Hi, everyone! I've been working the past couple weeks at launching my new 3d printing shop over on Shapeways, and I've finally decided to launch it. It's called Differential Designs, and features many of the objects I've released as free modeling tutorials over the past several months, as well as a few new shapes I haven't tutorized yet. From now, until the new year, new products will be added to the store almost daily! Most of these products are first-time candidates to 3d printing on Shapeways, so I prefer to test them in beta releases. All this means is that these objects have not reached the minimum number of successful prints (80%) to be considered finalized designs yet. Every object that is listed in the store has passed the initial automated inspection routines upon upload to the Shapeways store, and I've already placed my own first-time order for the Trefoil Star Pendant, which has successfully passed the manual pre-printing inspections by Shapeways' staff, and is currently in production! I'm very excited to get my first successful 3d printed object from them, and will post photos of it when it arrives through the mail in about a week.

However, there's no way I can beta test all of the models in the store all by myself, and need your help, by simply purchasing an order for one of the models available on Differential Designs. My "mission" with this store overall is to explore and share simple, standard, polygonal modeling techniques with people who wish to create visually stunning objects for rendering or 3d printing. Unfortunately, not everyone interested in this type of thing is mathematically gifted to be able to create certain shapes through complex formulas, or algebraic scripting. With each successful 3d print, the overall strategies and methods of each technique are verified and proven to translate into real world printed objects. This information can be used to produce even more accurate and highly specific tutorials going forward, using Blender and 3dsmax. Having over an 80% successful beta run with any of these models will allow us to better understand issues related to potential printing hazards, like minimal wall thickness for certain materials, and how that relates to overall printing costs, as well as other issues that many newcomers to 3d printing are likely to face.

As mentioned, anything you order from my Shapeways shop has already passed every automated inspection Shapeways has, for stability and successful printing in the given materials. If for any reason, after your purchase, a beta product fails the manual inspection by the Shapeways team before printing, they will notify you, and you will NOT have to pay for it. I've done my best to keep all the pricing very reasonable. The average price for a 3d print in flexible plastic in my store is under $40, and there are several items that are in the $10 range. I've included an "X-mas ornament" version of the Classic Star Ball, which could also make a great Holiday gift, or to use on your tree. If anyone decides to support the store by beta-testing any of the models (I know for sure the Trefoil Star Pendant will pass the manual inspection), I encourage you to contact me and let me know. Once you receive the model, be sure to take pics of it, and I'll put together a beta-testers video, featuring all your photos with credits, and put you in the list for other complimentary model gifts from me in the future. Thank you very much for your support! In addition to all the models, I'll be uploading to the Differential Designs store in the coming days, I will also continue to release new freebies before the holidays too, so keep an eye on my profile for that!

I asked you this before, but you never answered. I'd love to get that sphericon model printed. I did your tutorial for it in Blender, but I'm not sure it's gonna be able to 3d print. I noticed also you don't have that one in your own store, so is it not printable?

davidstoolie posted at 12:20PM Sun, 13 December 2015 - #4243904

I asked you this before, but you never answered. I'd love to get that sphericon model printed. I did your tutorial for it in Blender, but I'm not sure it's gonna be able to 3d print. I noticed also you don't have that one in your own store, so is it not printable?

I will eventually add the sphericon shape to the collection on Shapeways. However, I have a few more objects to add to the store first. The Sphericon is tricky for printing, only because it needs to be supported, or rotated at a specific angle to stand up on its own during the printing process. In other words, even with the powder printing process that Shapeways uses, the Sphericon needs to be properly balanced to print successfully. I'll work on it, and have it available soon.

If you have access to your own 3d printer, like a Makerbot Replicator or something, which requires lots of inserts and support structures, then I can't guarantee the success of certain shapes, like the Sphericon pendant, unless you print at a rather large scale. The surface will likely be rough, and it could be difficult to remove all the rafts and supports, without breaking the object.

Update: I want to thank everyone who have already participated as Beta purchasers! After some of the most recent purchases, Shapeways has calculated a print success rate that is now greater than 80%, which means several models are now out of Beta-Testing, and have gone from a First-To-Try products to a successfully printed objects in some materials! I would also like to share some of the first actual photos of one of the 3d objects with you!

The following models have gone from Beta (first to try) products to successful 3d printed objects, and can now be purchased and printed with total confidence, in the following materials:

Interlocked Mobius Ladder

• White Strong & Flexible

Teardrop Quatrefoil

• White Strong & Flexible

• Green Strong & Flexible Polished

• Orange Strong & Flexible Polished

• Yellow Strong & Flexible Polished

• Black Strong & Flexible

• Red Strong & Flexible Polished

• Pink Strong & Flexible Polished

• Blue Strong & Flexible Polished

• Purple Strong & Flexible Polished

Trefoil Star Pendant

• White Strong & Flexible

Here are some first-time photos of the Trefoil Star Pendant, as it appeared after it arrived in the mail (thanks to Lisa L. for taking the shots on her phone):

Wow! Can that be hung from a necklace? Looks like it can. What size is it? Congrats on your store. Your models are really great. I'm eagerly awaiting the sphericon shape! I can make a purchase after the holidays, if you have it up by then.

davidstoolie posted at 5:10PM Fri, 18 December 2015 - #4244771

Wow! Can that be hung from a necklace? Looks like it can. What size is it? Congrats on your store. Your models are really great. I'm eagerly awaiting the sphericon shape! I can make a purchase after the holidays, if you have it up by then.

