3d

Hero Forge Custom Miniatures has an online designer with various configuration options for game figures. Not exactly cheap, but if you really need a figure for a game, it might still be worth it.

High Fidelity. The interesting part: 3D world with distributed network, low latency as a goal and voxel-based models and physics simulation. Good: Phillip Rosedale on board, who has already built a quite well-functioning 3D world with Second Life. Bad: Phillip Rosedale on board, who has already messed up the spread of a well-functioning 3D world with Second Life. Hmm. I think this is a case for "let's see".

OpenBuilds OX CNC Machine | OpenBuilds. Cool - the next step after 3D printers, now the CNC machine for DIY and sharing.

OpenCamera. Blogged about it because a) it's cool and b) it might interest me to build. 3D printer is coming eventually and Arduino is already here and photography is just so much on my line.

What I considered worth reading during the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.

• Paul Khuong: Starting to hack on SBCL
• China's Executed as Mass Organ Donors
• Complaint from the competition at the EU: Google rivals fight against Android
• Panasonic System Camera: Lumix GF6 with Near Field Communication and WLAN
• Tips On Printing With PLA
• The International Space Center Uses Loads of Nikon Gear to Capture These Beautiful Images
• The Novo is As Small as a GoPro But Takes C Mount Lenses
• UPDATED: BlackMagic’s Pocket Cinema Camera is Native Micro Four Thirds Mount, Tiny, Shoots RAW

3D Printing with Nylon 618 filament in Tie-Dye colours. Very cool. I think that's something I could try when my printer is here. Just pre-color the filament and then print with it.

EverythingServerUbuntu - Ryzom - Ryzom Core Development Site. I should take a closer look at this - at the moment I'm playing a bit of Ryzom, just for relaxation on the weekend, and that has been open source for some time now - you can set up your own server with your own little world. It's not connected to the main system as far as I can see (which is a shame, it would be funny to jump with an avatar from there into my own little world), but still maybe something to play around with. Even if it's probably more complex than OpenSim to build something like Lilliput inside it.

Slic3r is Nicer - Part 1 - Settings and Extruder Calibration provides good tips for calibrating and configuring 3D printers.

PhysibleExchange - Popular. Another place where you can find 3D models for 3D printing. This one has some really practical things, not just toys.

Reconstruct your world with ReconstructMe. Hey, cool, 3D scanning with Kinect. This actually makes it suitable for hobbyists - although the question is whether you can meaningfully scan things smaller than head size with it, as the Kinect is designed for larger scanning areas.

foosel/OctoPrint at devel · GitHub. Also nice - a 3D printer control program that runs on a web server and can be installed on a RaspberryPi. Add a WiFi module and a small nice case and you can set up your 3D printer in the next room or basement and print comfortably from the sofa. Then connect a USB webcam and you can also watch it print from there.

Cura. This would be software that can make the printing process more efficient - an all-in-one package with integrated model preview, slicing, printing and all kinds of parameters. And also available across systems (which I am always excited about: almost all software in this area is available across systems).

3ders.org - Infographic: step-by-step guide for 3D printing with a RepRap. Nice little overview of what all needs to happen for 3D printing. Certainly, some of this can be made more efficient with the right software choice, but in one form or another, everything is involved.

FreeCAD: An Open Source parametric 3D CAD modeler. And since I'm currently collecting 3D software, here's another free (this time also Open Source) software for technical models. I should definitely take a closer look at it.

Pixologic :: Sculptris. Another modeler and this one interests me particularly - it is a stripped-down, free (as in free beer) version of ZBrush. I do have an older ZBrush license floating around, but for my plans this one would probably be more than sufficient.

OpenSCAD - The Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller. Not uninteresting - a parametric, non-interactive CAD system. Basically, you feed in a base and write scripts that then use this base. Or you work directly with scripts that combine models from solids. For technical elements, this can be much clearer and more flexible than interactive CAD systems.

Repetier Software | The software driving your 3d printer. Interesting, this is software that combines all the steps of printing in one interface and is said to be significantly faster than pronterface. There is also a Mac version, so it might be worth a try. It also comes with its own firmware, so I naturally need to find out first whether the Robo3D can work with it (but since it is based on open source printers in principle, this could very well work - and their FAQ already states that they want to use Repetier-Host directly, so the chances are good).

Filabot Personal Filament Maker for 3D Printers - Desktop Extruding System – Environmentally Friendly. And with this, you make your own filament from plastic shredder. Also a cool idea.

Slic3r - G-code generator for 3D printers. Oh yes, another important 3D printing software. Slic3r is used to create the actual print plan from the STL model, which the printer then uses to produce the workpiece. This is about the layer thickness, how the head moves, what the infills should look like, etc.

Printable wood available. Cool - printable wood. Basically just a wood powder-plastic mixture that can be processed like normal wood after printing.

Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects. And you can go there to search for inspiration and starter models. Presumably also on the other usual 3D warehouses, but then you have to convert the models to STL first (and make various preparations to the models so that they become printable).

Tinkercad - Mind to design in minutes. Wow. There's even 3D design software for 3D printers that runs completely in the web. Okay, since you can boot Linux in the browser, nothing should surprise me anymore, but it's still cool ...

repetier/Repetier-Host-Mac · GitHub. And the necessary software to control the printer.

RepRap - RepRapWiki. Well, this will probably soon become important reading for me. Pretty cool stuff, 3D printing.

Java 3D Engine | Learn Java Programming in 3D. Looks very interesting, especially because it has a close integration into an IDE (BlueJ) with a focus on learning to program. And meanwhile, you can also directly generate Android applications from it and, for example, build your own games or toys.

forger the digital sculpting app for iPad. 3D modeling on the go on the iPad following the clay shaping model. Could be interesting for one or the other who wants to bring it over to Blender to Collada to import it into Second Life, for example.

Python Interpreter by Noam Gat -- Unity Asset Store. And this is more for my private tinkering: a plugin that integrates an interactive Python shell into Unity3D. Somehow, Unity3D always fascinates me when I see it. Especially since the entry is now free (unfortunately, the jump to Pro - which offers some essential tools like a profiler or support for external versioning - is quite steep).

- 3D Portfolio of Michael Grote -. If you like fantastic 3D renderings and want to take a peek behind the scenes (he often includes wireframe and concept renderings), just click. Really great work - I particularly like the Steampunk camera ...