Today's #CyantistWeLove: Alice Cabotse, founder and designer at Alice Etcaetera

Photo source: Portrait "Alice Etcaetera" ©  Claude Weber

“3D printing is a precious tool to develop new virtuous - environmental, social & local - business models with no stock “made to order” and also “made to measure” concepts.”

3D Printing has created and will continue to create new opportunities for designers all around the world. One very important opportunity is to be able to ingrain sustainability in the design and production processes, in addition to having access to new aesthetic and material options. So we are excited to feature french designer Alice Cabotse, who created Alice Etcaetera and who works everyday at the intersection of design and eco-consciousness as part of her mission. Alice has been harnessing the opportunities offered by 3D Printing for several of her collections. Nonetheless, her design approach still retains elements of traditional craftsmanship, and this blend of technology and time-tested methods is also an exciting innovation playground for designers. And while Alice is a designer now, she was actually a scientific major in high school, and she pursued her studies internationally! So we are all the more excited to discuss her study choices and her work with her!

Cyant: You finished high school with a scientific baccalaureate (French SATs), and then decided to study art and design. What compelled you to follow that route? Were you always interested in both or was there a specific moment that made you change direction?

Alice: I wanted to be a designer since the age of 12, when I discovered that you could earn a living drawing & creating ideas : it was called graphic design. By the age of 14 I knew it was possible to also "draw" everyday objects, furniture, cars, trains... it was called industrial design & sounded just amazing ! So knowing I wanted to be a "3 dimensional designer". I chose to do a scientific baccalaureate, as I didn't know if I will prefer to be in the engineer or artistic side of design. When I was 18, I moved to London to discover if I was good at itand followed a year of Foundation Studies in Art & Design at the London Metropolitan University. By the end of that year, I chose the more "artistic" side of design & started a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Product Design at the Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication. I have been loving every part of this new world, with endless possibilities, new horizons & freedom to create with the power of imagination !

Cyant: How did you start to use 3D Printing? What has it enabled you to do that was new in your design and production process?

Alice: I started working with 3D printing technologies in 2010 when I created my own collection of silver jewellery made in France & named “Grigris”.
As I did not have the know-how to produce my own wax originals (classic jewellery making process), I decided to imagine a new production process mixing contemporary technology with classic craftsmanship. I designed and 3D printed my originals (in laser sintering polyamide powder) then gave them to my open-minded craftsman to transform them - with his traditional Silversmith skills - into beautiful solid silver unique rings (classic "lost wax" technique & hand-polished).
3D printing gave me a new freedom as a designer : it allowed me to materialize exactly the form I imagined and created with the modeling software into a solid object.

Photo source: Photos "Grigris" © Alice Etcaetera

Cyant: Which 3D Printing technologies have you been using throughout your work?

Alice: I used 3D printed laser sintering polyamide powder to generate the originals of the silver jewelry collection “Grigris”. I also utilized 3D printed ceramic by scupteo.com to create the tableware collection “Essentielle". Throughout my work, I use 3D modeling software (e.g. Rhinoceros) to design my creations.

Cyant: Did you have to work with experts in other fields to achieve what you wanted?

Alice: No, not so far, as one of the quality of a Designer is to be like a sponge : to analyze and understand production processes, in order to get a global view & create with the constraints.

Cyant: How are you using 3D Printing to make an environmental impact? Or put in a differently how is 3D Printing playing a part in your eco-consciousness mission/goals?

Alice: 3D printing is a precious tool to develop new virtuous - environmental, social & local - business models with no stock “made to order” and also “made to measure” concepts.This means, we can design infinitely but rapidly produce a limited stock based on customer demand, requests and interests. So, this fast technology allows to create a diversity of tailored & unique sustainable solutions.

Cyant: You marry traditional crafts with 3D Printing. Can you give examples of your work that showcase that aspect? Is it a difficult balancing act, or is there a natural blending between the two methods of design and production? Does it require a different thinking and design process, innovating on the technology side?

