MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print underwear<p>FACT: Wrong. Hard plastic underwear provides amazing protection and support<p>MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print the Mona Lisa<p>FACT: Wrong again. Today you can download a 3D model for "rectangular hard plastic canvas" from the Internet, print it out using your Makerbot, and then paint the Mona Lisa on it<p>MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print small, wobbly, leaky coffee cups that warp when hot beverages are poured into them, and that lacerate your lips when you attempt to drink from them<p>FACT: This is already possible on some of today's higher-end 3D printers<p>MYTH: 3D printers are useful in any way<p>FACT: It turns out this myth is true. Watching a 3D printer emit a hard plastic object in a color that nobody wants keeps nerds in a state of rapture that prevents them from engaging in more dangerous activities such as shooting heroin or starting actual businesses
It looks like the <i>assembly</i> and <i>finishing</i> of a 3D printed group of parts was taken to a whole new level. I don't see any indication that a whole new level has been achieved in the 3D printing itself. Great finished product though.
"MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers can only make things up to a certain size." The printer did not make the horse head. The printer produced the parts (up to a certain size) and Mr. Wenman assembled and finished it. <i>He</i> made the horse head.<p>"...but they’re not, like, museum-quality great." Notwithstanding that the printer can't finish the pieces to make them "museum quality," there are striations on the horse head that come from how the plastic is stacked up. Not Museum Quality.<p>While this is a fine use of 3D printing, it's not a major advance like the article tries to make it.
Nicely done. I have considered doing these sorts of sectionals on my replicator. Still working on a nice 'low density' internalized structure (solid PLA/ABS is out of the question) which provides the necessary support and rigidity. My last attempt was intersecting triangles.
You'd still need quite a bit of artistic talent to make hard plastic look good. But would I want a super expensive and buggy 3D printer for Christmas? Yes please!!!<p>Btw, has anyone used 123D Catch (or any 123D software)? From what I gleaned from Autodesk's TOS, you inevitably end up granting them a irrevocable license to use your 3D models however they please. Perhaps that's why 123D remains a "hobbyist" software suite. I still haven't heard of anyone who uses it professionally.
<i>MYTH: MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers can only make things up to a certain size. BUSTED</i><p><i>This awesome photo shows the 29 unfinished blocks of the horse head before Cosmo went to work fusing them</i><p>So, not busted after all?