3D Printing Buzz Increases

With the close of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show it seems like a good time to check the buzz level of 3D printing, which we suspect is higher than its ever been. By using Google Trends, a free tool that shows the frequency of search terms used on the omnipresent search engine, we can see whether people are becoming more interested in the topic. 

 

The search we made includes keywords "3D printing", "MakerBot", "3D Systems" and the new "Cubify". The results are quite clear - a massive jump in search interest. MakerBot leads in searches, but the new Cubify is off to a huge start as well. 

 

One more clue to the growing popularity of 3D printing: there's now a cartoon on a popular site related to it. CNET's weekly Low Latency comic features two guys at CES discussing a 3D printer, which looks suspiciously like a Cube. 

 

Via CNET and Google Trends

Secret Cubify Project To Be Unveiled

A fascinating press release from 3D Systems describes what appears to be a whole new product line: Cubify. Is it a 3D printer? Yes. Is it 3D modeling software? Yes. Is it an online service? Yes. Whew! Several announcements bundled into one! 

 

3D Systems is to formally announce this product in a few days at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. We're glad to see 3D Systems taking the jump into the consumer space by appearing at this show, since a great many more people will see 3D printing and more than likely there will be major media coverage. Here's what 3D Systems says in their press release: 

 

Cubify.com combines coloring book simplicity with cloud gaming excitement to deliver a vivid 3D create-and-make experience through a fully integrated, fluid interface. With intuitive 3D apps, rich 3D printable content libraries of games, puzzles and collections, Cubify.com turns any mobile device, tablet or Kinect® into a powerful, digital canvas that unleashes creativity and brings ideas to life in 3D. Compelling content creation, capture and customization apps make it simple and fun to personalize creations and Cubify them at home on a Cube™ 3D printer or have them Cubified using our online 3D printing service. Now everyone can unleash their creativity and earn money by marketing their own 3D creations or by developing new apps for Cubify.com.

 

A short video offers some hints of the apparently new 3D printer used by Cubify, which at first glance appears somewhat similar to the Up! personal 3D printer. There are precious few details about this clearly very comprehensive service/software/product and we're anxiously awaiting more information. This move directly challenges several other industry participants' businesses, including Shapeways, Sculpteo, Autodesk, Tinkercad, Origo and many others, while strongly leveraging their giant 3D print services business. Here's what we're wondering:

 

• What are the specifications on the Cube™ 3D printer? How does it compare with other options? We presume it's assembled, but how easy is it to physically operate?
• How does the "make money with your designs" work? 
• Will the design software work effectively on all platforms, which is quite a challenge to create? 
• How well does the 3D scanning component work? Will it generate adequate models or will lots of tweaking be required?
• How will 3D print service charges compare with the alternatives?

 

We don't know the answers to those questions yet, but probably we'll find out in the next few days.

  

Via 3D Systems and YouTube (Hat tip to Martin)

3D Systems For Investors

We managed to get a peek at a 3D Systems investors presentation. This is a rather large slide deck with plenty of investor-related data as most investor presentations tend to be, but there were also lots of very interesting statistics and information. We read through the entire piece and found the interesting tidbits for Fabbaloo readers who may be following 3D Systems' transformation and expansion during the past couple of years:

 

• ~700 Employees worldwide
• ~900 Patents (!)
• Most of their revenue now originates from outside of the USA
• Six different kinds of 3D printing engines
• 90 different print materials
• Eight locations in the USA; Six in Europe; Six in Asia-Pacific
• From August 2009 to September 2011 (two years), they added 98 new resellers and 14 new service facilities
• Revenue breakdown: 41% from Services; 31% from Materials and only 28% from 3D printers
• Three divisions of printers: Personal, Professional and Production, ranging from a mere USD$1300 up to USD$950K
• Software products include content creation and digital 3D models
• 3D printer unit sales grew 273% in 2011 over 2010
• Nineteen companies acquired in the past 2 years (wait a sec, that's a lot more than we thought!)
• The Huntsman materials business acquisition brought in 25 materials and 373 patents! 

