You’ve heard about Michael Curry’s Rocket Playset and the MakerBot Astronauts who live there. So you must know that these astronauts love adventure – over their lifetimes they will be traveling to the farthest reaches of Thingiverse to discover the unknown. Follow along on their adventures or take them on adventures of your own.
What lands will your astronauts traveling to? Take some pictures of your MakerBot Astronauts in the wild and show us what kinds of adventures they’ve been having!
As a special treat for CES this year, MakerBot posed a set of provocative questions:
Remember the playsets, dollhouses, action figures, army figurines, and plastic ponies you played with so passionately in your youth? Dreaming up secret worlds — or creating narratives with friends, neighbors, classmates, and siblings?
Well, what if you could produce these tools of imagination with the push of a button? And what if you could roll up your sleeves and invent your own characters, furnishings, and buildings — and share them not only with your children, nieces, nephews, neighbors, or friends, but also, and instantly, with the rest of the world?
Handcrafted dollhouses are nothing new to the serious Maker, but MakerBot is taking steps to make this practice easier and more widely adopted than ever before. For the rest of January, MakerBot and a squadron of Makers will be introducing the MakerBot Playsets to the Thingiverse: 1:18 scale dollhouses as full of imagination and mischief as craft, modeling techniques, and cleverness.
MakerBot’s own design superstar Michael “Skimbal” Curry, creator of such Thingiverse megahits as the Turtle Shell Racers and Gothic Cathedral playset, starts the ball rolling by architecting a pair of MakerBot Playset buildings. Introducing two new Thingiverse superstars: Cushwa and PrettySmallThings are doing a tremendous job furnishing these playsets with their imaginations.1
Long Long ago in a land far away, there was a little castle surrounded by an industrious town. The townspeople loved their little castle and wanted it to be perfect. But the little castle was empty. Its owner had left long ago, taking all the fine things with him and locking them away.
The Townspeople resolved to re-furnish there castle. They learned to craft and create. Making chest and chairs, tables and beds, gadgets and gizmo's, they filled the castle with things that reflected themselves and their experiences. They created so many things that at the end of each day it looked like little castle couldn't hold any more.
But the castle had a secret. Every night, it grew. Sprouting new towers, chambers, and cellars. The town's people would awaken and rejoice, ready for another day of crafting and creating. The town was proud of its magical castle, and everyone wanted to fill it with the best that they could offer.
But wasn't a magical castle, it was a MakerBot Castle.
Each night the daring Damsels deftly deployed their wondrous Replicator, creating new rooms to extend the structure. Floor by floor they built up into the sky. Until one day the little castle had become the tallest and grandest in all the Thingiverse.
And the small town around the castle had grown into a great city, filled with the incredible things and spectacular ideas. The Makers, Crafters, and Hackers had learned from furnishing the castle. They had perfected their crafts and honed their skills. When they looked out on the world from the tallest tower, and saw that it too was a place they could rebuild. And they spread across the land, sharing their knowledge and teaching others how to improve the world around them.Created by Thingiverse user Skimbal, designer of the Turtle Shell Racers, MakerBot Botmobile and the Gothic Cathedral Playset.
The daring MakerBot Damsels are in no manner of distress -- they deftly define their own world of wondrous wizardry. Making, Creating, and Crafting, they dexterously develop designs for castles, creatures, and contraptions.
Deploying Cupcakes, Thing-O-Matics, and Replicators, dozens of Damsels distribute production precisely for punctual perfection.
Dastardly deed doers and nefarious ninja gnomes beware, the Damsels don’t take kindly to klepto capers and would-be kidnappers.Created by Thingiverse user Skimbal, designer of the Turtle Shell Racers, MakerBot Botmobile and the Gothic Cathedral Playset.
Tonight at 9pm EST sharp (6pm PST) on Make: Live, hosts Becky Stern and Matt Richardson will direct their attention to the world of DIY 3D printing.
This short 30-40min episode will feature lots for the MakerBot world to love! Catch segments with MakerBot staff such as an interview with CEO Bre Pettis, a Tinkercad demo by hacker/educator Liz Arum, and a teardown of the Turtle Shell Racers from the MakerBot Raceway at World Maker Faire 2011 with modeler/maker Michael Curry !
sternlab.org/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Stern
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Part of a ongoing project scanning the heads of bloggers, artists, DIYers, makers, musicians, hackers and anybody else we think is notable.
Made with a Polhemus 3d scanner at MakerBot.
We'll be scanning a tv personality next week and so we are renting a Polhemus high end laser scanner. We needed to test it out. Bre Pettis: Scanner Guinea Pig.
Update: Bre here, Skimbal is an awesome designer who has just really impressed everyone in the MakerBot community. I’m excited to announce that we just hired him to make awesome projects and document them here at MakerBot Industries full time. He’ll be moving to Brooklyn to design, make, and document awesome MakerBottable things. To say we’re excited at MakerBot to bring him on board is an serious understatement. Be prepared for more Skimbal awesomeness coming soon to a MakerBot near you!
Turtle Shell Racer – High Power Edition by Skimbal
We got a glimpse of Skimbal’s Turtle Shell Racers in a recent photo from the Detroit MakerFaire, but a picture is even better. If you ever had a doubt about the raw potential and power inherent in the humble MakerBot Cupcake CNC, please allow such misconceptions to be thusly dispelled. Besides the incredible amount of work that went into designing and printing these, Skimbal obviously put a lot of work into the documentation as well. He’s included all the STL’s files you’d need to print one, a list of materials, a PDF of how to assemble them, and, of course, a few videos of them in action! Well done, sir! Well done!
Michael Curry, also known as Skimbal on Thingiverse, was recently interviewed by NPR regarding his incredible designs on display at Maker Faire Kansas City. Michael discusses how his MakerBot 3D printer has been a creative outlet and even how it has also helped his career in this down economy. If you haven’t seen Michael’s work yet, you definitely need to take a look at his “Designed Things” page on Thingiverse. His designs are usually large multi-print pieces, incredibly intricate, and seem to always push the boundaries of what’s possible with a single 3D printer at your disposal.
MakerBot Cupcake operator and Thingiverse champion Skimbal has done it again. 1 This is not a guy who does anything half way. 2 While not a prolific designer, his works have easily become some of the most epic and memorable pieces ever printed on a 3D printer. 3
Have you ever wished you could be in two places at once?
Is the thought of getting up for that early morning TV Interview really cramping your nightlife?
Never Fear! The Talking head is Here!
Just pipe an audio signal through and watch as the Talking Head comes to life and lip sinks your prerecorded interview.
Guaranteed to be totally effective on TV audiences everywhere.
Here are some video's of it in actionyoutu.be/8QQwjhJsz18youtu.be/U_PERylb8xM
A Collaboration between Michael Curry and Jestin Stoffel of the Cowtown Computer Congress
The Glasses are a scaled down version of thingiverse.com/thing:5544
This year instead of sending Christmas Cards I decided to use my Makerbot to make something unique for my friends. And naturally the project took on a life of its own.
The final result was 20 Lego Men at 4x the normal size. Each inscribed with a holiday greeting.
Before dispatching them off to the world, I decided it would be nice to take all 20 brothers on a photographic tour of Kansas City.
I love the shape of these vintage erasers. When I saw a whole bag of them for only 99 cents at Office Depot, I had this idea for a little office toy. 3D printing fanatics, here is my gift to you.
All the instructions for this project are on instructables : instructables.com/id/Eraser-ball-3DP/…
