3D Printed Paintings For The Blind

A group of students from Harvard have come up with an innovative new way for the visually impaired to experience art along with everyone else. The project is called “Midas Touch” and uses 3D printing to make visual art more accessible. PSFK reports.

The basic premise is that 3D printing allows a normal 2D painting to have textures and layers added to it, creating a 3D experience. The result would be a piece of art that includes distinct shapes, textures and transitions – aspects which are much easier for the visually impaired to understand.

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Andy Warhol Challenge: the finalists!

Above, one of the five finalists of the imaterialise Andy Warhol Challenge. Their work will be showcased in the Andy Warhol Museum on the opening night of RAPID 2013 in Pittsburgh. Check out the other four!

[via 3D PrintingIndustry]

3D Printers Are Changing How Designers Make And Market Art

The Creator’s Project, a video series that looks at how artists are using technology in new ways, recently released a feature on 3D printing.

The video looks at Shapeways in particular as the site has been instrumental in expanding the reach of 3D printing beyond traditional manufacturing. In a way, the site is kind of like the Etsy of 3D printing as designers can sell their creations to the masses.

[WebPro News via @3DPrintingModel]

First 3-D Printed Records Sound Awful—And Amazing

Smells Like Teen Spirit written by Kurt Cobain, is part of the batch of the first records ever to be created on a 3-D printer. Wired reports.

It’s surprising how much you can deform and down-sample an audio file and still recognize it,” says Amanda Ghassaei, assistant tech editor at Instructables, who printed the record, and several others, including music from the Pixies, Daft Punk, and Radiohead.

Ghassaei used a state-of-the-art Objet Connex 500 printer to generate the disc. For her printed records, Ghassaei sets the machine to its finest setting, 600 dpi, with 16 micron steps, about the highest quality available on the market. But it’s still far lower resolution than on a vinyl LP, by a factor of 10 or so.

... “It’s really stripped down, it’s down to the bare essentials,” she says. “It’s never going to be as good as vinyl. It’s not really set up for that. But it’s cool because you can really be creative with it."

You can listen here.

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3D sculptures by Eric van Straaten

3D sculptures spotted on www.3ders.org by Dutch sculpturist Eric van Straaten.

‘Skeleton’ — A 3D Printed Internal Self Portrait

Artist and sculptor Caspar Berger is renowned for his self-portraits. For his latest project —Skeleton — Berger has used the very latest advanced technology to reveal a portrait of the invisible — his own skeleton. 3D Printing Industry reports.

Berger had his body scanned in one of the world’s most cutting-edge CT scanners, which produced very accurate 3D data of his living skeleton. This data could then be made compatible for use with a 3D printer to build a precise replica of parts of his skeleton.

From these 3D printed parts Berger went on to make silicone moulds of the bones and then cast copies in bronze and gold.

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