3D Prototyping Comes Home — Almost.
Ever since reading Eric Drexler’s ground-breaking Engines of Creation over 20 years ago, I have yearned for its promise of at-home 3-dimensional object fabrication from a ‘vat’ of material. The molecular assembler is probably still a decade away but affordable 3D rapid prototyping (3D Printing) is just around the corner.
For some time now I’ve been following progress with the “RepRap Project” as well as the similar but less widely supported “Fab@Home Project“. While these are both immensely interesting — one day I would like to build one — for the time being a much more enticing new option has just surfaced: shapeways.com (also, just found a similar but less sophisticated US-based site: Ponoko.com)
For as long as I can remember, 3-dimensional shaping and thinking have been a strong suit of mine. From early-childhood soap carving to current-era marble stone sculpture, I have imagined my 3-dimensional daydreams coming to life. Always at the top of the class in Engineering Drawing — I especially enjoyed solving hidden line problems in orthographic projections — my fascination with solid geometry and computer-aided 3D design continues to grow exponentially. Perhaps one day I will find myself more actively exercising these talents and putting them to good use.
I’ve looked on with envy as 3D designer Bathsheba creates beautiful mathematical objects with direct-metal printing. I could do this! One day I would love to find my mathematical art on exhibit at one of the annual Bridges conference.
Ever since version 1.0, I’ve been an avid fan of Rhinocerous, one of the leading 3D modeling packages that is especially strong with non-uniform rational B-spline (NURB) design. Finding shapeways gives me the inspiration I needed to fire up Rhino and begin designing!
3D printing is here! More Design tools: Blender and PyTopMod
Fab @ Home
Shapeways
In: 3D, Art, Must Experience, Technology, Tools · Tagged with: Ponoko, Shapeways