Alice: I am very much influenced by Japanese aesthetic, Scandinavian design and the Art Déco period : I love “warm minimalism”. I am very much inspired by a quotation of Charlotte Perriand, collaborator of Le Corbusier and major French woman designer from the XXth century. Her ambition was “the sincere and constant research around a way of life connected to its time”. So "Natural blending" would be answer, as simplicity & harmony are keywords in my work. Designing a new jewelry making method gave me the freedom to imagine a collection of 24 different rings "Grigris", also designing a unique experience: a series of small architectures for the body, pieces of solid silver, raw, smooth, ultra polished and golden shimmers, to be composed freely and made to measure. This let me offer variations of material and dimension which can be juxtaposed endlessly. I combined 3D printing and traditional silversmithing, and an innovative detail about the "Grigris"jewelry, was that I chose to show the printing stratums "mystery lines" in the final silver rings (raw silver versions) as a contemporary & minimalist way to create "naturally" decorative engraving.

Photo source: Photos "Essentielle" Alice Etcaetera ©  Claude Weber

"Essentielle"  is a tableware set in 3D printed ceramic which was printed locally by the French 3D printing service company Sculpteo.com. This collection is composed of three universal functions to eat & drink: a plate, a bowl and a cup, that can be stacked up into a compact form, for everyday use.Following my sustainability goal, the ceramic set is made to order online in a choice of 8 colours, creating a new sustainable economic model with no stock.
Like the jewelry collection "Grigris", "Essentielle" tableware is the result of mixing high contemporary technology with classic craftsmanship. Designed and printed in 3D ceramic (laser sintering specific compound powder original), then glazed at more than 1 000°C (classic ceramic enamel technique). I love this dialogue between old & new... "roots & wings".

Cyant: What advice do you have for young Cyantists who would like to work on eco-conscious design projects?

Alice: To think "good loop" design - to source eco-labeled primary materials (biodegradable or recycled & recyclable or durable & repairable...) and to think about local productions "made to order" to be carbon neutral - referring to the Cradle to Cradle eco-systems and values.
Last but not least "design with Love" !

Thanks Alice for this great advice! We are also grateful for the photos Alice provided who are credited to photographer Claude Weber. And you can find out more about Alice’s work at: www.aliceetcaetera.com !

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Nicole Wake, biomedical imaging PhD candidate at the New York University School of Medicine

Photo Source: Nicole Wake

“ Instead of planning surgeries by simply looking at the medical images on a 2D computer screen, surgeons can hold these life-sized physical 3D printed models in their hands and immediately understand the disease.”

From the early anatomical drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci and Vesalius to today, artists,medical students, and professionals have worked to create and perfect accurate representations of the human body. Having access to a precise visualization of anatomical structures is critical to our understanding of body functions, pathologies, and possible cures.

Photo Source: Vesalius Fabrica,  Wikimedia Commons

Furthermore, such visualizations are essential maps and tools in surgical planning. The early drawings were created from the dissection of cadavers and this very visual, direct and tactile approach to charting the body’s anatomy is still in use today. However, over the centuries, radiology and more recently digital imaging and 3D scanning have provided non-invasive lenses into the anatomical structure and function. These technologies have also allowed for each individual to obtain maps of his/her body. Today’s #CyantistWeLove, Nicole Wake, a biomedical imaging PhD candidate at the New York University School of Medicine has realized that we can push visualization of anatomical structures one step further and give them life back with 3D Printing. 3D Printed models can provide us with a very tactile and physically meaningful representation of organs of a specific individual, that is much closer to the actual, live organs than 2D and/or virtual imagery. We are excited to feature her and her work at the intersection of medicine, visualization and 3D Printing!

Cyant: You were studying biomedical imaging and had an epiphany: using 3D Printing to convey a more tactile and intuitive feel for organs. What was the spark that gave you the idea to apply your knowledge in medicine and imaging in conjunction with 3D Printing?

Nicole: In my biomedical imaging lab at the New York University School of Medicine, we have a Fortus 360mc printer that was bought to print housing for custom made radiofrequency MRI coils. I was curious to see if we could also use this printer to print anatomically accurate medical models and successfully printed aorta and pelvis models. One day, while carrying one of my aorta models around the hospital, I ran into one of our urologists. He asked me if that was an aorta I was carrying, I said yes, and then he
asked if I could also make kidney tumor models. This led me to test various printing technologies, and I was able to develop a method to create multi-color kidney tumor models.

Cyant: How were you able to create 3D models of organs that can be 3D Printed?

Nicole: In order to create 3D printed medical models from medical imaging data, the 3D medical images have to be segmented, that is, the contours of organs need to be traced very precisely. Then they need to be converted to a file format that the 3D printer understands. Various FDA approved software platforms are available for this and I have become proficient in using several of them.

