DIY RTAM*
The introduction of Photoshop and Illustrator a generation ago tempted many untrained, self-proclaimed graphic designers to try their hand at creating professional-quality design. Much of the resulting design was unbearable, leaving many to question whether that particular genie should have been released from its bottle. But among the avalanche of not-so-great DIY designs were exciting new styles and ideas that helped kick off a grass-roots aesthetic that would likely never have come from the professional community. In not knowing the rules that often bind the professionals, iconoclastic and irreverent new ideas emerged to shake up the conventional modes and mentalities. The 3D world has always been on a time delay, perhaps owing to the complexity of the methodology associated with it. But we’re now seeing the rise of DIY in the 3D space, and it’s following the positive trajectories of the other tools of the digital revolution.
Certainly, few things beat the rush that comes from holding an SLS (Selective Laser Sintered) part that was just 1’s ad 0’s only days earlier. For me, it represents the marriage of the digital world’s ephemeral fluidity with the permanence of the tangible object. It taps into the need in all of us to transcend the predictable monotony of the sea of mass-produced, paint-by-numbers products in which we swim. And it lets us curate our psychical environment as we do our Facebook page—something unique to us and a product of our imagination. So it’s no wonder that the use of DIY 3D tools is exploding among non-professionals, and that unexpected new products greet us online whenever we care to look.
The tools available to the DIY 3D enthusiast seem to fall into two categories: those that recreate otherwise expensive machines and software at a more palatable price, and those services that offer the DIY designer access to the expensive, high-end machines. Here are a few highlights from both camps:
Expensive Tools Gone Cheap
Blender 3D (blender.org). Blender 3D offers a free, 3D modeling application capable of high-quality rendering, complex shape creation, and STL output. One pass through the stunning gallery section on their site makes clear the impressive versatility of this open-source modeling application. And, in case the price suggests a no-better-than-amateur quality, know that it was used as a storyboard tool in the creation of Spiderman 2.
Sketchup (sketchup.google.com). In keeping with the Google ethos, Sketchup is free (a more feature-rich, paid “Pro” version is available), and CAD-like for limited applications. Though not as robust as the true 3D modelers available, it’s hard to beat the user-friendliness of the features available to the novice CAD user.
David (david-laserscanner). Do you have a laser level in your garage drawer? David shows you how to turn it into a functional 3D scanner that he claims is suitable for everything from small artifacts to boat hulls, from humans to fine art.
Arc3D/Meshlab (arc3d.be). If hacking a laser sounds like trouble, you can do much the same with just your common digital camera. Based in Leuven, Belgium, Arc3D allows you to upload snapshots of your object to be virtually “scanned,” and then sends you a point-cloud database of your object. Since this application is photogrammetry-driven, the image map is included with the model. Again, the application’s gallery page suggests its value for the determined 3D scanning enthusiast. Arc3D links to Meshlab, a free Italian surfacing program that includes features typically found on high-end surfacing applications.
Photomodeler (photomodeler.com). Photogrammetry-based scanner applications (not free, but not costly, either) are offered in the Photomodeler suite of products. These allow your digital camera to generate quality scans with respectable precision, and also include image mapping with the geometry.
MakerBot (makerbot.com). MakerBot spells it out in their concept statement, offering what for many of us is the ultimate utopian vision of free-form fabrication:
The concept is simple: instead of having a centralized factory that produces parts and then distributes them to the people who want them, individuals have the tools they need to build the things they want and distribute them without a central hub. Here at MakerBot, we fully support this vision of the future—we’re actively building tools that support this revolution. We want to take a first step toward that future by starting crowdsourced manufacturing, where production is distributed, but distribution still uses the hub model.
Their sub-$1K desktop “fabbers” create small products quickly from a CAD model.
RepRap (reprap.org). Like MakerBot, RepRap offers a similar, DIY deposition-style
DIY fabber that includes plans for its own self-application. Not only can you create 3D parts on demand, but you can create another RepRap. It’s all a part of their master plan! You can even sell the clones until you’ve covered your own costs, and so on, down the line. The ramifications—though perhaps a touch hyperbolic—are outlined on their site in a quote from The Guardian (Nov. 25, 2006): “[RepRap] has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment…”
Democratizing the Means of Creation
If you need more complex, or robust, part creation, a few new services connect you to machines far beyond the garage. The trend here is not only to fabricate your part, but also to host the marketplace where it can be sold to anyone intrigued by it. And the prices are plenty reasonable, as compared to traditional alternatives.
Ponoko (ponoko.com) offers the virtual use of their laser cutters to fabricate forms based on your vector drawing, realized in several varieties of plywood, bamboo, felt, and acrylic. You can create complex or interlocking parts, and let the user perform the assembly steps (read: it ships flat). Their site currently showcases seven materials in a variety of colors, and presents products that range from jewelry to home furnishings, toys, and art.
Shapeways (shapeways.com), out of Leuven, Belgium (what is it about Leuven?), will take any 3D STL file within its guidelines and fabricate it in SLS polyamide or stainless steel. Their customers range from the professional to the weekend hobbyist, and has been used by people in 192 countries. The opportunity this presents to the amateur or small-scale innovator is extraordinary. According to Joris Peels of Shapeways, users “come because you can upload a file and then immediately sell a physical product worldwide without any additional start up costs. This is very powerful for existing industrial designers and people wanting to do things such as start their own toy brand. We do the boring stuff: production, shipping and customer service and they design…We hope to democratize production in the same way that eBay democratized online retailing. We enable anyone to have their own manufacturing capacity.”
DIY RTAM for Everyone
With companies like Shapeways taking care of the “boring stuff,” we’re left to innovate. And, if the idea catches on, anyone can create an overnight DIY business, no MBA required. But the value of these services really extends far beyond what we’re already seeing. One visit to the Maker Faire or Burning Man convinces you of the creative energy and imagination already latent in the many people otherwise removed from the day-to-day world of “professional” product design.
What’s to stop an inventor in Namibia from designing and fabricating—through some combination of Blender and Shapeways—an improved water-purification device based on her unique insights and knowledge of local challenges? Or a doctor in Uraguay from creating a life-saving, low-cost medical improvement using Sketchup and Ponoko? As the means of creation are democratized, the collective creativity of a vast pool of creators offers to change the world in fundamental, and possibly in positive ways. As Photoshop, Illustrator and other products have already demonstrated, from this new wave of DIY 3D software tools and services we can hope to see ideas unimagined by those of us who have always adhered rigorously to the “rules” of design.
(*Do It Yourself Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing)
