OMG I want a little statue of me too!

http://ogle.eyebeamresearch.org/

intercepting OpenGL into 3D printers.

oh wow, that's quite neat, thanks for sharing the link! HI5!!

Man, I'd so love a 3D printout of one of my bots. Then I could paint it like a model kit!

3D printers are great, but isn't this just another "here's a bit of software you can use to swipe models, and here's an excuse for my telling you" post?

no.

this is great! I was just wondering today how to get from SL to 3D printer in the shower, wondering how long it would take for this to happen so we could print to a 3d printer. Much soon than I could have hoped for.
Now if only those printers would go down in price a wee bit. Or can you rent them by the hour?
I want a Max figure with kung-fu action grip.
Thanks Blueman.

Hehe would be cool to have a little Artemis model to put on my desk

In this case, the resulting models aren't useful in SL, anymore than the prims themselves ina no-mod, no-copy, no-transfer fashion are... you can look at them for inspirtation, thats about it

Max, you already have a mini and giant statue of you

If someone is seriously interested, drop me an IM. As some here know, I did this last year, but the cost for RP is still relatively high.

yes, I do, and I receive many compliments on your fine handywork
But this would be to sit on my desk. :>

Just out of curiosity (heh), what are we talking, ballpark?

Most printers don't work too well in the shower.







*runs*

Well there isn't really any good way of getting them into SL again at the moment. But as SL grows larger, I wouldn't be surprised if someone made a program for converting GL intercept output to prim parameters.

Give me some parameters. Size? If you care about what material is used (there are diff materials and diff rapid-prototyping processes as well, all with associated cost differences)? aso

I usually have my clients bill the service bureaus I've used, so I'm not as up-to-date on costs as I could be so. Tomorrow I'll be making some calls. But tbh, I expect a smallish figure (say 4" to run a few hundred dollars. It'd be unfinished. Raw from the rp machine.

Ah.

Ouch.

Funny thing. Considering the recent news re: paying for real items using Lindens, someone could always pay me in Lindens, I guess. I'll have to get a handle on that actually.

We've got a slightly dated rapid prototype printer which uses cornstarch or plaster-- approximate cost for materials (powder and binder) is around $2-3 per cubic inch.

Other materials, using fancier RP machines, can be much more expensive.

Zepp said GLIntercept. This thread'll have to be locked now.

In general, RP printers really are exciting - I recall an interview on NPR with one of the folks working on the "next generation" of them who is thinking about the day when they're cheap enough for the average consumer, especially when you can have them in the developing world. The day when you can download plans for a device, "print" them off, and assemble is still a bit off, but it's not too crazy!

I assume you have one of the ZCorp machines. Out of curiousity, what do you actually charge for that cubic inch? No doubt there are other issues. I often hear that fab time is still too slow so that in order to recoup the investment in the machine itself, individual part prices have to be raised.

Aside from that, can you go into methods for turning this output into something more permanent and durable. I've read about how some people handle this, but would like to hear more.

There's been some reasonably good progress on the RepRap project in recent weeks. I'm waiting for them to release the first iteration. At that point I'd like to redesign their parts using the CAD tools I have (they're using Art of Illusion; free but limited in functionality).

Along these lines, there is currently a project to make a rapid prototyping machine capable of making as many of its own parts as possible. And then making it open source.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7165

http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ensab/replicator/


Edit: Curses! Scooped! (didn't see it)

Csven, you're correct-- it is a ZCorp machine. Being an art college, (my theory is) we absorb the initial cost and maintenance contracts for the machine in the process of recruiting new students. We charge, flat out, the cost of materials. ..Wasn't my decision =)

It is fairly slow. We usually set up a batch and let it run over night.

As far as making the printouts more permanent, we saturate the cornstarch prints' surface with super glue. There are also elastomers you can use instead to impregnate the surface to create flexible rubber-like printouts.