Photo Source: Nicole Wake

Cyant:  Once the models are created, which technologies did/do you use, and did you need to create anything new for your purpose?

Nicole:  To print multi-color, multi-material 3D printed models, I initially used the Connex500 (Stratasys, Eden Prairie, MN) and most recently have been using the J750 (Stratasys, Eden Prairie, MN). This polyjet technology allows me to print a translucent kidney, along with the other key anatomical structures printed in various colors. The translucency of the 3D-printed models allows easy visualization of the location and size of the tumor as well as the relationship of the cancerous tumor to key anatomical structures such as the renal artery, renal vein, and renal collecting system.

Cyant: So this is opening some really interesting possibilities for medical applications! How is your idea helping physicians plan surgery and obtain new modes of visualization?

Nicole: 3D printed anatomical models help the surgeons to get a whole new perspective of the anatomy of interest. Instead of planning surgeries by simply looking at the medical images on a 2D computer screen, surgeons can hold these life-sized physical 3D printed models in their hands and immediately understand the disease. Patients, medical and/or biology (even high school!) students and professionals alike can better gauge actual dimensions (“My kidney is that big?”) and learn very intuitively from the 3D prints.

Cyant: How are you working with people with diverse skill sets (doctors, technicians) to put your idea to fruition? How receptive were they to your ideas? What have you learned from them in the process?

Nicole: I work closely with our urological surgeons to use 3D printed kidney and prostate tumor models for pre-surgical planning and intra-operative guidance. The urological surgeons believe that these models help them to understand the anatomy and plan procedures. Recently, we performed a retrospective study to determine whether patient-specific 3D printed renal tumor models change pre-operative planning decisions made by urological
surgeons in preparation for complex renal mass surgical procedures. Three
experienced urological surgeons reviewed each renal mass case individually and in a random order to plan an intervention first based on images alone, and again based on images and the 3D printed models. The urological surgeons completed questionnaires about their surgical approach and planning, comparing presumed preoperative approaches with and without the model. In addition, they recorded any differences between the plan and the actual intervention. The results revealed a change in the planned approach in all ten models!

Photo Source: Nicole Wake

Cyant: Given this initial success, what are your next steps and what are you hoping to achieve from here?

Nicole: I am continuing to study the use of 3D printed kidney and prostate tumors in pre-surgical planning. With a fascination for the interface between technology and healthcare, I hope to develop quantitative metrics of how the 3D printed models can make an impact in patient care. We really want to show how these models can be helpful for patients and help them understand and manage their disease.

Cyant: Finally, what words of advice do you have for parents, and young Cyantists, who are inspired by your work and might one day want to work at the intersection of 3D printing and medicine? Are there skills they need to acquire? How can they cultivate their creativity?

Nicole: 3D printing is an enabling technology in medicine and many other fields. Exposing young Cyantists to stories that demonstrate how 3D printing is being used in medicine could help them to develop an interest in the field. In addition, young Cyantists could cultivate their creativity by learning how to use 3D modeling software and the steps required for 3D printing.

Thanks to Nicole for describing her forward thinking work and providing photos illustrating it!

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Brian McLean, Director Of Rapid Prototyping At Laika, And The Laika Team

“Creativity can manifest itself in many different ways and you can find the connection really unexpectedly.”

"If you must blink, do it now... Pay careful attention to everything you see..." urges Kubo, the Hero of Laika's latest Stop Motion Animation feature film: Kubo And The Two Strings. And if you follow his advice, not only will you be transported into his enchanting journey and story, but you will also be left with wonderment at the creative and technical works that supported this beautiful animation.

Source: LAIKA Animation You Tube Channel on 2016-10-05.

Laika is a pioneer in using 3D printing in Stop Motion Animation, and their approach has enabled a brand new appreciation for this form of animation. We were so fortunate and grateful to have a conversation with the force driving this artistic and technical evolution, Brian McLean, Director Rapid Prototyping at Laika, who received a Scientific And Engineering Award (Academy Plaque) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his work. Brian works everyday at the intersection of art and technology, but always letting the creative side drive the technical side, and making sure everything is rooted in the practical. We are excited to share a summary of the Q&A we had with him:

Cyant: As a "traditional artist", what brought you to 3D Printing and how did you introduce the connection between 3D Printing and animation?

