I Want a MakerBot Replicator

3D printing is all the buzz today. When I started looking at Tinkercad, I saw examples of models printed out in the MakerBot Replicator, this cool-looking machine shown here:

I recently read a couple of blog posts about kids using this machine to print out things they've designed.:

Big Kids, Small Kids, and 3D Printing

Smart Kids and 3D Printers

I will be at MakerBot's office at the end of this month, and hope to see a cool dog-and-pony show. I want to watch this thing in action, and not just on YouTube. Imagine how cool it would be to take this thing around to schools, libraries, fab labs, and watch kids produce what appears in their imaginations.

I'll keep you posted!



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Awesome 8th Grade Math Models

Jan Cohen is a middle-school math teacher at New York's Heschel School. I introduced SketchUp to her and some of her colleagues a few years ago, and her students have taken to SketchUp like a fish takes to water!

Jan sent me her collection of year-end models from her eighth graders, and I'm posting here some of my favorites. Maybe I'll turn some of these into subscription projects!

"Golden Spiral"



"Portfolio 1"



"Golden Pentagram"



"Pentagons"


Here is a close-up of one pentagon - notice the stars within stars within stars:


 The generically-named "Math Project" is one of my all-time favorites!

 

 I'm trying to recreate this model, without using complex scaling-within-group techniques and without using mathematical multipliers. Here's the center:

Finally, one called "Building." I'm not sure what math went into this model, but it's quite cool. With no elevator, you need to run up four flights of stairs. . . 

 . . . and once you make it to the top, you can play ping-pong, pool, foosball, or jump into the hot tub.

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What's Coming in Our June Projects?

Summer's coming, and don't you have tons of free time for more reading? If you're staying connected to the world of 3D design, you'll love these projects, going out as part of our Projects of the Month subscription. And as an added incentive, to encourage SketchUp'ing during the lazy days of summer, our subscription is on sale for just $20 - a steal for 12 months of projects!

Aligning a Painting

You can find tons of painting, pictures, and posters in the 3D Warehouse. But many of them aren't created properly - they don't "stick" to walls and they're not positioned correctly. This project shows how to fix that.

Dizzy Text

This is another student-inspired project - I had a class of 11 kids doing this recently. For lack of a better name, this project shows how to create dizzying text with checkerboard patterns - perfect for sending messages to friends!

Replacing Components with the Outliner

Similar to one of last month's projects, this very fun project shows how to use the Outliner - SketchUp's handy but little-known organizing tool - to quickly change and replace components.

Please sign up to subscribe to our Projects of the Month . At just $20, you can't pass this up!
Anyone can design anything in 3D! http://www.3dvinci.net/

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