Located in Midtown Manhattan is (or was if they’ve closed it by now) the 3DEA exhibition. It’s a temporary showing of 3D printing technology for the public sponsored by several industry notables. The purpose, as far as we can tell, is to educate the public on the technology by demonstrating equipment and displaying fantastic 3D prints.
The relevant participants included Shapeways, Solidoodle, PP3DP, ShapeShot, Ultimaker and dozens of highly skilled 3D print artists, whose works were on display and even for sale.
The displays were busy and well organized, some were even attended by pleasantly helpful staff ready to answer your newbie 3D printing questions.
Several workstations were set up with various 3D modeling programs, where the public could rapidly determine that 3D modeling is not something you can just start doing.
A massive wall of Ultimakers busily printed various objects.
One fascinating display was hidden at the rear of the exhibit, entitled, “Sexy Objects”. They were indeed. While we blushingly examined the items inside, another visitor remarked, “You know what creeps me out? Someone must have posed for these!”
There’s few places with the traffic of Manhattan at Christmas time and we unsurprisingly observed a great many people visiting the exhibit, each learning something about 3D printers. We’re not sure how much product was sold, but that really wasn’t the objective.
Can we get a few more of these exhibits in more cities?
