I just returned from CES in Las Vegas where I spent three days working with artists who used Wacom tablets and displays to design models to print on Ember. Observing the designers work enlightened me to new workflows for producing 3D models, especially in the creation of sculpted parts. Through a combination of software like Sketchbook Pro, Maya and Mudbox, designers like Craig Barr modeled lifelike characters with a degree of detail that made Ember the perfect machine to bring them to life.

CMYK + W resins for the Ember 3D Printer are now available, giving you the ability to mix and match resins to customize your color palette. 

3D printing is more than simply operating the machine.  What’s often overlooked is the rigorous process of ideation, designing, prototyping and refining of the product that eventually emerges from the printer.  Using Autodesk Print Studio, which is embedded in our pro-apps, like Fusion 360, we are have simplified the workflow to Spark-compatible printers like Ember.  In this video, we see how a pendant - designed by Carl Bass, Autodesk’s CEO with Arthur Harsuvanakit – went from a CAD model in Fusion 360 to a beautiful piece cast in sterling silver.

I had the fortune of attending the MJSA ConFab conference at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City last weekend. I brought an Ember to show the jewelry designers in attendance how 3D printing streamlines the design-to-manufacturing process and enables the creation of extremely complex geometries that are otherwise difficult to achieve with traditional modeling techniques.