The V&A Goes 3D

If you're visiting London soon, we'd recommend you spend some time at the Victoria and Albert Museum, home of incredible deisgns of all kinds. Typically the works are historical, but at times contemporary works are displayed. That's what's happening now in a new exhibition called "The Power of Making" taking place at the V&A from 6 September to 2 January 2012. The exhibition includes over 100 "exquisitely crafted objects". According to their website: 

 

The exhibition showcases works made using a diverse range of skills and explores how materials can be used in imaginative and spectacular ways, whether for medical innovation, entertainment, social networking or artistic endeavour.

 

We're specifically interested in the 3D printed shoes crafted by Marloes ten Bhömer, which we wrote about in January. This is an opportunity for the public to check out these amazing shoes in person. 

 

The shoes were produced with Objet 3D printing technology, which has the unique feature of being able to mix multiple materials together during a single print operation. This means a print, such as the V&A shoes, can include both rigid and soft portions. Very important in a shoe, comfy counts. 

 

The shoe's design is quite interesting: it is made of component parts that offer the ability to reconfigure the shoe, yet it is printed in a single operation and emerges already assembled. The design to wearable process apparently was only hours, truly demonstrating the Power of Making.

  

Via Victoria and Albert Museum & Objet (Hat tip to Clare)

The Iris van Herpen Exhibition

One of Netherland's most talented Dutch fashion designers, Iris van Herpen, will display her work at centraal museum utrecht from 29 June to 9 October this year. The exhibition will include not only some of her amazing 3D printed fashions, but there will also be a 3D printer (a Dimension) on site demonstrating the process for astonished visitors. 

 

van Herpen's work is comprehensive, radical and gives you a strong feeling of "that's not possible in real life". Well, it is, apparently. Through the use of 3D printing, she's been able to create stunning works, much of which is apparently built using 3D printing tech. 

 

We've learned that central museum utrecht has purchased several of her pieces, which are actually made using the Materialise 3D printing service. 

 

If you happen to be near Utrecht this summer, you might want to check out this exhibition. If not, there's much to enjoy at van Herpen's extensive website, too.   

 

Via Centraal Museum and Iris Van Herpen (Hat tip to Bart)

Parametric Clothing

A short while ago we wrote about Shapeways' 3D printed Bikini, and we speculated on the complexity of software required to develop appropriately fitting 3D clothing. The subtlety of fashionable curves and comfort fit are extraordinarily difficult, as they would necessarily be unique to each and every person. Even slight variations could render a fashion unfashionable. We still think this will be a pretty big barrier unless appropriate (and generic) software appears.

 

But maybe there's a beginning to it: lemonbow swimwear has developed parametric models for a bikini and a bathing suit using Rhino 3D add-on Grasshopper ("Generative Modeling for Rhino"). According to lemonbow:

 

... we can now offer a design that really will be custom made for your particular size. All you have to do is measure several points on your body and add these in grasshopper. The design will automatically change into the right measurements and can then be sent to the laser cutter. 

 

and:

 

Soon we will start to sell bikini’s online in collaboration with the waag and the fablabs in the Netherlands. 

 

lemonbow is really modeling in 2D, but is this a first step towards generative 3D clothing? 

 

Via lemonbow (Hat tip to Bart)

3D Printed Bikini: Breakthrough or Barrier?

We were very excited to read about Shapeways latest creation: a 3D printed Bikini that you can actually purchase and wear! Up to now, most 3D printed fashions were wild, crazy and effectively impractical for common use. Typically you'd see 3D printed fashions in a museum or modern art event, but never in a place you could access for your own wearing pleasure. Until now.

 

Shapeways member Continuum has created at great effort a true 3D printable bikini set, the N12 (named after its material, Nylon 12). They're using one of Shapeways' unique materials, "White Strong and Flexible", and were inspired by Shapeways' experimental print of digital fabric. The N12 is composed (mainly) of tiny flat comfortable disks held together with very thin flexible connectors, and is composed of four parts: two straps and two cups. 

 

Sounds good so far, but then the challenges mount: how do you create the correct sizing and shape? For something like a bikini, which by definition is pressed close to important body bits, it should fit absolutely correctly. Extensive experimentation and coding resulted in a way to generate the correct curves and sizes. The buyer is presented with a matrix of possible size combinations and she selects the appropriate one. It seems to work, although the prices are a bit highish: Halter USD$30, Strap USD$40, Right Cup USD$102.50, Left Cup USD$102.50, total USD$275. 

