If you’ve been wanting to get a look inside a Form1+ 3D printer, without buying one and voiding the warranty through a curious disassembling process, have we got a treat for you! Formlabs has published a fascinating look at their Form1+ 3D printer using the popular 3D file sharing site Sketchfab.
Taking advantage of users’ ability to rotate and manipulate objects in 3D, Formlabs has created a unique virtual tour of their SLA 3D printer. Because Sketchfab allows for annotation, the printer manufacturer has annotated every component in their virtual fabricator so that Form1 users, and potential customers, can get a look at what’s under the hood.
The Form1+ tour is only one among many annotated models now on the file sharing site. Other impressive examples include this interactive diagram of the HP Sprout, which, if you read 3DPI regularly, know as part of a larger trend towards the integration of 3D scanning into computers for reality computing, or mixed reality.
And, if you didn’t just watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, half-time show, and possible Internet memes, then you might find this diagram of the Super Bowl kick off interesting:
Sketchfab has recently upped the number of annotations possible on a 3D model from 20 to 50, meaning that it is slowly growing into an even more useful tool for communicating information. As we venture further into the digital world in three dimensions, thanks to wearable interfaces, intuitive 3D modeling software, and robust 3D file sharing sites, it may be possible that such annotated diagrams will become the norm for industries of all kinds to communicate data. Specifically, I can imagine surgeons sharing vital 3D data – complete with illegible doctor’s notes – with colleagues around the globe. Wouldn’t that be somethin’?
