3D Printing takes off in Ireland

Cork City became the first City in Ireland to host a public 3D printing course (as far as we're aware..). The participants who come from a wide range of backgrounds conceived and printed their own designs guided by instructors from Viewsion Virtual Environments.

 

The Course poster depicts the transformation from a classical sculpture into a digital matrix

L-R Participants Sue Aylwin, Michelle Kiely, Laura Maye, Scott Carey, Paul (Me), Donal O'Donohoe, (Terry O'Brien- not in photo) showing their work from the course.

The Tiger's Head designed and prepared for print by Michelle Kiely


The course which started May 1st ran for four Wednesdays and finished with students reviewing their own 3D prints. There were discussions about patenting, manufacturing, marketing and model optimisation. Participants are invited to keep the discussion about their own exploits in 3D printing. We look forward to their wonderful work!

If you or someone you know is interested in finding out about our course, please check our descriptor page

Prints were supplied by C-CAD, a local CAD provider and the collaboration of Jim Barrett for which we are most grateful. 

Cork City plays host to San Francisco Mayor on Saint Patrick's Day 2013. Edwin Lee receives a 3D printed model of the Castle!

Mayor Edwin Lee visited Blackrock Castle Observatory Coderdojo on Saint Patrick's Day where he was presented with a 3D printed model of the Castle.

Mayor of SF Edwin Lee receives a 3D printed model of Blackrock Castle from Blackrock Castle Observatory Coderdojo participant.

This is what Blackrock Castle would look like if it was floating in space.... A preview of the BCO model before it gets uploaded to  Google Earth.

Thanks to Jim Barrett of C-CAD for his unwavering support and assistance in preparing the excellent detailed 3D model of the castle.

The first ever 3D physical representation of Blackrock Castle Cork, Ireland. This model was printed by Jim Barrett of C-CAD assisted by Viewsion Virtual Environments.

This is a great day for Irish schools...

Google SketchUp Pro is now available for free to all primary and secondary schools in Ireland!! 

This could be a huge boost to education in Ireland and even help contribute to the struggling Irish economy in years to come, by preparing students to geomodel, 3D print, plan buildings, cities, create games and who knows what else?

Above: Map showing locations worldwide where
Google SketchUp Pro has been made available to schools.

Schools can obtain licenses for Google SketchUp Pro
from the Galway Education Centre (click here)

This initiative was organised by Allyson MacDuffie in Google and Bernard Kirk of the Galway Education Centre. Hats off to both of them!

Check out our Irish Schools SketchUp Training Portal for great free resources for learning this deadly sofware.

Using SketchUp and Makerbot to Model my Home Town.

I recently experienced how Professor Frankenstein must have felt* when he brought his creation to life. I basked in glory (just for a minute) when I realised that, having mastered SketchUp I now had control over a Makerbot and I could make them talk to each other!

Doctor Evil, eat your heart out! (Check out his evil laugh right now on YooChoob. Its great.)

However, when you think about the fact that we have been replicating documents at lightning speeds for decades, it makes you wonder why this has taken us so long! Anyway it's here now and its awesome. Thanks to my buddy Cathal for use of his wonderful machine.

Below are some photos of my first purpose-built model of Shandon, Cork City.

"Watch zis space" as Le Corb would put it...



*I know he's fictional. What do you think I am? Some kind of raving lunatic....? Just go with it willya?

Exporting STL Files from SketchUp

We are getting excited about 3D Printing. Recently we joined up with Cork Hackerspace who are a bunch of technology enthusiasts in Cork. I hadn't seen any examples of printed objects but one member has a 3D printer.

Below is a great new development published on the Ponoko blog that will make 3D Printing easier.

I also have a plugin called Sculpteo. Its a 3D printing service that plugs right in to SketchUp.

I haven't used their service yet but hope to give it a go soon.. 3D printing is so beautifully geeky its bound to become the norm.