Sure, it can be hung from almost any type of necklace. In fact, it was designed to be a pendant, as indicated in the name. I have some photos of the object being worn on a necklace, which I'll post at a later time.

Meanwhile, here's a couple photos of some other objects which some people have purchased as well. These photos are compliments of Michael Gibson, at DeviantArt. Thanks, Michael! The first one is a 3d print of my Mobius Ladder, and the second is of the Teardrop Quatrefoil model. Both were printed in flexible plastic.

Congratulations. I like that red one a lot.

You know... You might get some good responses from mathematicians/physicists for "desk bling" with certain products developed around mathematical constructs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorema_Egregium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-torus_model_of_the_universe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_curvature

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifold

That last one is just for those with a sense of humor... :)

By developing a "brand" based around things like this, with good marketing principles, you might be the person that professor's buy from when trying to figure out what to get a fellow department-head for Christmas. :)

I think Lux is on to something here, but in the opposite direction. There's already tons of real mathemeticians out there doing stuff in 3d printing. In his videos, it seems Lux is trying to carve out a niche that shows the average person how they can create these shapes without having a degree in high physics. I think it's a good idea, but it might also piss off some of the real mathemeticians who are using specialized software, and complicated numerical strings to do the same stuff.

Hey guys. Here's a new 3d modeling tutorial, showing how to easily model a complex "twisted" tetrahedron curio, which could also be 3d printed.

Here's a link to the object on my Shapeways store. It's still in Beta at the moment but has passed all the automated tests for a successful 3d print.

Twisted Tetrahedron 3D Print

Hi, Lux! I just purchased your Trefoil Star model at shapeways. I'll send you pics after it gets here if you want them.

Just ordered the teardrop one so lets see how shapeways shape up.

Thank you so much guys! Would love to see photos once you guys get them. I'll feature all user images on the product page, and with permission use them in a video I'll make of user-submitted product pics. Happy Holidays!

I was reasonably impressed with Shapeways. The object arrived way before they said it would (pleased the wife anyway) very well packaged and good quality. Her other thought was that the hole in the middle could be of a lesser diameter but overall she was pleased.

On a technical note Lux, Am I right in thinking that they are not solid plastic - where permissable. So if they are a tubular type construction then there are 2 un connected meshes. So my question is (if I've got this right) is how does the software know which bit to print? Does it read the normals?

airflamesred posted at 6:42PM Mon, 11 January 2016 - #4248613

I was reasonably impressed with Shapeways. The object arrived way before they said it would (pleased the wife anyway) very well packaged and good quality. Her other thought was that the hole in the middle could be of a lesser diameter but overall she was pleased.

On a technical note Lux, Am I right in thinking that they are not solid plastic - where permissable. So if they are a tubular type construction then there are 2 un connected meshes. So my question is (if I've got this right) is how does the software know which bit to print? Does it read the normals?

I'm glad you had a good experience with the purchase! That's part of the reason I chose to go with Shapeways. They are very attentive to their customers, and have some excellent customer service. Of course, the other thing is that they have the tech to print just about anything, in so many different materials. If you take a few photos of yours, send them to me and I'll use them in videos and other presentations, with credit back to you of course.

Shapeways uses a wide range of different technologies to create 3d prints, based on the materials and complexity of the objects. For example, in some cases, they use 3DP (Three Dimensional Printing) in a variety of powder options; from plaster to ceramics to glass and metal. The layers are built on a platform which lowers after each pass, as a wiper distributes the layers. In this case, the powder acts as it's own support, so this process does not need support structures or material, like SLA printing would. The results are very fragile, however, until carefully cleaned and cured. In the case of the object you purchased, there is no actual "wall thickness". The object is created as a solid, single manifold. I think the thickness is about 1mm. Some objects are created with an inner wall thickness, to save on material and cost. In other words, they are hollow inside and the walls are of a specific thickness. This is done by creating an additional "shell" around the object, or inside the object, in your 3d software. In Max, I'd create wall thickness by applying an additional shell thickness to a solid, manifold object. There are minimum wall thicknesses required for particular materials. For example, the flexible plastic you purchased needs at least a 0.8mm wall thickness to print successfully. Something like porcelain might require 3mm. So some models might not be made available in some materials, depending on if they can support the minimum wall thickness needed. Again, you don't need to use a wall thickness. If you chose not to, then the entire inside of a manifold object will be filled with material.

@airflamesred:

The beginning of this video shows the powder printing process used by Shapeways for some of its materials, and how the objects are supported in a big block of powder material at the end, so there's no need for additional support structure. This kind of process unleashes a universe of more creative possibilities for modelers over other printing technologies because you can get away with some shapes that would be impossible to print without added supports, and extensive, difficult "cleanup" afterwards.

John, where do you want pics sent? I bought your star pendant too, and have some pics for you.

maxxxmodelz posted at 5:54PM Sun, 14 February 2016 - #4255062

John, where do you want pics sent? I bought your star pendant too, and have some pics for you.

Thanks, bro. Feel free to email it to me, or just post it here if you like, and I'll download it.