9 ms·

You’ll Download Physical Objects Sooner Than You Think

67 points by coolrhymes 15y ago

sp332 15y ago
How can you have an article about downloadable physical objects without mentioning Shapeways? http://www.shapeways.com/model/227707/ http://www.shapeways.com/model/227707/ The uploader chooses the materials the object is available in (Shapeways will print it in that material and send it to you), or whether you can download the file and print it yourself. http://www.shapeways.com/model/449442/the_piratebay_ship.html?gid=mg http://www.shapeways.com/model/449442/the_piratebay_ship.htm...
- ff0066mote 15y ago
  They also neglected to mention http://www.thingiverse.com/ http://www.thingiverse.com/
Zirro 15y ago
This is bound to disrupt a lot of industries. I can already imagine the massive lobbying efforts and propaganda against it.
- freehunter 15y ago
  My dad owns a tool and die design/engineering shop, they generally make fairly small, specialized parts for automotive design. When I was young, I went to work with him to see what he does, and noticed a wax model of the project they were working on. He said they model the project by hand to get a good vision of what they were designing (this was before 3D CAD came around). When they were nearing completion, they'd present the wax model to the customer to make sure all the specifications were right. If they were, my dad would complete the design and send it out to the die makers. The die makers loved having a handmade physical model of what they had asked for before they paid for the completed design (which could have had unseen errors). Fast forward a few years, and my dad acquired a competitor who happened to have a 3D printer. Now my dad's company would make the design, print it out, and show it to the customer. One customer did not like this at all, so much in fact that they sued my dad's company. If the engineers could make these parts themselves, how long until they could make them with metal? How long before the die makers were turned redundant? The die makers have a lot of money invested in very expensive equipment to make these parts, and now 3D printers can make plastic replicas of them much cheaper (though there are obvious downsides in terms of scale and tolerance). When the company filed suit, they dropped the contract with my dad's firm (which happened to be the die maker's only design shop) and spent all their contingency funds on the suit. The company was bankrupt before it ever saw court. So yeah, this technology has a lot of important industries very concerned.
  - eru 15y ago
    Did the suit have merit? Was it in any way contacted to the technology, or just a revenge?
    - freehunter 15y ago
      Gah, I posted a comment and HN ate it. Here's the gist: I don't know all the legal details because my dad and I are not that close. The company sued for "unfair competition" or whatever the legal term is. Since my dad's shop had the full specs and customer list of the die maker, they were afraid the engineers would cut out the middle man, so to speak. The die maker wanted them to stop building models completely and dispose of the printer. I can't say if the printer was the only factor, but they never had a problem with the hand-made models.
      - eru 15y ago
        Thanks!
jfoutz 15y ago
The big winner will be an easy 3d modeler.
- kiloaper 15y ago
  There are a few existing applications. Autodesk have released a hobbyist package (http://www.123dapp.com/ http://www.123dapp.com/) and there's online ones as well (https://tinkercad.com/ https://tinkercad.com/). OpenSCAD is my choice because it allows you to parametrically design objects with a scripting language.
  - jfoutz 15y ago
    Yar. there's also blender, sketchup, wings3d, art of illusion - there's a ton. I guess, it's easy for me to imagine a shape - i can draw that shape on a piece of paper, but i find it hard to express that same shape using modeling software. Say, wrap some text around the surface of a sphere. I'm pretty sure i could, letter by letter, orient and kern text in OpenSCAD but it would take me a long time to do. i imagine in the not to distant future there will be a motion tracker or kinect app to allow shaping stuff like clay - or maybe just use clay and scan it in. In any case, all the software i've used feels clunky. iMovie for modeling will be a big deal.
    - callil 15y ago
      A simpler way to do stuff like text wrapping is through scripting. I'm learning Rhinoscript right now, and soon RhinoPython will be released from beta allowing anyone with python skills to manipulate 3D form pretty easily. I agree though that there isn't anything truly simple for stuff like this.
    - Arelius 15y ago
      I cannot stress how clunky any sort of 3D modelling without haptic feedback gets. Sure, I could make a clay modelling kinect app pretty damn quick (I even think I've seen one using professional 3D mocap systems before) But they take about as much time to get used to as more standard modellers, And zooming the editing space to do detail work is almost impossible for the human mind to comprehend. ]
laglad 15y ago
I wonder how this affects the mechanical engineering labor distribution in firms. Perhaps smaller shops like in software?
- tomjen3 15y ago
  Small shops, fewer workers and many more new shops (since they cost little to start).
jxcole 15y ago
While it's an interesting subject, this article is terrible. No actual news was contained within. A bunch of hyperbole about what "might" happen, without any evidence besides hearsay. Your time would be better spent reading the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printer
- redouane 15y ago
  a typical mashable article... quantity over quality, how sad
markrickert 15y ago
"You wouldn't download a car, would you?" (sorry, it had to be done)
clarebear 15y ago
This is also the future of recycling. Your soda bottle will become a toy will become part of your shoes will become...
- ff0066mote 15y ago
  > Your future soda bottle will become a toy will become part of your shoes will become... Our current and past soda bottles have become the great pacific garbage patch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch I think the future of recycling is going to be more largely affected by a reduction in consumption.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    Reducing consumption is, by definition, not recycling. I think what he was getting at was you will be able to make your waste into useful things, or set up a recycling shop to collect waste from others. No need to turn into Al Gore from a lighthearted take on the future of 3D printing.
    - ff0066mote 15y ago
      Please note that I didn't say the future of recycling is the reduction of consumption, but rather that it would be more largely affected by a reduction in consumption (than by 3d printing). Oh, and sorry for briefly turning into Al Gore there. :P Good catch!
haasted 15y ago
donated a 3D printer worth several hundred dollars for him to use at school. Can a 3D printer really be acquired at this price level now? Does anyone have any model recommendations in this range?
- ff0066mote 15y ago
  > RepRap was the first of the low-cost 3D printers, and the RepRap Project started the open-source 3D printer revolution. (from http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap) I believe this is one, but you'll have to build it yourself after sourcing parts.
- jianshen 15y ago
  If you're really interested in buying one, there are a few kickstarter projects trying to break the sub $1000 market via RepRap designs. Here's one: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your...