Brian: From a young age, I was very drawn to arts and sculpting. When I got out of college I actually did not know how to write an email. I had worked on traditional model making and sculpting, and computers felt very intimidating, just like 3D Printing can be intimidating today. And I rebelled against it, I wanted nothing to do with the computer. I focused on traditional model making, and was introduced to people who'd made a name for themselves doing practical things. And that was at a time where most of the studios were moving to digital. My wife enrolled into an industrial design degree, and as I helped her learn some of the required digital tools, I became more comfortable with the technology. Fast forward two years, I was teaching a class on traditional model making and I was exposed to a 3D printer. Thanks to Yves Behar's leadership, The California College Of The Arts was investing into Polyjet technology, which could offer fine details and dimensional accuracy. I was put in charge of researching and buying the 3D printing equipment, teaching it and bringing it to the curriculum for the industrial design and architecture students. Because of the exposure to that very type of 3D printing technology, I called an old colleague, Martin Meunier, to take a look and give his thoughts. We started to ask: "Could it be possible to do stop motion animation?" with this technology, which could yield objects almost as smooth as you could expect from mold and cast. We submitted the idea to Laika and they accepted it. If we had known how hard it was going to be we may never have done it! But we were naive and eager, and very focused on the practical, physical objects we could hold in our hands, which were beautiful. And it quickly grew and grew from there.

Photo source: Laika

Cyant: Your department unites arts and technology and is a true “Cyantists” department! Could you please describe how you assembled your team, and how this diversity has been working well to produce a film like Kubo And The Two Strings?

Brian:  Throughout most of Coraline, what made it successful is that the people we brought in had practical, art backgrounds, they were not "computer people". Coraline was the first stop motion film shot in US in over a decade. But the fact that we were coming with a practical background helped showcase to the community that this could help the field, not hurt it. So we were hiring people with practical skills and teaching them technical skills. For follow on films, Paranorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo And The Two Strings, which were getting more complex, we had to bring in people with more computer skills and teach them the practical side of things. It turns out it was difficult to do in this way around: they were computer geniuses but were missing the practical and physical experience on how objects fit together. So the balance has been hard to achieve. However, we have definitely found over the years a whole group of people who were mostly working in the physical domain to start with, but had transitioned to digital over time. And it's those people who have that passion for the practical who really make it work.

Photo source: Laika

Cyant: So for Kubo, what had to be created to make this movie so visually and artistically stunning, and elegantly showcase the beautiful storyline, while seamlessly blending several technical elements including Computer Generated effects?

Brian: Starting Paranorman, Laika started doing "hybrid film making", that is we were focused on the story to be told, and creating the world we needed to create to do that, without letting ourselves be limited by the media of stop motion animation. We always try to have everything we do rooted in the practical. So we try to figure out how to do things in the real world first and then determine if it needs to be transitioned to CG. For example, Oliver Jones and the team at the rigging department had to prototype crashing waves with a black plastic bag on an undulating grid and filming it frame by frame, or taking chunks of cut out paper also on undulating grid system, and animate it frame by frame. Then once we'd figured out what that needed to look like, we transitioned it to Steve Emerson at the visual effects department, so they could recreate the effect and rebuild the scene while keeping it rooted in our original world because that CG effect was going to have to live side-by-side with it. It is the attention and dedication to that process that has allowed us to make it invisible to the audience members. And throughout our process, it is amazing how often the creative side drives the technology use.

“3D Printing is on the cusp of allowing everything the human race has ever designed to be redesigned.”

Cyant: What has 3D Printing specifically enabled and what envelop did you push to make each movie and Kubo And The Two Strings in particular?

