Where's My 3D Print Button? Part 2

Last week we lamented the current state of personal 3D printing workflow: difficult. It's so difficult we believe many potential mainstream 3D printer owners would never be able to make their way through it. But what's the answer? What should the experience look like for the majority of future 3D printer owners? 

 

Let's look at what works: The familiar 2D "Print" button. It's not quite as simple as just hitting the button, as you must occasionally specify the number of copies, the print quality or the portion of your document to be printed. These are things that are known only by you and cannot be known by the printer - unless it can read your mind! Perhaps that will be a future feature, but for now, we must specify that stuff when we request a 2D print. 

 

What's hidden from the 2D print user is the complexity. The 2D print user does not see the printer's mechanical instructions for print head movement, temperature settings and the like. Those are the concern of the printer itself, and have been pre-engineered into the device for optimum performance. Those factors were developed by the printer's professional engineers at great time and expense and have been tested to deliver the best performance. 

 

Hiding the complexity is not done in today's home 3D print workflow. The printer operator is exposed to all that stuff, and while some may find it interesting, the masses will be vastly confused by it. 

 

Why are we exposed to all that complexity? We believe it's because today's home 3D printers are dumb. A 2D printer can accept a complex file such as PDF and figure out on its own how to move its mechanical parts to successfully render the images and text. Today's home 3D printers cannot do this. They must rely on this processing to take place separately in software on the printer owner's PC. This means that such software must necessarily be able to handle all kinds of different 3D printers, making the problem even more complex. 

 

We believe the "3D Print Button" will not truly appear until 3D printers are smart enough to accept generic 3D model files (in an appropriate format) and process them internally in the optimum way for that particular printer. Then you'll not only be able to "print" using simple commands, but you'll also be able to print on different printers, too. 

 

3D printers should be self-aware of their configuration and the currently loaded materials so they can verify the print request is valid or make appropriate corrections. This is particularly important for 3D printers with multiple heads and materials, which have different thermal requirements. 

 

When will this happen? Not for a while, we fear. It turns out that the processing required to handle 3D model slicing and rendering is daunting and probably requires PC-type processing power, at least for now, to get the job done. 

 

Meanwhile, there are some optimizations that could be attempted in the existing personal 3D printing workflow we'd like to see: 

 

• Eliminate SD card printing. 3D printers should be USB attached like other printers and accept input files on an internal buffer. 
• Printer management software should have a minimal interface, emphasizing only the most basic decisions facing the user, while hiding the more complex settings for experts to use when they feel the need.
• Printer management software should be as integrated as possible, hopefully to a single tool. Eventually we'd like to see a "3D Print" button built directly into all 3D modeling and viewing software. 
• Printers should always be bundled with highly optimized configuration files that ensure successful and accurate 3D printing right out of the box.
• 3D printers should be offered with an "assembled" option to ensure those who can't build one are still included. 
• 3D printer owners should not have to calibrate their machine or software. It should just work. 
• Software tools should validate the printability of a given model and automatically fix obvious common errors.
• Printer users should be provided with significant feedback on the validity of their print request, the estimated time required for printing.

 

That's a lot to ask, for sure. But wouldn't we like to see all of those things happen? What else would you like to see in an optimized 3D print workflow?

Where's My 3D Print Button? Part 1

We've all seen this button many times. It's how you produce 2D paper output, and you've used it perhaps all your life, maybe every day. It works because it's easy. It works because it's familiar. It works because all the hard stuff is already figured out for you behind the scenes.

 

Enter personal 3D printing. 

 

Question: Where's my 3D Print Button? 

 

Answer: There isn't one. 

 

No kidding, there really isn't one, if you examine the workflow necessary to successfully perform 3D printing in your home on a personal 3D printer. Let's take a look at a typical personal 3D print workflow:

 

• Design or obtain a desirable 3D model
• Verify the 3D model is printable by visual inspection
• If necessary, clean up the model using an appropriate software tool 
• Use another software tool to position, rotate and scale your model for the build platform and envelope
• Launch your slicing software and verify the settings are correct for your printer, material, heads, etc.
• Slice the model into printable GCODE
• Visually verify the GCODE is more or less correct with a software tool
• If you desire multiple copies and have something like MakerBot's automated build platform with conveyer belt, manually prepare sufficient code iterations within the GCODE
• Store the resulting GCODE on an SD card
• Eject and walk the SD card over to your 3D printer and insert the card into its reader
• Power on the printer and select the appropriate GCODE file from the SD card
• Initiate the 3D print
• Await the completion of the print
• Peel the print off the build platform and clean it up by hand

 

This sequence is typically performed by those owning personal 3D printers today, give or take a few steps. But there's more complications that make this even more difficult: several of the steps can take considerable time to complete; many of the steps are done using separate, and sometimes not-particularly-friendly software programs; several of the software programs are pretty complex and require skills and experience; some software runs only on specific platforms, meaning you might have to use multiple or virtual machines to complete your workflow.

 

When you write it all down like this, it does appear quite challenging. Certainly many people are able to make their way through this lengthy workflow, but there are many, many more people who could not ever even attempt to execute them. And those people are the potential future users of personal 3D printers. They're the people who are used to simply striking the "Print" button. 

