Spectra3D is excited to announce the acquisition of a new Makera Carvera CNC machine, designed to give us additional options for the way our customers approach their projects. The Carvera is a fully automatic desktop CNC machine, specifically tailored for makers, engineers, and designers, and it comes with a plethora of innovative features. With its quiet and easy-to-use design, this machine offers auto tool changing, auto probing, and auto leveling, making it a truly hands-off experience.
The Carvera enables us to provide small format 3-axis and 4-axis machining, allowing for the creation of 3D models using a variety of materials, including plastic, wood, and even metal. With the Makera Carvera, our customers can now create a wide array of products, from simple machined plaques and art pieces to custom components and prototypes, expanding Spectra3D’s creative possibilities and productivity.
Buying a 3D printer can save you plenty of time and money in the long run but, for most of us, it is still a fairly major financial decision. Make sure that purchasing a home printer, such as the MakerBot Replicator (5th Generation) is the right decision for you with these
tips for buying a 3D printer:
MakerBot Replicator (5th Generation)
Before purchasing your printer, take a moment to think about how it will benefit you. Although you will, no doubt, find things that you will do with your printer that you would never have anticipated, you should feel confident that you have enough print needs that the printer is worth the initial investment.
As a beginner in the world of 3D printing, you are going to want to have plenty of support. Purchasing your printer from a knowledgeable team who will happily offer their assistance, such as The 3D Printer’s Guild, means that you will be left with fewer headaches as you learn to navigate your printer and design software.
Familiarize yourself with the policies of the manufacturer. Check to see what sort of warranties and protection plans are offered. If you run into any issues with your machine, you want to be sure that you are protected.
Check out some online resources. Forums, blogs, and reviews are fantastic ways to find out more about individual printers, design software, and materials. They are also full of great tips and tricks to help you customize your printer settings to get the exact effect that you are looking for.
Before you purchase your machine, do a little research on 3D modeling. There are great websites available, such as Thingiverse, that offer designs that you can either download for free or for a small fee. As you learn about the basics of 3D printing, these pre-designed models are a great option. When you begin to feel more comfortable with your machine, however, you are going to want to start customizing your own parts. Start with a free design program, such as Autodesk’s 123D Design (Learn what happened to 123Dapp), for a simple way to start designing your own prints. Alternatively you can use Autodesk’s Fusion 360 for your design work.
To really know if a 3D printer is for you, you may want to see it in action. Industry shows and Maker Faires are great options. Meetups with 3D printing groups are another valuable source of information. If you live in the Western North Carolina region, for example, join us at one of our upcoming 3D Printer’s Guild Meetups.
When deciding between machines, a 3D printing hub can be quite helpful. Simply order the same model to be printed by two machines you are deciding between to see which best meets your specifications.
As with any online reviews, remember to take the 3D printer reviews with a grain of salt. For starters, people are much more likely to write an angry review about an unpleasant experience than they are to write a good review about a pleasant experience. Furthermore, reviews in magazines are often written after a small time spent with the machine. Since it can take quite a while to become familiar with your machine and its unique settings, these articles may not tell the whole tale. Although reviews are one important part of your research process, don’t let them become unduly important in your search.
With these buying tips, you can feel confident making your 3D purchase. If you would like more information about buying your 3D printer, please feel free to contact us.
With the development of 3D scanners and printers, anyone who has access to this technology can accurately reproduce objects found in the real world. This has many far-reaching implications, some of which could lead to greater innovation, others which could lead to a whole new host of problems. In this series, we will explore the copyright implications of 3D printing as designers, end users, and lawyers try to sort out the many legal implications of 3D printing and copyright law.
The Penrose Triangle
For the first installment, we will discuss the interesting case of Ulrich Schwanitz and The Penrose Triangle.
To get to the root of this tale, we have to go all the way back to 1934 when artist Oscar Reutersvard drew the first-known Penrose Triangle. Referred to as an “impossible figure,” the Penrose Triangle connects on each side at a right-angle. For decades, this optical illusion was confined to drawings on flat surface and was thought impossible to reproduce in 3D space.
The Penrose Triangle
That is, until Ulrich Schwanitz, a designer based out of the Netherlands, purportedly solved the problem. Rather than explaining how he solved the puzzle, Schwanitz simply included a YouTube video showing his design. The model was put up for sale on the Shapeways website for around $70.
Now, this is where it really gets interesting. Along came Artus Tchoukanov who had formerly been an intern at Shapeways. Tchoukanov was able to watch the above video and figure out how Schwanitz had created his design. Tchoukanov then went to Thingiverse, a 3D printing community that actively encourages the free and open interchange of design and ideas, and published his interpretation of Schwanitz’s solution.
The DCMA
Soon, a story about the mystery of the Penrose Triangle appeared, wrongly crediting Tchoukanov with being the first to arrive at a 3D solution. Schwanitz then responded by sending Thingiverse a DMCA (which stands for Digital Millennium Copyright ACT) Takedown notice, suggesting that the published Penrose Triangle solution was copyright infringement and that it should be removed from the site. Thingiverse promptly took the post down while explaining that it was the first such request that they had received.
Now that the first DMCA Takedown request has been handed out to a distributor of online 3D design content, it is possible that Schwanitz (who, by the way, allowed Thingiverse to put the post back up after he received a good amount of negative commentary over his request) has opened a whole can of legal worms. As 3D printers become more and more common and people are better able to produce their own parts and designs at home, these sorts of issues promise to be all the more prevalent.
Tell us what you think. If you were in Schwanitz’s position, how would you have handled the situation? How strictly do you think we should be policing copyright laws in regards to 3D print files?
The benefits and place of live instruction in software and design training
Training opens the door to an infinite future.
As a trainer for over 15 years, teaching 3D Studio DOS back in the early 1990′s. So many things have changed in that time, from the introduction of windows and 3D rendering tools that make an animators life less complicated, to the mass adoption of the internet by industry and education. However there is one thing that has remained constant, the need to learn the software.
Online learning has become a staple of the training industry, and live, online learning has made inroads into the real classroom and as a form of high quality training. There are a lot of downloadable tutorials and online websites that offer Autodesk 3DS MAX and Maya training to view at your leisure. Many of these sites are free or very low cost and offer a broad range of topics to choose from. While these sites offer some good quality tutorials, there is no live person to ask if you have a question.
Live, online learning is an emerging and highly beneficial tool for all user of 3DS MAX and Maya software. With the unique ability to work interactively with an instructor, ask questions and learn just as if you were in a real classroom. The 3D Professor offers classes starting at one hour plus a half hour of dedicated Q & A time with the instructor and attendance can costs as low as $50 per person, live, online training offers a high return on your training investment of both time and money.
The 3D Professor is meeting the growing demand for instructor led, online training by offering an array of pre-scheduled 3DS MAX and Maya classes along with our industry leading customized workflow training. For groups of five or more, custom classes can be scheduled at your convenience to cover topics specific to production needs. In this world of online learning, it is critical for the growth of any company to maintain their employees productivity. And the best way is still with a live instructor in an interactive, fun and interesting instructional setting.