 

We knew 3D Systems was growing, but wow! There's not many major companies left for them to acquire at this point, but it appears from the above that they likely have almost all they need to grow organically from this point onwards as the market expands. 

Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!

In an almost unbelievable announcement today, 3D Systems has apparently acquired ZCorp, one of their major competitors. In addition to ZCorp, 3D Systems also picked up Vidar, a leading manufacturer of medical film digitizers. The cost of these two simultaneous acquisitions puts a USD$137M dent into 3D Systems' wallet, which will be refilled by a simultaneous placement of USD$152M in senior convertible notes. 

 

With this acquisition 3D Systems gains not only ZCorp's large market share, but also their technology. This adds to 3D Systems' already extensive list of 3D printing processes - and associated patents. Not only was ZCorp itself profitable, but they also had a very extensive network of resellers who now could be tasked to sell the entire 3D Systems product line, boosting profits far above simply adding ZCorp's bottom line. According to 3D Systems, the immediate synergies beyond adding company profits together could add another USD$5-10M in profit per year. 

 

A major technological gain for 3D Systems is ZCorp's color printing capability. ZCorp was the only major 3D printer manufacturer to market a device capable of on-demand multicolor 3D printing. Now, 3D Systems will be the only such company. We hope color tech will now leak into 3D Systems' other products. 

 

ZCorp and Vidar were previously owned by Ratos AB, a Swedish holding company specializing in developing valuable technology properties. Their goal: "generate, over time, the highest possible return through the professional, active and responsible exercise of its ownership role in a number of selected companies". It's therefore unsurprising that Ratos sold off these holdings as they had grown significantly in value. 

 

The acquisition of Vidar is a bit puzzling, as it doesn't initially appear to be related to 3D printing. However, it does have its own large network of medical resellers, through which 3D Systems may gain even more opportunities to sell their entire product line. It may also be that taking Vidar was a condition of the sale by Ratos. 

 

Another very significant outcome of this deal is a fundamental change in 3D Systems revenue breakdown: now, for the first time, the majority of their revenue comes from what they call the "Personal and Professional" market, as opposed to large "Production" 3D printers. 3D Systems is now a personal 3D printer company!

 

Who's left standing among the big 3D printer companies? Israel-based Objet and giant Stratasys. 3D Systems likely isn't interested in or could afford to purchase Stratasys, but since their shopping cart is handy, what about Objet? There's still one month left in the year! 

 

Via 3D Systems (PDF)

The Araldite Digitalis 3D Printer

3D Systems acquired not only a materials manufacturing operation from Huntsman the other day, but also another type of 3D printer: the Araldite Digitalis. We didn't know much about this device and thought it would be useful to find out more. Perhaps we'll see how it fits into 3D Systems' product line.

 

The Digitalis is a resin-based 3D printer, where the resin is cured by exposure to ultraviolet light. This has been done before by other 3D printers, so what's the twist here? Under the covers the Digitalis has a rather unusual photo-delivery system called the "MLS MicroLightSwitch®". They don't use a laser and they don't use a DLP projector to send pixels of UV towards the resin. 

 

Instead they use a massive print head containing a series of MEMS chips (micro-electronic mechanical switches) that control the flow of 40,000 pixels of fibre-optic channeled UV light. The MEMS opens and closes gates for UV light flow corresponding to the 3D model being printed. The advantage is that the pixels are always delivered perfectly vertically, instead of at an angle as some other systems may do. According to Huntsman, this delivers the "previously unattainable accuracy" of 0.01mm on the XY axes, which is pretty darn good. 

 

The build envelope is 650mm x 370mm x 600mm, reasonably large. The build speed is quite good, as the MEMS mechanism sweeps across an entire layer in one go, eliminating the need to laboriously trace each curve of the objects being printed. This is definitely not a desktop machine, as it weighs some 2000Kg (2 tons!)