 

If personal 3D printing is ever to grow, this can't go on. The majority of people require a greatly simplified print workflow. But what might that look like? We'll envision a possible future in Part 2 soon. 

3D Printing Featured On Science Friday

Science Friday's Flora Lichtman visits 3D Printer designer Jim Smith and his extraordinary new device at his workshop. Erm, his living room. Now we finally understand why Jim decided to include a fume extractor on his printer! 

 

Jim explains in basic terms what a 3D printer does and how it works, pointing out the relevant features. Of interest to the reporter, however were safety concerns: the exposed ultra-hot print bed and not-so-nice ABS fumes. All said, it was a wonderful piece that hopefully will reach many people who still haven't heard of 3D printing. 

 

Jim predicts what might happen in the future:

 

I think the killer app might be food - food printing. You won't need to buy a microwave dinner, you'd print out your own dinner. 

 

We totally agree, but right now we have to zip out to the microwave... 

 

Via Science Friday and Grass Roots Engineering (Hat tip to Jim, of course)

Definitive Guide Complete?

Make Magazine has produced a complete list of open source hardware projects, ranging in categories from 3D Printing, Arduino, Clocks, Development Platforms, Green Energy, Games, Medical, Robotics and many other areas. The category of interest to us, is of course, 3D printing. There we find the major open projects listed:

• Contraptor
• Fab@Home
• MakerBeam
• MakerBot
• RepRap

And that is indeed the list of the major projects, but we wonder whether there are other smaller projects that might be considered for such a list? Over the past two years we've written on several independent projects attempting various angles on 3D printing. But at least so far, none have reached the heights these five have made.

Via Make

Contraptor!

Tips flowed in this week regarding "Contraptor", the webchild of Vitaly Mankevich and Riley Porter. According to their About:

Contraptor is a DIY open source construction set for experimental personal fabrication, desktop manufacturing, prototyping and bootstrapping. Various Cartesian robots can be quickly assembled from Contraptor and used as a platform for projects such as XY plotter, mini CNC machine, 3D printer etc.

and

One of the original project goals is manufacturability at home with only basic tools, using inexpensive materials and parts readily available in hardware stores and online, with cost in the range of $400 and without the need for a custom-manufactured kit.

 

Contraptor is also compatible with the T-Slot standard.

The site currently includes sets for Structural, Basic Linear Motion, Electronics & Motors, Linear Rails & Bearings and Skins (plates & mounting screws). Numerous videos demonstrate how to put the stuff together into a variety of examples. Other examples show how Contraptor parts can be used with Sketchup and Thingiverse to develop more complex devices.

If you're looking for a great way to use standard parts on your project, consider using Contraptor.

Via Contraptor (Hat tip to Thomas)

A Chameleon Tears Down Barriers

A1 Technologies, the folks who make the very inexpensive RapMan 3D printer and more recently an inexpensive 3D scanner, now produce an innovative 3D mouse system: the Chameleon 3D. The Chameleon 3D is actually an effective packaging of software and hardware from other developers.

The hardware comes from Novint, whose very unusual Falcon haptic controller seems quite revolutionary:

The Novint Falcon is an entirely new type of game controller. Replacing your mouse or joystick, the Falcon is, essentially, a small robot that lets you experience true virtual touch unlike any controller in history.

The Novint Falcon lets you control a game in three dimensions, and also lets you feel high-fidelity three-dimensional force feedback. The Falcon controller moves right and left, forwards and backwards, like a mouse, but also moves up and down. When you hold the Falcon’s detachable Grip and move your cursor to interact with a virtual object, environment, or character, motors in the device turn on and are updated approximately 1000 times a second, letting you feel texture, shape, weight, dimension, and dynamics. The Falcon lets you control and interact with games in more realistic way, allowing you to develop real physical skill and muscle memory, adding a new dimension to gaming.

Our sense of touch connects us to the world around us and is an integral part of how we experience things, both physically and emotionally.  In the past, games have incorporated increasingly sophisticated graphics and sound design, but none have added realistic touch, until now. The award-winning Novint Falcon makes virtual items and experiences feel real. Hold the Falcon’s interchangeable Grip and feel a character’s actions, instead of controlling a game with mouse-clicks and meters.  Feel the weight of a basketball as you shoot it towards a hoop -- the momentum and impact as you swing a virtual golf club and strike a ball -- the recoil of a weapon – or the physical characteristics of virtual objects and environments.

 

Software for the Chameleon 3D comes from Anarkik3D, whose Cloud9 modelling software leverages the hardware capabilities of the Falcon for 3D design. To get a really good feel for how it works, you might want to watch their video demonstration. Their software is:

designed for working in a virtual 3D environment with a sense of touch … Real world interaction with a virtual 3D model or surface leads to an intuitive style of working, much more engaging and creative than conventional means of interfacing with 3D modelling and design programmes.

Now we see A1 Technologies putting these two incredible technologies together in a very inexpensive package: £350 or approximately USD$570. We see this as taking down two of the persistent barriers to widespread 3D technology: simplified creation of models and access to inexpensive equipment. Well done, A1!

Via A1 Technologies, Anarkik3D and Novint (Hat tip to Rachel)