Software

Fixing 3D Models?

Most 3D models for 3D printing still use the now-aging STL format. That can cause problems. 

3D Design By Example

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a new twist on 3D design by creating “Fab By Example”. 

MeshMixer’s Very Cool Updates

It’s becoming a big favorite around our lab and it just got even better: MeshMixer 2.5 offers some very interesting new features. 

Hands on With Simplify3D

We’ve been testing the latest release of Simplify3D, version 2.1.1, a third-party 3D printer slicing system. We’re impressed. 

Three Cheers for MeshMixer Supports!

If you’ve been 3D printing you’ll be familiar with the challenge of printing overhangs. Now there’s a terrific solution that enables printing almost any shape on any 3D printer. 

A New 3D Scan App?

Details are few, but IHTFP Labs is developing an app that they say will “Revolutionize 3D Scanning”. 

Skanect 1.6 Released

One of the most powerful and accessible 3D scanning tools just got a little better. Skanect has released version 1.6 with some interesting new features. 

Project Silkworm Shows The Future

We’ve always been slightly annoyed at the overly simple manner in which 3D models are sliced and printed. Much more is theoretically possible and that may now become reality with the work developed by Project Silkworm.

Implications of Mark Forg3D’s Web-Based 3D Print Slicing

Mark Forg3D’s carbon fiber printer is a definitely a revolutionary concept, but that wasn’t the only feature that really impressed us. The other sleeper feature of the Mark One is its software.    But wait, you say, every 3D printer includes software to drive the printer. That’s true, but Mark Forg3D’s software is cloud based.… Continue reading Implications of Mark Forg3D’s Web-Based 3D Print Slicing

Uformia’s MeshUp

Scandinavian software developer Uformia is working on a new tool: MeshUp. The new product complements their existing product, Symvol, which operates as a plugin to Rhino3D, the popular 3D modeling software package. MeshUp offers similar functionality but in a standalone application without the requirement for Rhino3D.    But what does it do for you? Many… Continue reading Uformia’s MeshUp

Published
Categorized as Software Tagged

Leapfrog’s Selling Simplify3D

We managed to get a close look at the new version of Simplify3D software today, courtesy of Mathijs Kossen of Leapfrog 3D Printers. Leapfrog is offering Simplify3D as an option for use with their printers.    The standard software, Slic3r, works well, but sometimes introduces layer artifacts such as those illustrated above. Simply3D attempts to… Continue reading Leapfrog’s Selling Simplify3D

3D Systems’ New Scanning Solution

3D Systems announced an inexpensive personal 3D scanner last week, but they also announced a professional 3D scanning solution, too.    The new GeoMagic Capture bundle is a combination of a blue-LED 3D scanner and application-specific software to integrate the scan directly into several high-end 3D modeling solutions, including: SolidWorks, SpaceClaim, Design X, Design Direct,… Continue reading 3D Systems’ New Scanning Solution

Cubify’s Software Pricing Breakthrough: Cubify Design

In a rather underplayed announcement, Cubify announced new software yesterday that deserves much more splash. Cubify Design could significantly change how people use their personal 3D printers.    Cubify Design is a low-priced 3D modeling tool, but it’s quite different from other free or inexpensive modeling tools. The key feature is that Cubify Design can… Continue reading Cubify’s Software Pricing Breakthrough: Cubify Design

Blokify: 3D Modeling for Kids

A new modeling option is about to launch: Blokify. It’s a tablet-based app that provides a very simplified interface suitable for kids to develop their own 3D models.    In an interview with MAKE, creator Jenny Kortina explained the dilemma facing 3D printer owners who want to design their own objects:    The huge gap… Continue reading Blokify: 3D Modeling for Kids

Meshmixer Joins 123D

Autodesk announced that Meshmixer, a tool for easily manipulating 3D meshes, has been added to their 123D suite of 3D modeling applications.    Meshmixer has been around for quite a while and is frequently used by hobbyists and others to fix and mix 3D models. It provides an easy ability to combine multiple meshes to… Continue reading Meshmixer Joins 123D

NetFabb Private

NetFabb offers a software product specifically designed for personal 3D printing: NetFabb Private. It’s a lot more useful than their free NetFabb Studio product, which we and many others use for basic 3D model repairs. NetFabb Private offers these capabilities:    Fix complicated file errors Make late design changes Combine parts into one Hollow out… Continue reading NetFabb Private

