had Bre forgotten what happened the last time someone challenged me.  Poor poor laser dinosaur… [↩]