67 points by coolrhymes 15y ago

sp332 15y ago

How can you have an article about downloadable physical objects without mentioning Shapeways? http://www.shapeways.com/model/227707/ http://www.shapeways.com/model/227707/ The uploader chooses the materials the object is available in (Shapeways will print it in that material and send it to you), or whether you can download the file and print it yourself. http://www.shapeways.com/model/449442/the_piratebay_ship.html?gid=mg http://www.shapeways.com/model/449442/the_piratebay_ship.htm...

ff0066mote 15y ago
They also neglected to mention http://www.thingiverse.com/ http://www.thingiverse.com/

Zirro 15y ago

This is bound to disrupt a lot of industries. I can already imagine the massive lobbying efforts and propaganda against it.

freehunter 15y ago
My dad owns a tool and die design/engineering shop, they generally make fairly small, specialized parts for automotive design. When I was young, I went to work with him to see what he does, and noticed a wax model of the project they were working on. He said they model the project by hand to get a good vision of what they were designing (this was before 3D CAD came around). When they were nearing completion, they'd present the wax model to the customer to make sure all the specifications were right. If they were, my dad would complete the design and send it out to the die makers. The die makers loved having a handmade physical model of what they had asked for before they paid for the completed design (which could have had unseen errors). Fast forward a few years, and my dad acquired a competitor who happened to have a 3D printer. Now my dad's company would make the design, print it out, and show it to the customer. One customer did not like this at all, so much in fact that they sued my dad's company. If the engineers could make these parts themselves, how long until they could make them with metal? How long before the die makers were turned redundant? The die makers have a lot of money invested in very expensive equipment to make these parts, and now 3D printers can make plastic replicas of them much cheaper (though there are obvious downsides in terms of scale and tolerance). When the company filed suit, they dropped the contract with my dad's firm (which happened to be the die maker's only design shop) and spent all their contingency funds on the suit. The company was bankrupt before it ever saw court. So yeah, this technology has a lot of important industries very concerned.
- eru 15y ago
  Did the suit have merit? Was it in any way contacted to the technology, or just a revenge?
  - freehunter 15y ago
    Gah, I posted a comment and HN ate it. Here's the gist: I don't know all the legal details because my dad and I are not that close. The company sued for "unfair competition" or whatever the legal term is. Since my dad's shop had the full specs and customer list of the die maker, they were afraid the engineers would cut out the middle man, so to speak. The die maker wanted them to stop building models completely and dispose of the printer. I can't say if the printer was the only factor, but they never had a problem with the hand-made models.
    - eru 15y ago
      Thanks!

