Makerbot Desktop 3D Scanner Goes On Sale

dryriver writes with this excerpt from the BBC about the latest device from Makerbot: "A desktop device that can quickly scan objects so they can be replicated using a 3D printer has gone on sale. The Makerbot Digitizer, which costs $1,400 (£900), will be shipped to the first buyers in October. Demand for the machine appeared to overload the company's store when it went on sale on Thursday evening. The Digitizer is the latest product looking to bring 3D printing to mainstream technology users — but experts are sceptical. The machine is designed to allow the replication of objects without any need for the user to learn any 3D modelling software or have any other special expertise. The time it takes to scan an object varies, but one demonstration involving a small gnome was said to take around 12 minutes. "The MakerBot Digitizer is for early adopters, experimenters, and visionaries who want to be pioneers in Desktop 3D Scanning," the company says. "This includes, but is not limited to, architects, designers, creative hobbyists, educators, and artists.""

Comments

$1400 + $150 for warranty.

[wjsteele]

Seems kind of expensive to me for a rotating plate, two LED lasers and a camera.

Bill

Re:$1400 + $150 for warranty.

[keltor]

You are perfectly capable of NOT buying it.

Expensive for a 2.5D scanner

[ArcadeMan]

It seems to be like it's only a 2.5D scanner. Trying to scan a bowl would result in a half-sphere model.

Re:Expensive for a 2.5D scanner

[dgatwood]

It seems to be like it's only a 2.5D scanner. Trying to scan a bowl would result in a half-sphere model.

I think that might depend on how tall the bowl is. If it can see over the top, I would think that it could determine the shape of the inside, though if it only sees part of the inside, it might incorrectly make a bundt pan. :-)

That said, even assuming that it can scan the inside of such an object (and that's an absolute requirement for pretty much any of the things I'd do with something like this), I think I'll still wait for generation 2 (or 3, or 20). The things that I'd like to be able to scan all require more height than this is capable of handling—not because the object I want to produce has greater height, but because I need to replicate a portion of a real-world object, and there's no way to position that real-world object halfway through the rotating table.

They really should have put the camera on a set of vertical slides, with the ability to substitute posts of different lengths if desired (e.g. provide it with 6" posts, but offer 18" posts). It would not have increased the cost of the hardware significantly, and would have resulted in a much more useful piece of hardware. Of course, it would be even better if it had the ability to crawl vertically up those posts to reproduce the shape of more complex objects by adding vertical parallax.

Matterform

[onezan]

i'm going to wait for the scanner from Matterform. http://www.matterform.net/ Looks very promising at half the price.

Office Fun

[SnarfQuest]

Who's going to be the first to do the drunken office party trick equivalent of sitting on the copy machine with their pants down?

Closed Hardware?

[Luthair]

Didn't MarkerBot switch to a closed model for both hardware and software last year? If so, let's stop giving them free PR, they're no different than any of the other systems at this point.

Re:3D copy machine

[Anonymous Coward]

Xerox corporation?

David Laser Scanner

[gr8_phk]

Can't you do this almost for free with the David Laser Scanner software?

3D Tsunami

[EmperorOfCanada]

I don't think people realize the economic Tsunami that personal 3D printing technology is going to be. Right now it is equivalent to the point in a tsunami where the ocean goes out and the people run around picking up fish and marveling at the other bobbles exposed. Then the water rushes in and everything changes in a flash.

At first 3D printing is going to be a novelty where we geeks will bounce up and down in our seats every time we hit the print button. Building showerheads and whatnot for all our families.

To give a simple example of how this will end up looking when 3D manufacturing is mature take the case of Samoa. This tiny island country is damn isolated. Basically the way they earn foreign currency is coconut exports (not very efficient due to the distance), foreign aid, remittances from family abroad, tourism, and oddly enough wiring harnesses. This means that for every car part that is needed (including the whole car) Samoa has to export the equivalent value in coconuts and whatnot. Needless to say in order to live a modern life in Samoa they need to produce a huge amount which is hard when you are producing low value goods and desiring high value ones. Compare this to Germany which produces a huge surplus of very high value goods and thus has little problem importing the cheaper things (like coconuts) that they desire. But what happens when Samoa can fully produce all but the most advanced goods such as micro processors. This would massively reduce the imports of many many high value goods while not reducing the world's demand for their coconuts.

Somoa is a simple example but there are many countries around the world that are presently producing little the rest of the world wants and others that produce too much. Greece would be an example. Many African countries would also be in this situation.

This is where the economic Tsunami will end up. Countries that produce the raw materials that are required by others will either be fine or thrive. While countries that have traditionally produced high value goods but have few resources are going to find that they have a major change coming.

So in the end there will be two groups who do well. Those who produce extreme high value items such as CPUs, Touch screens, etc. And those who produce commodities that the rest of the world wants.

This is going to result in a tsunami of money moving to and from places that aren't the traditional norms.

Re:Very excited to see what is next!

[RenderSeven]

Lucas tried to make computers but they couldnt find a way to make them drip oil.