Round the Clock FigurePrints

 

You'll recall FigurePrints, the 3D print service that specializes in transforming your World of Warcraft avatar into an actual, hold-in-your-hand figurine. It seems they've generated a bit of interest among WoW players. So much so, that they've decided to operate 24x7 nonstop punching out WoW figurines!

Their Vancouver, Canada production plant now has eleven staff and six 3D printers to service the tens of thousands of WoW players who enter a monthly lottery to win a chance at getting their character printed - at a cost of US$129.95 each.

We thought figure printing would be a big deal, and it looks like it's caught on with the WoW universe. Not so with Second Life yet, in spite of services available that can do the job.

Via The Financial Post

Rock Band 2 is 3D!

We posted about Rock Band 2 preparing a way to produce a 3D print of your character, and now it's actually available to the public!

If you head over here, you'll see a section entitled, "Make Bandmates", where you can "Order custom-made, detailed 6 inch figures of your characters!"

However, commenter Lawman points out that:

This feature applies to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game ONLY, since they have perpetual network sign-ins and let you edit your own characters. Conversely, custom figurines don't really apply to PS2 or Wii, unfortunately.

He adds that other services like Figureprints can perform similar services.

Via WhatTheyPlay

More Avatars on the Way

Previously we've seen services that print World of Warcraft avatars (Figureprints) and others that print Second Life avatars (Fabjectory), but now comes a new service that can print your Rock Band 2 avatars: Z Corp will produce the avatar figurines on their own equipment in an apparent arrangement with the game producers, who say that they are "the only 3D company that can handle color".

The WIRED blog post suggests that this could be a new industry, and indeed it is already taking off. We've been seeing it evolve over the past year and it's not slowing down.

Via WIRED

DesktopFactory Reveals Future Pricing?

Some time ago Fabbaloo pointed out an interview with Ed Fries, CEO of FigurePrints (a new 3D service that can print out your World of Warcraft character in glorious 3D). Now ComputerWorld takes up the topic, and publishes yet another interview with Ed.

But that’s not the interesting part. Buried within the story is a revealing quote from Cathy Lewis, CEO of DesktopFactory, makers of the first sub-$5,000 consumer-oriented 3D printer. Ms. Lewis says:

that the "cost of goods" to create a Desktop Factory unit will fall to US$500 by late 2011. "So in 2012, I should be able to sell it for US$1,000". But she also wants to see more low-end software tools become available. She and others point to Google's SketchUp 3D design package, available as a free download, as an example of what would be needed. Lewis says the Desktop Factory unit may eventually have an interface for SketchUp files. (Professional 3D CAD tools can cost thousands of dollars.)

While we are all impressed with the sub-$5,000 price point, the real action will begin when the sub-$1,000 level is breached. At that point many devices will be sold, perhaps sufficient to begin forming personal manufacturing ecosystems.

Via ComputerWorld

More on FigurePrints

There's been quite a buzz around the net regarding the newly opened FigurePrints service, which prints 3D replicas of World of Warcraft characters. We've seen many articles, but most simply mention it briefly. Meanwhile, WowInsider posts a complete interview with FigurePrints founder Ed Fries. As a long-time WoW player (since it was Beta!) and tech-whiz, he came up with the brilliant idea to combine 3D Printing with WoW, hence FigurePrints.

Highlights:

• Ed realized the opportunity about a year and a half ago after looking at a 3D creature from Spore.
• Used the WoW Model Viewer (open source software) as a base to build the necessary software.
• Ed's venture has been encouraged by Blizzard (makers of WoW) all the way.
• Character information is extracted from Wow, combined with poses and attachment information and finally massaged by custom software to convert it all to 3D printable format.
• The figurines are basically handcrafted and therefore FigurePrints can't handle the expected customer volume - so they have a lottery system to draw "winning" customers each month. So far: 4000 entries. Keep trying, guys!

Ed does not reveal the printer being used, but based on the process description (color ink, white powder, blow off excess, etc.) we suspect it is likely a Z-Corp Spectrum Z 510 printer. Watch this video to see how it works.

Via WowInsider

"Will 3D Printing Finally Go Mainstream?"

Apparently so - this article appears twice: once in C|NET and again in FrogDesign. Tim Lebrecht, Director of Marketing for frog design (frog is most famous for designing many Apple products) postulates that the emergence of several 3D printing services, such as Jujups and Cosmic Modelz is a result of recent price-shattering devices such as Z Corp's 3D printers.

While promising, Tim says "we're still sitting here with our seat belts fastened" waiting for the 3D revolution. We at Fabbaloo also believe it's coming, and new 3D print services will popularize the concept even more.

Consider that every World of Warcraft player may now print their character with FigurePrints. This is because FigurePrints simply took 3D print technology and applied it to a specific domain. We'll see many more experiments like this in the near future, as innovative geniuses around the world find similar niches.

Via frogdesign and C|NET