Tag Archives: 3D Printer

Business, Technology

There are AT LEAST Two Sides to Every Photo

With Frontback, there are two sides to every iPhone photo | Internet & Media – CNET News.

This article, along with an article in the New York Times that describes the 3-D printer company MakerBot, which entered the market this week  for 3D scanning, and introduced a desktop device called the Digitizer provided me with an epiphany, reading about the Digitizer, there may be a way to make a light weight version of the Digitizer, use a smartphone as the primary camera input, and the other components have Bluetooth integrated to communicate with the smartphone, as well as a slide case to hold the phone steady.  The turntable and two lasers are components that communicate with the smartphone camera and app. that reads in the 3D scanner data recorded.  Pow, mobile 3D scanning.

“The $1,400 Digitizer looks a little like a classic record player, but with lasers. It rotates small objects on a turntable near two lasers and a camera to create a three-dimensional model that can then be reproduced by a 3-D printer. “

The other way I would innovate this technology, instead of a portable 3D Digitizer to record a 3D object, you may be able to take a full 360 degree panoramic picture with a turntable, Bluetooth communication, a base to set your phone, and a bit of patience, similar to the Mars rover panoramic picture.

Business, Technology

Google Cloud Print: Charge for Your 3D Printer Use at Any Storefront

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Google – Cloud Print. I know it’s just in beta at this moment, but I know these guys.  I also wrote a previous article about 3D printers in the Cloud not that long ago.  Coincidence?

The business model: connect your 3D printer(s) to Google’s Cloud Print, and allow people to print to your small storefront, stationary, or office supplies stores, as if they were printing two dimensional paper copies.

I wrote about the consumer taking their three dimensional models, and they have a wide range of ‘turnaround’ profit applications, as listed in my previous post.

Business, Technology

Concept to eBay Sale: Use a 3D Printer to Produce Your Imagination

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I was just looking at eBay, and what items I had on sale.  Then as any eBay enthusiast would do, I thought about what other things I could put up to the eBay market.  At the moment I don’t have access to my own personal effects. I was sullen for a moment, and at that moment the spark of inspiration struck, why can’t I use a 3D Printer, build, create something from my imagination and put it up for sale on eBay.  It could be literally anything from a piece of Jewelry, a Craft, a Reproduction of an Antique, in fact, any reproduction I am able to envision.  I see a period when massive amount of reproductions are put up for sale, legally, of course, where ‘reproduction’ is stated.  The art is being able to capture all perspectives of the object, and reproduce it.   As an example, if you’ve been to a museum, and take pictures at many multiple angles of anything from a painting, jewelry, statues, and so on, then use your imagination to push the image into 3 dimensional reality.

How much would you pay for an amazing 3 dimensional Diorama of Vincent van Gogh‘s painting of Cafe Terrace at Night?  At the Home Depot, a Mural 18 in. x 24 in. Wall Tiles sells for $260, and that’s for a 2 dimensional view.  How much would an art collector, or anyone appreciate someone pushing the image to a third dimension.  An excellent perspective, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, could sell very well.

Then I looked up the price of these 3 dimensional printers, and the prices were what you would expect for a new technology entering the market.  The prices range on eBay for these printers from a few hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, to several thousands, and this is, of course, due do the size of the machine, and how big the reproduced object would be manufactured.  There are costs of the materials to build these items, similar to an ink cartridge for a printer.  MakerBot seems to be a name brand in 3 Dimensional printers, and they tout the price of $2,199 as affordable model.

Apparently, this is a feasible business model today.

The price of a printer to steep?  Now imagine a big cloud company comes along, and allows you to use one of their 3D printers in their cloud, and then ships it off to you, or puts it in their “Amazon Locker”.