Cadalyst - January/February 2009 - (Page 22) cadalystlabsreport Pay by Piece: The 3D Printer Service Bureau If the roughly $20,000–$75,000 investment needed to own a unclear. The site was still active as of January 2009, but no one 3D printer is beyond your budget, you can turn to one of the from IDEAL was available to comment about its future. many 3D printing service bureaus to produce your parts. Most Stephanie Wood Design, a United Kingdom–based Z Corp. have online query and submission systems that let you obtain printer agent, offers both 3D printing and scanning services. a quote for the job you have in mind and remotely upload your The firm uses a Z Corp. Z700 3D scanner to convert physical file to begin printing. Many offer one-day turnaround. Pricing objects into an STL file, reproducible via 3D printing. “Tabletop varies depending on several factors, but the general range is parts and components are scanned in our studio,” the company $15–$25 per cubic inch of the printed model. explained. “We can come to you for larger and less portable Some 3D printer manufacturers have launched service captures subject to project approval.” bureaus of their own, LGM, a visualization such as Stratasys’ and model making RedEye On Demand; service provider, other service bureaus provides a free, online operate independently CAD-to-STL conversion or as an arm of a site called CADspan. hardware reseller. “You can use the free Z Corp. partners with version [of CADspan] Quickparts.com to if you aren’t selling offer a variety of 3D the resulting models printing services, or deriving commercial including the ZPrints benefit from the service announced CADspan service, LGM in December, which spells out in its licensing enables designers and terms. For $39.95 per engineers to click a month, CADscan button in AutoCAD Pro, the commercial 2009, order a 3D version, offers one-onmodel online, and one assistance, batch have it printed and processing, and other shipped to them services. If you’re a fan immediately. of Google SketchUp, you Many CAD files can install CADspan’s destined for 3D STL-export plug-in to printing are not shrink-wrap a SketchUp exactly primed for the model into one process. Because of continuous, solid mesh Customized characters from the video game Rock Band are transformed from the limitation of inkready for 3D printing. animated to plastic with the help of a Z Corp. full-color 3D printer. jet nozzle positioning, As evidence that 3D printing is not ideal for building certain structures, such as railings or extremely thin walls. As a side business, some 3D printing bureaus offer additional services, such as fine-tuning the CAD files for best results or sanding parts for smoother finishes. In May 2007, IDEAL, a large-format scanner and printer maker, staked out a position in 3D printing with the launch of My3Dservices.com, a portal described as “File preparation services for 3D printing.” The site offers, among other services, 2D-to-3D CAD conversion, conversion of paper drawings and sketches to 3D, 3D file healing, and conversion of building information modeling (BIM) or 3D CAD files to solids model files. Phil Magenheim, vice president of IDEAL, pointed out, “Reducing a real-world architectural 3D CAD design of a skyscraper or other large building to the size of a 0.001-scale 3D printed model requires knowledgeable manipulation of the 3D CAD file. . . . My3Dservices.com has experts in 3D CAD who understand file-preparation and -healing services that enable printer-ready 3D files.” With Contex’s acquisition of IDEAL’s scanner distribution division in July 2008, the fate of My3Dservices.com remains 3D printing is reaching beyond commercial applications, online services such as Shapeways are targeting the consumer. Launched last summer, Shapeways is the first consumer-focused 3D printing production service, as well as a community that provides design support and inspiration, said CEO Peter Weijmarshausen. “Shapeways is making 3D printing easy, fun, and affordable.” Shapeways Creator enables users to design unique items based on available templates in a few minutes, without 3D modeling skills or special software installation. Prices start at $8 per model, including shipping. Using Shapeways Shops, 3D software enthusiasts can sell their designs to others. Recently, the popularity of 3D virtual worlds such as Linden Lab’s Second Life has spawned a number of service bureaus that specialize in 3D printing virtual characters, or avatars. Such is the case with Xardas, which uses a Dimension SST 3D printer to produce characters and objects from virtual environments upon request. Z Corp., through its in-house 3D printing service, will output 6”-tall figures in full color based on the avatars that users create to play the popular video game Rock Band — down to intricate details such as chain necklaces and tattoos. (Read the full Rock Band case study at www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps.) 22 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst January/February 2009 http://www.Quickparts.com http://www.My3Dservices.com http://www.My3Dservices.com http://www.My3Dservices.com http://www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps http://www.cadalyst.com
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