Tag Archives: 3D

Sep 28 2015
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3D Printing, new technology

in a heartbeat

I’ve always been excited about the possibilities with 3D printing, since the first time I worked with a team to print a fairy (yes you read that right), the wings were like lace, the clothing detail challenged the needlework of the mice in The Tailor of Gloucester and it took minutes to be born from the model we sent to print.

But that feels like nothing compared to the evolutions in the last few months so I just had to share my recent favourites:

In at 3, the first missile by researchers at Raytheon Missile Systems, who are celebrating the fact 3D printing gives them the freedom to make design alterations with much less hassle and cost. 

3D-printed-missile-by-Raytheon-Missile-Systems

At 2, the cancer patient who had his sternum replaced with a titanium implant printed by Anatomics. They partnered with a surgical team to custom design the area that needed replacing so the surgeon could be targeted and precise in removing only what was necessary, safe in the knowledge the replacement part would be an exact fit.

Image found on digitaltrends.com - thank you

And my top spot goes to the guys at MIT who worked with doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital to turn an MRI scan of a heart into a 3D model which was then printed and implanted.

3D printed heart

My heart just skipped a beat. 

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Mar 26 2015
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3D, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, VR

Wake up and smell the hex reference!

Augmented Reality currently taps into our audio and visual senses, but how long before it covers smell as well?

I’m a big F1 fan but can’t afford tickets to fly around the world and experience the sensational atmosphere. So imagine if I could bring the squeal of the tires and the smell of burning rubber, the sound and smell of rain as it hits the hot tarmac, into my living room…

Imagine you’re waiting in a stuffy airport lounge and you can be transported to the first day of spring, the smell of cut grass in the air, you pick a virtual flower and smell it’s scent…

Imagine you’re Skyping your best friend from New York and she’s cooking a bacon sarnie in the background and you can smell it too…

If we could decode the molecules of odour, similar to how we break down colour into wavelengths and sound into pitch and frequency then this could be achievable.

A perfumer creates a palette with thousands of molecules to create a scent, so if each molecule had a reference – just as we have RGB hex references for colour coding that form pictures on a screen – assuming the recipient had the equivalent hardware to release the combination of references creating the scent, then in theory we could send smells alongside pictures and images.

Let’s take it a step further, what if we could digitise taste? Imagine if you could script a cake and send it to a 3D printer…

Hershey’s and Barilla have already trialled printing using chocolate, cookie dough and sugar (you can read more here) so again, once we have the breakdown of molecules and a reference for each… you get where I’m going right?

I could also have the taste of burnt rubber on the tip of my tongue (tastes good with a cold beer I promise), create the taste of a Lindt chocolate bunny to go with spring and 3D print my bestie’s bacon sarnie.

Right, who’s got the HP?

rabbit 3D printer

Just imagine that rabbit is a strawberry cake…

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May 13 2010
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3D, new technology

3D filming in your hand

The ongoing 3D debate is growing as more ways of enjoying it come to the market, and just as we’re getting our heads around the viewing side of it, ways of recording it are going main-stream.

The latest development is 3D recording on your phone! ‘What?’ I hear you say, it’s true, already the first to launch a 3D TV Sharp have jumped even further ahead of everyone else and are planning to launch the world’s first 3D camera module for mobiles and hand-held cameras by the end of 2010.

The camera shoots 3D footage at 720p resolution (it handles both stills and video), we’ve yet to see what level of production quality we can expect but demo versions are set to hit us by the summer so watch this space.

Sharp is also in charge of developing the 3D screens for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS and plans to produce a whole range of 3D devices before the end of the year.

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