jfoutz 15y ago

The big winner will be an easy 3d modeler.

kiloaper 15y ago
There are a few existing applications. Autodesk have released a hobbyist package (http://www.123dapp.com/ http://www.123dapp.com/) and there's online ones as well (https://tinkercad.com/ https://tinkercad.com/). OpenSCAD is my choice because it allows you to parametrically design objects with a scripting language.
- jfoutz 15y ago
  Yar. there's also blender, sketchup, wings3d, art of illusion - there's a ton. I guess, it's easy for me to imagine a shape - i can draw that shape on a piece of paper, but i find it hard to express that same shape using modeling software. Say, wrap some text around the surface of a sphere. I'm pretty sure i could, letter by letter, orient and kern text in OpenSCAD but it would take me a long time to do. i imagine in the not to distant future there will be a motion tracker or kinect app to allow shaping stuff like clay - or maybe just use clay and scan it in. In any case, all the software i've used feels clunky. iMovie for modeling will be a big deal.
  - callil 15y ago
    A simpler way to do stuff like text wrapping is through scripting. I'm learning Rhinoscript right now, and soon RhinoPython will be released from beta allowing anyone with python skills to manipulate 3D form pretty easily. I agree though that there isn't anything truly simple for stuff like this.
  - Arelius 15y ago
    I cannot stress how clunky any sort of 3D modelling without haptic feedback gets. Sure, I could make a clay modelling kinect app pretty damn quick (I even think I've seen one using professional 3D mocap systems before) But they take about as much time to get used to as more standard modellers, And zooming the editing space to do detail work is almost impossible for the human mind to comprehend. ]

laglad 15y ago

I wonder how this affects the mechanical engineering labor distribution in firms. Perhaps smaller shops like in software?

tomjen3 15y ago
Small shops, fewer workers and many more new shops (since they cost little to start).

jxcole 15y ago

While it's an interesting subject, this article is terrible. No actual news was contained within. A bunch of hyperbole about what "might" happen, without any evidence besides hearsay. Your time would be better spent reading the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printer

redouane 15y ago
a typical mashable article... quantity over quality, how sad

markrickert 15y ago

"You wouldn't download a car, would you?" (sorry, it had to be done)

clarebear 15y ago

This is also the future of recycling. Your soda bottle will become a toy will become part of your shoes will become...

ff0066mote 15y ago
> Your future soda bottle will become a toy will become part of your shoes will become... Our current and past soda bottles have become the great pacific garbage patch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch I think the future of recycling is going to be more largely affected by a reduction in consumption.
- freehunter 15y ago
  Reducing consumption is, by definition, not recycling. I think what he was getting at was you will be able to make your waste into useful things, or set up a recycling shop to collect waste from others. No need to turn into Al Gore from a lighthearted take on the future of 3D printing.
  - ff0066mote 15y ago
    Please note that I didn't say the future of recycling is the reduction of consumption, but rather that it would be more largely affected by a reduction in consumption (than by 3d printing). Oh, and sorry for briefly turning into Al Gore there. :P Good catch!

haasted 15y ago

donated a 3D printer worth several hundred dollars for him to use at school. Can a 3D printer really be acquired at this price level now? Does anyone have any model recommendations in this range?

ff0066mote 15y ago
> RepRap was the first of the low-cost 3D printers, and the RepRap Project started the open-source 3D printer revolution. (from http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap) I believe this is one, but you'll have to build it yourself after sourcing parts.
jianshen 15y ago
If you're really interested in buying one, there are a few kickstarter projects trying to break the sub $1000 market via RepRap designs. Here's one: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your...