 

Despite these apparent advantages, the Digitalis hasn't really gone anywhere since its announcement in 2008. Could this indicate a problem with the technology? Or perhaps marketing difficulties? (Huntsman is a chemical company after all, not a 3D printer manufacturer.) The big question is where 3D Systems will take the Digitalis. Will it become yet another model on their extensive line of 3D printers? Will its technology be incorporated into other devices? Or will it simply just fade away?  

 

Via 3D Systems and Design World (Video)

DesktopFab Partners with 3D Systems

Some time ago we wrote about a small Texas-based operation called DesktopFab that resold PP3DP's Up! personal 3D printers in the USA. We hadn't heard much from them for quite some time. And then suddenly...

 

They issued a press release describing their new partnership with 3D Systems. No longer are they selling PP3DP's in the USA; instead they're reselling 3D Systems' entire low-end line of 3D printers. This includes: 

  

• BFB 3D Touch
• BFB RapMan
• 3D Systems V-Flash

 

This gives them a pretty decent print point range from the USD$1610 RapMan all the way to the ~USD$10-12K V-Flash. If you are anything from a new hobbyist to a prosumer to a small shop, they seem to have it covered. 

 

As far as we were aware, DesktopFab were the only US-based reseller of PP3DP's products. We're not sure how PP3DP will react to this; perhaps they'll organize another reseller? It's not all about the device - sales and marketing count, too.  

 

Via MarketWatch, DesktopFab and YourStory

3D Systems Acquires Huntsman Technology

3D Systems continued its acquisition strategy this week by picking up not a company but a technology. They've recently been acquiring whole companies related to 3D printing, but this one is slightly different: they've purchased what appears to be the USD$7M/yr revenue rapid prototyping arm of Huntsman, a very large chemical conglomerate. 

 

The specifics of the deal are their SLA materials production and the Digitalis 3D printer. We'll take a closer look at the Digitalis in a future post, but we think this deal is all about the material. Huntsman produces RenShape® stereolithography, described as "a portfolio of advanced materials formulated to print durable, robust parts and prototypes with outstanding accuracy, intricate reproduction of detail and a high-quality surface finish." This is precisely what is used in many of 3D Systems' high-end 3D printers. 

 

It seems that Huntsman produced a huge amount of the materials used by SLA 3D printers, so by adding them to the 3D Systems family will bolster their rapidly growing vertical industry structure. At this point we now see 3D Systems owning interests in: material production, 3D printer manufacturing & sales, 3D print services, 3D modeling software, 3D object designs and even retailing of 3D printed objects. Whew! 

 

Via 3D Systems

More on the 3D Systems Projet 1500

We've obtained some additional information about 3D Systems' new low-cost commercial color 3D printer, the Projet 1500. Priced at slightly under USD$15,000, this device has quite a few very interesting features that we noticed while perusing 3D Systems' documentation. Here's the highlights of our scan through their material: 

 

• Front panel has a window for viewing the build process
• Easy-loading slot on the side for build material, which comes in 2Kg cartridges
• Standard power requirements
• Six different materials that are different colors - and - different physical characteristics
• One color, Zoom a.k.a. Yellow, prints at a much higher speed for draft objects
• Several components directly involved in printing (tray, coater, etc) are easily replaceable 
• Minimized number of movable parts
• Device is designed for simple operation and maintenance; all consumable parts are reachable, etc.
• Very straightforward setup process, "installed in minutes"
• Attractive and easy to use operation software (see image above, click for larger view)
• Software allows direct control over easily removable support structures
• Print queuing is possible - but you'll still have to take items off the platform in-between prints
• Diagnostic features, including remote diagnostics from the factory
• Constant build speed of 12.7mm per hour (Z-axis movement) or even faster (20.3mm/hr) if using the special yellow build material in draft mode
• Requires a separate cleaning/curing unit to finish printed objects

 

This looks quite good for a moderately priced commercial 3D printer, and the control software has some great features. 

 

Via 3D Systems