Brian: With Coraline, we were using Polyjet technology with hand painting. We moved to ZPrint technology for Paranorman, and were able to print faces in color. And with this shift, we had to develop a number of post processing techniques and make sure we were achieving the necessary consistency. One of the limitations of ZPrint technology is its dimensional accuracy and fine feature details. For Kubo, we had to produce really detailed characters, and the technology that had been the backbone of the two previous films was no longer going to be sufficient. So we were able to leverage the reputation that Laika had acquired, and work with the 3D Printing company Stratasys to obtain one of their early technologies, the Connex3. This technology allows 3 color 3D printing but does not make it possible to print gradients. We worked in partnership with them to co-develop our own software and texture mapped color assignment, and we worked very closely Jon Hiller, independent software developer, to take his AMF software and tweak it for our production needs. Still again, the creative and physical requirements of how the characters should look were driving the final decision making. Thankfully our technical strategy paid off and the 3D printed faces, Monkey in particular, were approved. So what had held Stop Motion Animation back and we were able to solve with our technology development over time, is keeping the audience fully engrossed in the movie and characters, and maintaining the emotional connection, through fine details and facial expressions. This was something that Computer Generated Animation had addressed because it could bring that additional resemblance to real life. But we were able to solve this with 3D printing because we could obtain a dynamic range of subtle and precise facial expressions. To put this in perspective, traditionally, there are several techniques for Stop Motion Animation: claymation which can be messy, and with which the work is more visible; mechanical animation, which uses silicon skin that is pushed around as need be, but is not the best technique for broad expressions and changes; replacement animation, which uses hand sculpted expressions, but is ultimately not good for subtlety because of the variations between each sculpt. So 3D printing has allowed us to obtain the same type of subtlety that can be expected with Computer Animation, and combine it with replacement animation to enable greater expressiveness.

Photo source: Laika

Cyant: What words of advice do you have for parents, and young Cyantists, who are inspired by your work and might one day want to work at the intersection of 3D printing and stop motion animation / storytelling? Are there skills they need to acquire? How can they cultivate their creativity?

Brian: I can speak as someone who from an early age on, was drawn to the arts. Creativity can manifest itself in many different ways and you can find the connection really unexpectedly. Being able to encourage kids to be creative and artistic and allowing them to explore fields that may not seem like opening a career, is hard to do, but I think it’s necessary. Looking back at my journey, if I had not had the support from my family I may have had to choose another career. Arts and creativity are so important in our culture and our communities, and it is important for parents to find ways through which kids can feel supported in those fields. And as kids grow as students, there may be zigzags, and exposure to different people and different techniques, but it is part of the journey and learning who you need to be. The more tools they will have under their tool belts, the more they will be able to solve problems. And twenty years ago, the drive to find that art-meets-tech connection was not obvious: you were either art or tech. But there was never this idea that they could come together. Thanks to recent technology changes, such as smart phones, app development, building things really quickly in software or with 3D printing, the art-meets-tech connection has been brought back to the forefront. And we benefit from that everyday, that is a perfect blend of artists, technicians and computer geniuses that come together to solve a common problem.

Again we are grateful to Brian McLean for this Q&A, and Laika Publicist, Maggie Begley, for permission to use the images shown in this post. We leave you with a featurette that recounts the crafting of Kubo's magical journey, under the vision of Travis Knight, Laika's CEO.

Source: Laika YouTube channel. Hear from some of the filmmakers and voice talent as they discuss what went into designing and creating the world of Kubo.

#TechTuesday Round Up - September 27th

Photo: DUS Architects via 3ders.org in Top 27 3D printed housing and construction projects

3D Printed Bridges And Great #3DPrinting Architecture Projects: these are the news that caught our attention this week!

3D Printing has been making such a mark and strides in architecture , a field that naturally intersects art, design, engineering, maths and tech! And we are seeing a range of materials being used, from bioplastic to mud and concrete! So on this Tech Tuesday we are loving this post by 3Ders.org 3D Printing News which rounds up some great and inspiring 3Dprinted housing and construction projects. Not only are these projects beautiful and cool, some of them integrate recycled waste, continuing the increased move towards sustainability. Will young cyantists be designing and 3D Printing their sustainable homes in the future, here on Earth, or even Mars?

And another cool architecture/building 3D Printing project for this TechTuesday : 3D printed bridges! Bridges have been a classic structure dating back millennia, and this advance represents another significant evolution in their construction. And with this, we are all the more excited to be crossing over (pun intended :)) to Blink-LAB architecture geometric dome structure project during the WorldWideWomen Girl's Festival on October 15th! If you have not gotten your tickets yet, make sure to get some quickly, this will be a great collaborative building project!

Happy Tech Tuesday!

We're looking forward to meeting young Cyantists at the World Wide Women Girl's Festival!

Join us on Oct 15th in Fort Mason!

Engaging girls from a young age can help them build the confidence to pursue their interests and careers in a wide range of fields. This event from Wide World Women will be packed with activities, workshops and exhibitors to showcase entrepreneurship , science, design, fashion , dance, engineering, 3dprinting, career choices and more! And there will be a Maker Space area of which we'll be part, showcasing our platform and crossing over to Blink-Lab's cool collaborative geometric dome project. If you are in the Bay Area spread the word and register!