3-Sweep Creates 3D Models from 2D Images

In an incredible video presented at SigGraph Asia 2013, researchers demonstrated an amazing new method of deriving full 3D models from only 2D images.    The 3-Sweep software appears easy to use: simply drag your mouse across an image to cue the software to create a 3D model. The specific motion of the mouse drags… Continue reading 3-Sweep Creates 3D Models from 2D Images

Formlabs’ PreForm Goes OS/X

Formlabs, the makers of the Form 1 resin-based 3D printer, released a Macintosh-capable version of their PreForm printer management software. Their strategy going forward is to maintain “feature parity” between the two versions and even release them simultaneously.    We believe this to be an important step into OS/X space, which has been traditionally very… Continue reading Formlabs’ PreForm Goes OS/X

Cubify Announces Cubify Sculpt

Those software wizards at Cubify are at it again. After generating who-knows-how-many 3D model generators this year, they’ve now released another new tool: Cubify Sculpt.    The new tool hopes to simplify the process of creating 3D models for printing on (presumably) 3D System’s Cube and CubeX personal 3D printers. The theme of this software:… Continue reading Cubify Announces Cubify Sculpt

Digging Deeper Into Microsoft’s 3D Printing Support

A short while ago we described Microsoft’s surprise announcement of their inclusion of 3D printing support natively in Windows 8.1. We’ve been checking out the detailed documentation available from Microsoft on this feature and found some interesting stuff.    They’ve extended existing print and document components within Windows to accommodate 3D printing. “PrintTickets” are created… Continue reading Digging Deeper Into Microsoft’s 3D Printing Support

123D Design Gets Better

For those of you using Autodesk’s free 3D modeling utility, 123D Design, there is very good news: a new version has been released.    The new version includes some very key features that were lacking until now:    The ability to import existing STL files, critical for handling 3D scans captured elsewhere Text! You can… Continue reading 123D Design Gets Better

Capturing High-Res 3D Scenes

Scientists at Disney Research have developed a new method of converting a collection of 2D images into a 3D model. While this approach is commonly done – and can even be accomplished on your smartphone with the 123D Catch app, the researchers have found a way to efficiently process huge images. This processing results in… Continue reading Capturing High-Res 3D Scenes

Cura: An Unusual Slicer

3D Hacker has posted an interesting video interview with David Braam, the developer of Cura. What’s Cura? It’s a new 3D printing management program designed to drive the Ultimaker personal 3D printer.    Braam used his own Ultimaker for some time but noticed problems in the software environment, specifically around time delays. 3D printing is… Continue reading Cura: An Unusual Slicer

Preventing 3D Gun Printing?

Create It Real announced they’ve developed a system for preventing 3D printing of firearms. The system apparently uses some kind of geometric detection to identify firearm-like 3D models. Once identified, it simply prevents them from printing. But how does it work? They say:    Upon opening a 3D file, the smart software scans the model… Continue reading Preventing 3D Gun Printing?

Skanect Under New Management

Skanect is now part of Occipital, Inc., according to an announcement by Skanect. Skanect produces one of the most powerful systems for capturing casual 3D scans with a Microsoft Kinect.    Occipital produces 360 degrees panoramas and related computer vision products, so acquiring Skanect seems like a logical extension of their existing business.    The… Continue reading Skanect Under New Management

MakerWare 2.2 Released

MakerBot has the good habit of continually releasing improved versions of their software to make their hardware work even better. The latest release of MakerWare, software to drive MakerBot’s Replicator 3D printers, showed up last week.    We’re particularly interested in this release because it offers significant improvements in handling overhangs. 3D printer operators are… Continue reading MakerWare 2.2 Released

MakerBot – Autodesk Discount Available

If you happen to be interested in purchasing a MakerBot Replicator 2 personal 3D printer and a premium membership in Autodesk’s highly useful 123D apps, you’re in luck: there’s a discount available.    If you upgrade from the free version of 123D to premium level, you’ll receive a USD$40 discount on purchase of a MakerBot… Continue reading MakerBot – Autodesk Discount Available

Augmented Realty 3D Printing with UltimARker

Industrial Designer Joris van Tubergen and augmented reality artist Sander Veenhof have invented something we’ve not seen previously: a way to view your 3D printing operation using augmented reality.    Wait a sec, what does that mean? Watch the video above to see what we mean, but it is a way to observe the final… Continue reading Augmented Realty 3D Printing with UltimARker

MakerBot Doesn’t Forget

MakerBot sold thousands of CupCakes and Thing-O-Matics long before they moved to the Replicator and Replicator 2 models. The new machines were (and are) driven by some pretty slick software called MakerWare, which enables you to scale and position models before printing and control the print operation.    Unfortunately for those with models earlier than… Continue reading MakerBot Doesn’t Forget

New 3D Modeling Interface From 3D Systems?