 

But this pioneering effort illustrates a huge barrier to widespread 3D printed clothes: customizing sizes. If the notion of 3D printing a "perfectly matched" item is what 3D printing is all about, then 3D printed clothes had better do it. But to do so will require pretty sophisticated sizing algorithms by all clothing makers to adjust the associated 3D models. That's a barrier. 

 

Via Shapeways and Continuum Fashion (Hat tip to Kris)

Will Flexible Grids Lead to 3D Printed Cloth?

Experiments at LMNts Tech Studio are demonstrating the feasibility of printing flexible materials. Using their high-end commercial Objet 3D printer and 3D modeling software, they designed and printed a kind of miniature ball-and-socket joint. 

 

They linked many of these joints together in a mesh. A Flexible Mesh. 

 

But wait - isn't fabric a flexible mesh? It is, just at a much higher resolution. Are the LMNts folks taking some tiny steps toward printing fabric? We think they could be. 

 

Now we're imagining yet another category of 3D printed items: clothing. And that's a pretty big space. 

 

Via LMNts and Ponoko

3D Printed Gloves

Fabbing superstar Janne Kyttanen of Freedom of Creation has been commissioned to produce unique white 3D printed gloves, as shown here. The gloves were commissioned by the Design Hub Barcelona, are will be on display from 15 June 2010 to 28 February 2011 in at the Fabrication Laboratory exhibition. According to DHUB: 

 

The objects developed using new technological tools (such as CNC software and machines) and the ability to individually customise mass production (mass customisation), together with open-source design systems (interactive algorithms), are calling into question the future of the traditional model/series approach of industrial design.

 

The gloves were produced via Laser Sintering - and are named "Michael", in honor of a certain someone who made the style famous. They're part of a collection of fabbed clothing samples. 

 

We're fascinated with the idea of 3D printed clothing. As we've previously seen with shoes, digital modelling and custom sizing offer tremendous opportunities to produce pretty much anything that can be imagined. For gloves, we can imagine they can be designed and produced to fit precisely.

 

To your hands, of course.  

 

Via FreedomOfCreation

Printing The Iron Man, And More

Blockbuster film Iron Man 2 has a direct 3D printing connection: Iron Man's suit, as well as that of arch-nemesis Whiplash, were produced on a 3D printer. And they didn't just print a mould for the suit parts, they printed the actual suit components. After a bit of paint, they were ready to be worn!

 

The Iron Man technology has advanced significantly since the first film, and not just on the screen. Apparently actor Robert Downey Jr. was in "constant discomfort" wearing Iron Man 1's gloves, which had been made in the conventional manner. Their tightness caused pain and difficulty moving and flexing. Iron Man 2 technology involved a 3D scan of Downey's hands to "create flexible gloves no thicker than a dime". The scan enabled the creation of gloves that precisely fit Downey's hands. 

 

We think this is a tremendous use of 3D technologies, but there's something more to this. If Iron Man could print out his outfit, why couldn't anyone? One can imagine a future where the "Iron Man" suit specs are sold to 3D print services or even to individuals, who then print out their own custom-sized outfit in their favorite materials to kids across the globe.

 

We're now thinking that customized Halloween costumes could become a big opportunity for the 3D industry. Demand from kids is always insatiable, especially for big time media spinoffs, and costumes are always trouble to make on your own - a problem solved by 3D printing.

 

Better load up the printer, we have an order for 27 Lady Gaga's! 

 

Via IMDB Iron Man 2 Trailer, exciting! (Hat tip to Rachel)

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Fashionable 3D Printing

A recent post by Core77 described how 3D printers are being used to produce one-off fashion shoes. While we are somewhat skeptical of the fashion score of these particular heels, the idea is interesting: print a newly designed pair of shoes each time you go out; recycle the material into a new pair for the next evening!

We suspect the number of 3D shoe designs might be exhausted within a few months, but on the other hand, there is Imelda.

Here's the interesting thing: the shoe-printing idea seems to have spread beyond the tech space. We noticed a followup article posted on "Diary of a Smart Chick", in the "Fashion" category, where writer Kathryn Vercillo muses on the amazing ability to create fashion right in your own home:

These printers have come down in cost enough to be accessible to small and mid-sized businesses today. Wouldn’t it be neat if they eventually come down in price far enough that individual people like you and me could have these types of printers in our homes. One product that we might want to design and print could be shoes.

Could we be seeing the leading edge of 3D printing knowledge starting to hit the mainstream?

Via Diary of a Smart Chick, Core77