REGISTRATION: http://worldwidewomenfestival.com/tickets/

#TechTuesday Round Up - September 20th

Source: Vocativ

3D Printing for Surgery Planning and Metamaterials: these are the news that caught our attention this week!

On this #TechTuesday, we're sharing two news from the 3D Printing world that have been particularly striking in past few days. First this one via Vocativ. Not Art, but we fundamentally believe in creating more bridges between the digital and physical realms. So this news is particularly significant as it is a great example of the value of such bridges: having a tangible experience with #3DPrinted models is enabling people to better "sense" their way through challenging thinking, and can then help them be successful during complex tasks such as surgery planning. We'd already shown other examples of this for better understanding the Universe, as well as maths concepts, so we're excited to see more people using this approach to learn and think in new ways in coming years! And we're glad these two babies have now healthy happy hearts.

Doctors practiced on a model of their conjoined organs before performing surgery to separate them Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=vocativvideo See more on our website: http://www.vocativ.com Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vocativ Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vocativ

And ICMYI, check out this cool new design and 3Dprinting project from the Hasso Plattner Institute: metamaterial mechanisms! Structure meets function in one fully 3D printed mechanism, illustrating the opportunity for new materials, designs and potentially more efficient ways of making!

Metamaterial Mechanisms is a research project from the Hasso Plattner Institute, published at UIST 2016. Authors: Alexandra Ion, Johannes Frohnhofen, Ludwig Wall, Robert Kovacs, Mirela Alistar, Jack Lindsay, Pedro Lopes, Hsiang-Ting Chen, and Patrick Baudisch Learn more about the work: https://hpi.de//en/baudisch/projects/metamaterial-mechanisms.html // Abstract Recently, researchers started to engineer not only the outer shape of objects, but also their internal microstructure.

Happy Tech Tuesday!

Promising Work Supporting Ocean Protection And Sustainability

Today The White House made a major announcement on the paramount and vital importance to preserve our oceans for this generation and the generations to come.

Our oceans harbor vibrant ecosystems and are our planet's life source. They have been suffering much damage from plastic pollution, increased water temperatures and other factors. So we are excited to see many "cyantists" working at the intersection of art, design, engineering, science and biology to revert this harm and create a future where sustainability and ocean protection are brought back to the forefront. Through waste reduction via improved production, reuse and upcycling, recycling, the creation of objects that can directly protect ecosystems and marine animals, and art installations to raise awareness, we are already witnessing much creativity employed to use 3dprinting and other technologies to address these challenges.

We look forward to seeing more cyantists at work towards a #sustainable future in coming years!

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Lisa Federici And The Scansite Team

“Every chisel mark, crack, dent, texture, stitch and fingerprint gives a deeper understanding.”

A few weeks ago, we shared about how 3D Printing had been used to bring one of the Seven Wonders of The World back to life via our Facebook page, a great example of work at the intersection of art, history and tech. So we are thrilled to be featuring Lisa, founder and CEO of Scansite, and her team as Cyantists we love. Lisa is a pioneer in the 3D scanning industry. Over the years, she has assembled a multidisciplinary team of engineers, artists, historians, architects, archeologists and technologists who specialize in capturing meticulous details on real world objects. Using 3D scanners, they have created 3D models of historic artifacts, from dinosaur bones to statues from Michelangelo, real people including the singer Tony Bennet, industrial tools and entertainment models (think Star Wars!), to name a few. 3D Scanners can be thought of 3D cameras, and are themselves the result of multi-disciplinary engineering, including mathematics, computer vision, optics etc.

They work by projecting geometric light patterns onto object surfaces. The pattern is distorted by the surface, and these distortions are recorded by the scanner to compute information about the shape, or structure, of the object in 3D, using 3D reconstruction algorithms. The scans can then be processed with a modeling software to create 3D Printing files or be examined and edited in greater depth. So 3D scans can provide precise 3D information on small or larger objects, and this information can be used in many applications, one of them being in manufacturing where the scans help the quality assurance process by showing where defects might have crept up.

