Data + Design Project

Will We 3D Print the First Moon Base Using Lunar Soil?

Wednesday 02.13.2013 , Posted by

3D printing a moon base 1

It’s exciting that in recent years a host of serious projects are being launched, directed at the goal of colonizing another planet in the solar system. From the groundbreaking Curiosity rover exploring the surface of Mars, to the reality TV funded Mars One project, the world is pushing hard to put the first permanent inhabitants on the surface of another world. Now Enrico Dini, the inventor of a massive 3D printer called D-Shape, is teaming up with the European Space Agency and building innovator Foster + Partners in an attempt to solve one of the most challenging aspects of colonizing another planet: lifting a heavy habitat off earth and getting it there. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Design, News, Technology
Tags
: , , , ,

Topographic Model Shows Internet as Skyscrapers

Thursday 01.03.2013 , Posted by

1

If unique page visits were the bricks that build skyscrapers, which website do you think would have the tallest building? With online bill paying, shopping, and communication it’s possible to never leave home and still have everything you need to survive, so it is almost like the internet has become a virtual city. Korean media artist Sang Un Jeon brings this idea to life in an incredible visualization using internet traffic data and a 3d printer. Since a keyboard is like the vehicle that takes us to this virtual city, he used each letter key to represent the biggest sites on the world wide web. If you look at your keyboard and the image above you can probably figure out that the tallest tower on the G key represents Google and the F to the left of it stands for Facebook. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Data Visualization, Graphic Design, Visualization
Tags
: , , , ,

Get A Miniature You: 3D Photo Booth Opening in Japan

Monday 11.12.2012 , Posted by

The Japanese are big fans of the photo booth, producing some of the most original examples of the stand-alone photo devices you can imagine: from machines which add cute frames around your pictures to examples which morph you into a big eyed manga character. Now a company called Omote 3D is taking the concept to the next level and will soon be offering people their likeness in miniature printed 3D form! [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Art, Design, Digital Art, Sculpture, Technology
Tags
: , , , ,
Advertisement

3D Printing to the Rescue: Bald Eagle Gets A New Beak

Tuesday 09.18.2012 , Posted by

3D printing is being used for some seriously innovative and unusual purposes these days, testing the abilities of the technology in the real world. Here we bring you the tragic but ultimately uplifting story of Beauty, a Bald Eagle who was found in an Alaskan dump with her beak shot almost completely off. Eagles use their beak for many purposes, not the least of which is preening their feathers to stay clean, feeding themselves and drinking. Without the vital point to her beak, Beauty would quickly starve, and that is what appeared would happen until Jane Fink Cantwell of Birds of Prey Northwest entered the picture. [Read more...]

View More
| Comment [1]
Category
: Design
Tags
: , , ,

Stairway to Heaven: 3D Printing Fisher-Price Records

Friday 09.07.2012 , Posted by

For kids who grew up in the 70s and 80s, there’s a very good chance your first music player was none other than the Fisher-Price Record Player. That vintage, jangly sound has a special spot in many of our hearts as it played such hit songs as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Humpty Dumpty and, don’t forget London Bridge. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Design, Do It Yourself, Technology, Trending
Tags
: , , , ,
Advertisement

The Future of Footwear? Wild, Printed High Heels

Thursday 07.12.2012 , Posted by

When it comes to the future of footwear, you might just be looking at it. Using the exoskeletons of marine invertebrates, fantasy creatures and insects as the inspiration for her appropriately named Exoskeleton collection, Janina Alleyne has 3D printed some near impossibly complex heels very deserving of the term haute couture. The many layered construction of her artistic (and questionably functional) pieces make normal shoes look positively simple in comparison: printed lacing holes, floating top-sole elements and a plethora of near impossible to mold elements highlight the fantastic, if a bit creepy shoes. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Art, Design, Digital Art, Sculpture, Technology
Tags
: , , , ,

Smart Sand: Will We Duplicate Objects in a Sandbox?

Monday 04.09.2012 , Posted by

MIT researchers are developing small magnetic cubes that can communicate with each other to auto-duplicate objects in a “sand box” using a subtractive production algorithm.

3D printing is the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. Typically, this printing is achieved using additive processes, where an object is created by laying down successive layers of material. It is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques which mostly relied on the removal of material by drilling and cutting. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: News, Technology
Tags
: , , , ,

Fast, Microscopic 3d Printing Is Here!

Tuesday 03.13.2012 , Posted by

A new era of 3D printing technology is now upon us. Created by researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), this high-precision printer is able to create microscopically small objects on a nanometer scale — at a speed orders of magnitude faster than similar devices. To be impressed with how accurate and quick this machine really is, you only need to see the short video below featuring a mere 4 minute creation time for a race car smaller than a grain of sand… in fact, the machine just set a new world record for speed. [Read more...]

View More
| Comment [1]
Category
: Design, News, Technology, Up Close
Tags
: , , , ,
Advertisement

MakerBot Sends Colberts Head To Space

Wednesday 08.17.2011 , Posted by

That’s it… Steven Colbert’s fame has taken him to unparalleled new heights… space in fact. The creative team behind the very affordable 3D printer, MakerBot, have printed out the open-source head recently seen on the Colbert Report and sent it all the way to space under a weather balloon. The crew launched the Flip camera equipped craft from New York and found it via GPS in Connecticut. You’ll want to check out the video below for a look at the action… which brings us to todays WORD: Altitude. [Read more...]

View More
| Comments [0]
Category
: Design, Trending
Tags
: , , , ,

Affordable 3D Printing For Schools and Home

Wednesday 05.18.2011 , Posted by

3D printers have been retailing at around $24,000, making them far too expensive for smaller architecture companies and design firms to purchase. Now, UK-based Bits from Bytes hopes to change all that with the development of their desktop sized 3D printer: the BFB 3000. With the advent of the BFB 3000, 3D printing has now become an affordable option — around $3,000!— for architects, designers, and inventors to showcase their prototypes and design concepts to clients in 3D.
[Read more...]

View More
| Comment [5]
Category
: Design, News
Tags
: , , , ,