Author Archive

3D Printing

Monday, April 11th, 2011

A 3D Printer at work

Sharon Showalter is a creative technologist at SaatchiNY. Below are some of her thoughts on the trending art of 3D printing, who’s doing it, and what you should know.

3D printing is a process often used for prototyping that creates an object from a 3D file. Layers of a solid material are applied on top of one another to create the object. For the past few years 3D printing has been bubbling up internationally, with tech industry bloggers covering it more and more frequently. The quality and cost of printers has been improving, MakerBot’s Cupcake starts at only $900. In 2011, it appears that 3D printing will reach its tipping point.

FABRICATE YOURSELF
2011 kicked off with two wonderfully exciting demonstrations of 3D printing. In January, Karl D.D. Willis created Fabricate Yourself, a gigantic jigsaw puzzle at the Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction conference. Conference attendees’ 3D figures were captured using a hacked Xbox Kinect and open FrameWorks. Their 3D representations were displayed in on screen in real-time. Interlocking dovetail joints were added to the edges of a 3x3cm square along with their 3D image. Then their personal puzzle pieces were printed using an on-site 3D printer.

BLABLABLAB
In the same month, we saw blablabLAB bring a similar idea to the streets of Barcelona with Be Your Own Souvenir. For two weekends their installation produced 3D toy-soldier-like figurines of tourists and citizens of Barcelona. Again, they used the Kinect, but they stepped up the game and created in-the-round representations by utilizing 3 Kinects at the same time.

Also See: Be Your Own Souvenir! from blablabLAB on Vimeo.

SHAPEWAYS & SCULPTEO
For the past few years we’ve seen an explosion in print-on-demand services combined with user populated online stores like Lulu for books and CafePress for t-shirts, mugs and tote bags. With 3D printing, we have Shapeways and Sculpteo; you can upload your own 3D designs, choose from plastic, stainless steel or glass materials and have your custom object delivered in as little as 15 days. You can make your designs available for others to purchase as well. At Shapeways you can turn a hand-drawn sketch into jewelry or customize a ring to hold a personalized Braille message. At Sculpteo, you can order your own customized 3D figurine by simply uploading two images of your face.

It is exciting to think about the changes 3D printing will bring to the future. It opens opportunities in relation to experience-based advertising initiatives, and it is a potential game-changer in relation to the manufacturing and distribution of goods.

Category: Creative, Digital & Interactive, Print & Direct

COOL STUFF

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Sharon Showalter is a creative technologist at SaatchiNY. While she’s in Austin for SXSWi, the H/H team has been getting updates on cool stuff she’s seen. Below are some of her recent favorites.

INSTAPRINT

I was at the Town Holler party on Sunday and there it was – Instaprint by Breakfast. I had read about it online and hoped I would have the good fortune of coming across it at SXSW.

Instaprint is a printing station that scans the instagram api for new pictures that have been tagged to the location and prints them instantly!

GEOLOQI

Geoloqi at work in NYC

Geoloqi at work in NYC

Earlier in the week a saw a tweet from @caseorganic, Amber Case, about her new application, Geoloqi. It automatically tracks your location and performs actions for you based on your location, like SMS messages, emails and FourSquare check-ins.

I believe Geoloqi is an app to watch; it is the exciting beginning to automated interface-free interactions.

BLEKKO

Blekko home page. Simple & Efficient

I’ve been taking a really good look at Blekko lately, they are a new-comer to the search market. I can’t imagine myself saying I’m going to “Blekko” something, but they have an interesting approach. They categorize websites within topics like science, and then you can search within a topic and come up with more results that are relevant to your search. Blekko also blocks sites that have little content and a large amount of advertising.

Category: Creative, Digital & Interactive, Events

King St. Q&A w/ Sharon Showalter

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Sharon's photo from the SaatchiNY faces project

Sharon Showalter is a creative technologist at SaatchiNY. Last year she graduated from VCU as one of the first 11 students to ever participate in the BrandCenter’s Creative Technology Track. She recently had a big hand in our SaatchiNY Holiday card, which you can check out on her last H/H post. For more information on Sharon’s thoughts and ideas, be sure to check out her website, blog & LinkedIn pages.

WHAT DO YOU DO AT SAATCHI & SAATCHI?
I’m a Creative Technologist. I take a holistic view of technology from experience planning to coding and I use this knowledge to help push creative ideas forward into the digital space.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
When I was five, I was paid 75 cents an hour to color. My dad owned his own beekeeping business and during the summer the entire family would work extracting honey. Babysitters were expensive so my parents paid me to tag along.

WHAT LED YOU ON THE PATH YOU’RE ON TODAY?
When I was in High School I joined the newspaper. I loved designing layouts so I studied graphic design in undergrad. I worked at Rosetta Stone for several years, and I saw the way that advances in technology had made the company what it was. It was started by two brothers who had the idea for a new immersive language teaching method, but technology couldn’t support the idea until the CD-ROM came out. It was a great example of how understanding technology can make an idea possible. So when I went to grad school at the VCU Brandcenter, I jumped at the chance to study in their new track called Creative Technology. I was part of the first class to graduate from the school with this specialization.

IF YOU WEREN’T IN ADVERTISING, WHAT CAREER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO TRY?
Theater Costuming

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE YOUTUBE VIDEO?
I like to watch Big Mama Thornton sing Hound Dog.

TELL US SOMETHING SURPRISING ABOUT YOURSELF:
I used to live in an old farmhouse with a woodstove, a garden and a dirt cellar, now I live in an apartment building in Manhattan; I’m not sure which one I like more.

WHAT ARE YOUR LOVEMARKS?
Trader Joes, Lindt, Threadless

FAVORITE CHILDHOOD TELEVISION PROGRAM?
My So-Called Life. I lived and breathed that show. It was the only show I ever saw as a teen that gave a realistic view into all the details that teenagers obsess over. I re-watched it last summer and came to the conclusion that Jordan Catalano was actually not a god.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CREATIVE PURSUIT?
I just come up with things I want and then make them. Lately, I’ve been focusing on robotics and Arduino, fiddling around making stuff move. I made a big paper umbrella with a friend; it opens using a servo and motion sensor.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN?
Get up early on a Saturday and walk to the movie theater in my pajamas.

WHAT BLOGS/MAGAZINES/BOOKS/PAPERS/WEBSITES CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?
My clock radio tuned to NPR. If I had to wake up to a buzzing alarm clock, I would go insane.

BOOK THAT YOU’RE CURRENTLY READING?
[Insert the name of a book that will make you think I am witty and smart here]

A GUILTY PLEASURE FOR ME IS:
Sleeping in until noon, and then making a big breakfast of the thinnest sliced fried potatoes, slow-cooked grits (I’m from Virginia), scrambled eggs with cheese, toast, orange juice, and coffee.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE GREATEST INVENTION IS IN YOUR LIFETIME AND WHY?
Open-source. It is the example of a new working model for humanity. The more open we are to sharing knowledge with one another, the more we will accomplish.

WHAT’S THE LAST GREAT TRIP YOU WENT ON?
I went to SXSW interactive and ate a waffle shaped like Texas every morning.

WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU GAVE A STANDING OVATION?
I saw Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice

Category: Digital & Interactive, King St. Q&A, New York, Our People