Another recent announcement from 3D Systems President and CEO Avi Reichental indicated that the company has been seeking ways to simplify the creation of 3D content suitable for 3D printing. Evidently they’ve been working with the Leap Motion 3D sensor in particular, but we have little information beyond that.    The Leap Motion sensor is… Continue reading New 3D Modeling Interface From 3D Systems?

The Doodle3D Box

Another Kickstarter launch in the 3D printing space: Doodle3D, made by a Netherlands startup company. This product is a method to simplify the design and 3D printing of 2D line drawings. It’s composed of an app and a WiFi box that attaches to your personal 3D printer.    Using the app you can “doodle” a… Continue reading The Doodle3D Box

MakerBot’s Quality Program

Producing high-quality prints is a complicated business, it turns out. There must be synchronization between the slicing software, the printer hardware and the plastic filament used. 3D printer manufacturers who supply these things must do extensive testing to ensure their product works correctly – and homebuilt 3D printers must undergo similar calibration.    MakerBot does… Continue reading MakerBot’s Quality Program

Parametric Parts’ CadQuery

  Looking for an easy way to generate parametric 3D models? Tired of OpenSCAD? There’s a new approach from Parametric Parts that permits easy programmatic generation of 3D models: CadQuery    Wait a sec, what’s “programmatic”? It’s a method of creating a scalable 3D solid model using commands instead of visually through a graphics interface.… Continue reading Parametric Parts’ CadQuery

Another 123App: Creature

Autodesk has been rapidly adding apps to their free suite of consumer 3D apps, with the most recent addition being 123D Creature, with which you can create “creatures”.    The USD$7.99 iOS app is similar to others in the suite, permitting easy generation of a 3D model. This app is focused on limb-based objects that… Continue reading Another 123App: Creature

3D Modeling? Where Do I Start?

Once you’ve got your personal 3D printer working and you’ve exhausted the usual sources of printable models, your faced with a dilemma: how do I create my own 3D models?    You might ask someone trained in 3D modeling, but we think that’s probably not a good idea. We’ve found that pro 3D modelers tend… Continue reading 3D Modeling? Where Do I Start?

Questions About Skanect

Manctl’s new version of Skanect should permit easy 3D scanning by anyone with a Microsoft Kinect and a computer. However, we wondered about several aspects. We asked Manctl’s Nicolas Burrus a few questions about the new version.    Fabbaloo: The new release seems to be Windows only. Any hope of a Mac or Linux version… Continue reading Questions About Skanect

A New Version of Skanect

Readers may recall Skanect, a software tool that uses an inexpensive Microsoft Kinect to produce 3D scans of room-sized areas. Now creator Manctl has released a new version of Skanect that’s much more powerful.    The new version is capable of taking 3D scans of objects instead of rooms. They’ve re-engineered the program to include… Continue reading A New Version of Skanect

APIs for 3D Printing?

API enthusiast Kin Lane (above) has started working on a set of APIs for 3D printing. Wait, what’s an API again? It’s software, specifically the precise interface between programs. In other words, APIs are the equivalent of “standard electrical plugs” and the like between any software programs. The presence of APIs tends to encourage the… Continue reading APIs for 3D Printing?

3D Bioprinting Software?

According to a press release from bioprinting startup Organovo, they’ve partnered with CAD software giant Autodesk to produce tools specifically designed for creating bioprints.    Why this makes sense to us:  Autodesk is one of, if not the, leader in 3D design software across the industry. If anyone was to tackle this problem, it would… Continue reading 3D Bioprinting Software?

Digital Reality Announces Pro-Quote

Digital Factory announced a new plug-in service, Pro-Quote that can handle the preparation of cost estimates for 3D printing. Who can use this service? If you have a commercial 3D printer available and a website you can place Pro-Quote on your site and immediately accept 3D print requests.    The Pro-Quote software presents a web… Continue reading Digital Reality Announces Pro-Quote

Cubify Now Macify’d

3D Systems has abruptly introduced a new version of their Cube 3D printer management software (Cubify) specifically for OSX. This is a major step by 3D Systems, who up to now have not offered OS/X-based software for, um, well, anything as far as we can tell.    The software performs well, offering an extremely simple… Continue reading Cubify Now Macify’d