MakerBot snuck a bold feature into the latest version of their PrintShop iOS app: aย tool called Shape Maker that transforms photos of 2D designsย into 3D printable models. It’s a neat feature, particularly for educators, but it’s also a cogent bid to ease moreย 3D printer owners from printingย others’ designs to creating their own.
“Youโve got great ideas,” wrote MakerBot’s Kevin Miller of Shape Maker, “and your full sketchbook is proof of that.”
To use the software, you draw a picture on paper, then use the deviceโs camera to take a photo of it (photos of other objects will work as well, according to the company, as long as they include distinct contrast and a simple line). Then you cropย theย image andย theย app analyzes it and creates a mesh, which you canย send to your printer forย fabrication.
Aย video demonstrating Shape Maker in action showsย a woman drawing a windmill and other designs with a marker before scanning them into the software, manipulating them further, and finally sending them to the printer.
The release is a bright spot in what hasย otherwise been a bleak week for the Brooklyn-based MakerBot, which laid off 100 employees and closed all its retail storesย following a $100 million write-down on its valuation in February.
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