The team at RIG London, a Shoreditch design partnership and Andy Huntingdon have teamed up to launch a new design initiative; Frstee.com, festively rendered snowmen from Tweets.
The festively rendered Christmas tree decorations are available to buy online for anyone with a Twitter account. The user simply enters their Twitter username and then their data is turned into a unique 3D design file generated using RhinoScript.
Each printed model is unique depending on the size of the participants’ Twitter account and how long they have been active users for. The more followers the account has the bigger the snowman’s head and the buttons down the front represent the number of years the account has been active for. The owner's Twitter username is embedded at the bottom of the snowman.
The 3D file is generated by Andy Huntington and then 3D printed here at Inition on our Zcorp machine. To get your very own personalised snowman simply tweet your details and then wait for your bespoke 3D printed snowman to arrive in the post, causing a uniquely Social Media frisson around your festive tree!
This original project is an example of a new industry based on mass customisation of objects, tailored to individuals.
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Z Corp ZPrinter 450
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Future of 3D #3 : Design, Print, Fly!
Future of 3D #3: Design, Print and Fly!
Co-founder and director of Intion Stuart Cupit, also keen photographer and kite-flyer, decided to set himself a challenge to build a rig capable of taking panoramic aeriel photos from his parafoil kite...
The Spec
The rig needed moving parts, had to be light-weight but strong enough to hold servos and a digital camera and withstand the odd crash landing. Stuart designed the rig using 3D Studio Max and included 5 independent moveable stages, a complete gear system, fittings for 4 servos, a microcontroller, batteries and, most importantly, a digital camera.
The 3D Print
The final design was printed out in one go (yes, no assembly!) using our Invision-XT 3D printer. The various joints and gears were designed in place with the 0.1mm clearance between any two parts required to allow them to move independently. The VisiJet SR200 build material used is strong enough to be for functional finished products.
Servo Control and Support
The gears, axels and sleeves freely revolve and the fleixble nature of the material, when printed in thin sections, allowed the servos to be held in place by sprung hinged latches. The servos follow a pre-recorded set of moves using a Milinst Wizard board.
A Picavet suspension allowed the camera rig to self-level and prevents twisting. A geared mechanism reduced the speed of one of the servos by 20 to 1 to allow the rig to be rotated. The gears were printed in place and once support material is removed just work with no assembly!
The Flight
The whole rig was attached to a Sutton Flowform 16 kite using a pair wire hangups on 200m of cord. The kite needed a 25mph wind to get the 1kg rig into the air. Flown from Hamstead Heath, the rig took 50 blurry photos the first time! The second flight got some great shots looking south across London, and some bemused looks from on-lookers!
The kit we used: 3D Systems Invision XT (in-house), 3D Studio Max, Sony digital camera, Milinst Wizard Servo controller board, Sutton Flowform 16 kite
Check out our 3D Printing Service and our Future of 3D blog at fo3d.posterous.com for our latest experiments in 3D.
About our 'Future of 3D' series
The 'Future of 3D' series is about exploring the boundaries of future 3D technology through non-commercial creative projects. Supporting this type of work is core to Inition's core values of developing new uses of 3D technology, supporting creativity and nurturing the passion of it's staff and collaborators. If you have an idea for a 'Future of 3D' project, we'd love to hear from you.
Future of 3D: #1 - Scan, Print, Explode!
Our first 'Future of 3D' project!
We decided to have some 3D fun with Shannon's head to celebrate our 10th Birthday and the launch of our 'Future of 3D' series.
We really enjoyed this side project as it combined a wide range of our skills and 3D technologies. But mainly because it involved blowing stuff up!
If you're interested in finding out more, make sure you watch the video above.
Some of the kit we used: ZPrinter 450, Mephisto EX Scanner, Phantom/Quasar 3D Stereoscopic Filming Rig
We'd like to point out that no Shannon's were harmed in this project, although strangely enough. he had a slight headache afterwards. Check out our Future of 3D blog at fo3d.posterous.com for our latest experiments.
About our 'Future of 3D' series
The 'Future of 3D' series is about exploring the boundaries of future 3D technology through non-commercial creative projects. Supporting this type of work is core to Inition's core values of developing new uses of 3D technology, supporting creativity and nurturing the passion of it's staff and collaborators. If you have an idea for a 'Future of 3D' project, we'd love to hear from you.
Future of 3D: #2 - Sketch, Sculpt, Print!
Future of 3D: #2 - Sketch, Scult, Print
As part of Inition’s “Future of 3D” series, our 3D printing team worked with BA design student Kristin Katzer from the London College of Communication to realise a packaging design for fruits.
Concept
The concept for Kristin's organic design was based on structures of nature, in particular her research into “tafoni structures” produced during the calcification of porous sandstone.
Freeform Design
Designing these organic structures using a typical 3D CAD package would have proved very difficult, however with Inition's guidance Kristin realised the design through the intuitive interface of the Sensable Phantom Omni in conjunction with the Claytools software. Claytools is a design package specially tailored towards haptic modelling, allowing the user to directly sculpt, manipulate and feel the surface of a model through a pen-line interface attached to a motorised force-feedback arm.
3D Print
After adding colour to the CAD model, the complex design was prepared for print Paul Armand, one of Inition's 3D printing specialists. Our full colour 3D ZPrinter 450 printed out the model over-night including two end caps with extruded lettering. The final design forms part of Kristin’s degree and was shown at the BA Design Show at the London College of Communication in June 2011.
Future of 3D
Inition’s “Future of 3D” series encourages work on non-commercial projects which help to push the boundaries of current 3D creative and technology. This was the first time we had seen a project go from sketched concept, through haptic modelling to a physical 3D printed model. Organic designs are not usually immediately associated with computers but with Claytools strength in creating organic shapes and our 3D printer's ability to print them, we see a great future for this combination of technologies in product design.
The kit we used: ZPrinter 450, Phantom Omni with Claytools software
Thanks to Kristin for creating a great piece; the first thing we've 3D printed that has been created on a haptic device. Check out our Future of 3D blog at fo3d.posterous.com for our latest experiments.
Inition Takes Nanotechnology into the Diamond Age
The NanoPhysics group at the University of Bristol led by Prof. Mervyn Miles were supplied with two Cyberglove and Cyberforce arm systems from Inition. Inition advised on, and installed this advanced setup for the University to put them at the forefront of the emerging field of nanomanipulation with force feedback.
The University of Bristol have created a haptics system that allows a user to feel the forces exerted by microscopic/nanoscopic objects as they interact with them. Using their dynamic holographic assembler (DHA) they could use microspheres to squeeze a biological cell and, by mapping the resulting force changes to larger numbers, enable a user to feel the cell deform as they apply pressure to it.
The haptic element needed to be accomplished using a form of force feedback glove, with accurate 3D positioning and force mapping. The wireless CyberGlove II with CyberGrasp and CyberForce Arm is the system Inition recommended, sold, and installed for the University of Bristol. Inition also trained the University of Bristol in the use of CyberForce Arm which is a force feedback armature that conveys realistic grounded forces to the hand.
Manipulation and Feedback of Molecules
Inition believes this is a world first. The manipulation of molecules and atoms is the extension of predictions by visionaries Eric Drexler and Ralph Merkle, where manipulation of atoms leads to production of materials with diamond like strength. Neal Stephenson's book, The Diamond Age, popularized the engineering of materials in this way.