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Microsoft Integrates Autodesk's 3D Printing Platform Spark Into Windows 10
An anonymous reader writes: At Microsoft's Build 2015 developer conference today, Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft vice president of developer and platform evangelism, announced new 3D printing features in Windows 10. More specifically, Autodesk Spark is being integrated into Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system. Spark is a platform for building 3D printing software, hardware, materials, and services. Adding it to Windows 10 is a big win for Autodesk.
Windows 10 is going to crash and burn like the Titanic.
Autodesk has tied themselves so tightly to Microsoft that they might as well just become another system utility.
And it isn't hardwired into dozens of services or "apps"
Just what you need more stuff to go wrong especially if you never plan on using it. A lean OS makes more sense than an over bloated one.
Are they really thinking that people are going to be going crazy with the IoT thing and start printing out all sorts of plastic crap in the comfort of their home? Really?
I could see this being cool for some educational engineering applications, maybe some fringe at-home product development (e.g. the gas door cable fix for the Honda Civic), but for 99% of folks it will be another piece of useless crapware.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
Some may grumble about this, but speaking as one who's developed an entire suite of tools for 3D printing, I see this as a very positive step towards streamlining the 3D printing process. I wouldn't call it bloat, as it seems to be an available tool rather than a resource-hungry feature loaded as start-up time.
You can bet this isn't being given away free. This means (effectively) I'm being required to pay Autodesk for software that I probably don't want if I'm buying a copy of Windows. Hooray!
While an interesting idea, I don't think this is a very good idea. Most people aren't even going to touch it, and it still requires a printer of some sort and a supply of plastic - all it will do is take up valuable space, and if this is a version of Windows you are supposed to download...
Making it a free, separate download though, that wouldn't be so bad. Microsoft actually has some really underrated software they offer for free - I think my favorite is Microsoft Mathematics. Definitely worth checking out if you're ever looking for a math suite.
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
If you look at the Spark workflow (http://spark.autodesk.com/about) prominent on the list of features is "copyright protection". How exactly this system goes about deciding what you are and are not allowed to print could be quite significant, especially if Microsoft's market share makes it the de facto standard.
Instead of bogging down the OS with stuff 99% of your userbase will never use, how about trying to actually making it lightweight?
I talked with folks from the Microsoft side at the build conference. The Microsoft team was pretty passionate how 3D additive devices can change the future of manufacturing and make communities. They were really focused on the needs of small-med-large manufacturers making high quality slicers and standard drivers wildly available. The person I talked to said that they wanted to help let printer manufacturers focus on the things they innovate and not worry about the software as much that was outside their area of expertise.
Some of the larger machine shops are talking about being able to build parts with additive processes that are impossible with current techniques. You can add cooling channels, hollow spaces, internal honeycomb structures that can't be forged or milled. I'm not a machinist but it sounded like a change on the scale of computer controlled CNC
I absolutely hate the printer setup in doze, but its much better than some other os' around. That was written by the original VMS authors of doze.
Symantec made a bomb licencing their backup and disk defragmentation software to m$.
Stardock made a bomb in licencing their windows widget system which became the basis of all UI from winxp to now.
Can M$ atleast pre-bundle a SSH client into their next OS release so their platform is, at least, usable??
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Some of the larger machine shops are talking about being able to build parts with additive processes that are impossible with current techniques. You can add cooling channels, hollow spaces, internal honeycomb structures that can't be forged or milled. I'm not a machinist but it sounded like a change on the scale of computer controlled CNC
Nothing described there is outside the ability of current CNC technology in the context of additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing). This is what perplexes me with the announcement. As someone who has a 3D printer, and designs my own trinkets in CAD to make, I can't understand what exactly are they talking about? From what I can piece together, they want to replace the CNC system, which has been around for over 60 years, with a new setup. I sceptical as to why as well.
To give you a brief rundown of what gcode is, it's a set of coordinate instructions and other codes which are a simple way of instructing the machine. The whole idea is that you aren't running machine code, but rather a simplified code where the machine software then translates into manipulations of the machine. Coordinates are the main instructions which tell the machine where to move its tool head, spindle, or extruding head, but there are other codes for more complex machines to change tools, change materials, do custom functions, which are usually machine specific. Gcode can easily be written by hand. It's not fun for complex things, and for additive manufacture, it's much longer. Making honey comb, it's easy, you just program the machine to do it. It's a matter for the process or machine that determine the limitations, but the software/code side has never been the problem. It also follows the GIGO principle.
As long as any UI is built by MS themselves (3DSMax is essentially a running joke now), and it's an optional module, I don't really care.
Hell I might even give it a try.
Yep, we haven't figured out how to allow a user to drag an Explorer window that's looking for something on a network, but we have built directly into our OS support for a third-party program to talk to fourth-party hardware.
We still haven't figured out a reliable algorithm that can draw things inside specified a rectangular region of the display, but you can run Android apps and have their GUIs splayed out across the display like a grisly sacrifice.
We still haven't figured out just how much we alienated our customer base by trying to force all computers to be tablets, but we are sure _this_ version of Windows is gonna be the one that everyone installs on their desktops.
It's OK Bender, there's no such thing as 2.
Considering how cheap microprocessors are these days, the 3D printer manufacturer could just stick an ARM soc, with a customized version of Windows, or Linux, into the 3D printer. Just stick the file on a memory stick, or DVD. There will probably just be 3D printing kiosks at places like Home Depot.
This crapware loaded OS has an even larger attack surface now. It's already one of the least secure OSs and now it has even more ways to break.
This is software to run on an OS if you want it, not software to be PART of an OS.
Everyone not stuck in the 20th century.
There are some Golden Girls around here somewhere looking for you, so they can go down on you.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Windows is not fucked up enough already, obviously.
From what I can piece together, they want to replace the CNC system, which has been around for over 60 years, with a new setup. I sceptical as to why as
Easy. They cannot control a g-code based platform because there are way too many open alternatives around already. If they build something proprietary that others will have to work with due to their market power, then they get to be a gatekeeper and collect "tax". That's all. Good old "embrace & extend" strategy again.
Now whether or not this will be successful or whether it even makes sense, I don't know. It could be a major flop with a framework/tool that essentially nobody will use, because 3D printers are far from something an average consumer needs or will buy. Even the hypothetical non-existent plug & play, "push a single button" replicator-like machine is not going to make this an ubiquitous piece of hardware on everyone's desk - most people simply don't need it and can get their trinkets and gizmos cheaper and ready-made elsewhere. However, the software could also end up becoming a defacto standard for consumer printers if they play their hand well ...
Ok, Microsoft, Bundling, I get it. But... has anyone here actually used Spark?
What exactly is it, is it the slicing and machine control software? Or is it a CAD program with emphasis on creating designs for 3d printed objects? Or is it both? How does it compare with the open source equivalents normally used with Repraps?
Oh look! A 12yo posting on slashdot! No worries, I'm sure you're safely back to playing some game on your phone while the rest of us have to work.