However, and quite importantly, it is not just technical work Lisa and her team do. Working with museums and other institutions such as the NY Metropolitan among many, she and her team are an intrinsic part of preserving art and enabling history to be better understood. For example, they produced the largest ever 3D printed triceratops, enabling biomechanical studies to be conducted at the Smithsonian's. And her scans of statues from Renaissance Italian sculptors is enabling the restoration of statues and provides information to art historians too. Works like hers also help make some of the value of history and art very tangible.

We hope this will inspire many young Cyantists to make links between tech, science, history, art now and in the future!

Introducing The Series #3DTalk And The First Event On Scanning & Modeling

We are excited to kick-off, 3D Talk, a new event series co-organized with Women In 3D Printing, with a first event on scanning and modeling.

This educational series will take place monthly and will feature a different industry specific topic and highlight new guests each month.

Our first event will be hosted by Parisoma, San Francisco, on Sept. 8th! We are thrilled to have 3 fabulous panelists to discuss these topics, as well as their experience in the field of 3Dprinting: Liza Sonia Wallach , co-founder of HoneyPoint3D - Education, 3D Printing, 3D CAD, 3D Scanning, Lisa Federici, founder of Scansite, and designer Christina Douk!

So come join us to 3D Talk!

REGISTRATION: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3dtalk-panel-modeling-scanning-tickets-27223748966

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Mathematician Dr. Henry Segerman

Stereographic projection from Dr. Henry Segerman's website: http://www.3dprintmath.com

“That is the big advantage of 3D printing. There is an awful lot of data in there, but the real world has excellent bandwidth. Give someone a thing, and they see it immediately, with all its complexity. There is no wait time.”

— Excerpt from interview with the Smithsonian Magazine Online (www.smithsonian.com, 03/15/2013)

Some mathematical ideas can be hard to intuitively grasp. However, adding a physical and tactile dimension, and linking abstract concepts to the physical world, two notions we feel strongly about, can make it easier to visualize and understand the nature of such concepts. At the same time, a physical dimension can show, in a very tangible way, the inherent beauty of such concepts and allows them to become part of new art forms.

This is what Dr Henry Segerman has elegantly demonstrated through some of his work on 3D Printed Mathematical Art. Dr Segerman, who focuses his research at Oklahoma State University on topology and 3-dimensional geometry, has assembled an impressive collection of 3D prints with accompanying videos that highlight properties of mathematical ideas and concepts, such as symmetry and polyhedra, and provide approachable explanations for them. 

"More fun than a 120-cell of monkeys" - collaboration with Will Segerman (via www.3dprintmath.com)

He has an upcoming book "Visualizing Mathematics With 3D Printing" coming out in the Fall, which should be a great inspiration for maths and arts inclined minds alike. We cannot wait to read it! And we look forward to more intersections between maths, art, tech and education. :)

A Great Time Preparing For Mother's Day At Our Pop Up Workshop At Viv&Ingrid

Last week-end, we held a Mother's Day Special Flower Themed Workshop at Berkeley-based Viv&Ingrid

Children used our platform to create and 3D print flower drawings and use them in art works they could offer to their Mom. As always we saw so much creativity and colors! And we had a lot of fun discussing 3D printing with the kids, who were wide eyed about the possibilities this technology is opening.

We even saw some Golden State Warriors art. :) Not flowers, but we were right along with the children in supporting and showing love to this incredible team.

Flowers, art, 3D printing and basketball in one workshop? Sounds like a great combination to us! :)

Cyant Founding CEO Featured In 3Ders List Of 20 Women Making A Difference With 3D Printing

We are thrilled for and honored by this feature, which took place on International Women's Day!

Picture from www.3ders.org.

And congratulations to the other Women featured on the list!

Cyant To Present At The "Women, Startup & Wine" Event At The Mechanics Institute, SF

We are thrilled to participate to this event which honors Women History Month!

On March 30, 2016, the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco is hosting an exhibition of women in tech and the products they’ve invented. The event was named after the Johann Strauss Jr. classical music song Wine Women and Song, because startup founders are renegades, who follow their own path and unique impulses, and most of all follow their passions!

We are looking forward to joining the other early-stage startups from a wide range of niches, future founders, inspiring speakers, potential partners, established startups and event sponsors who will be at the event.

If you are in the Bay Area, save the date and come and join us!

Registration: http://www.milibrary.org/events/wine-women-and-start-ups-mar-30-2016

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Artist Rogan Brown

Via NPR: "Is This A Snowy Wonderland Or The World Inside A Petri Dish?" & courtesy of Rogan Brown

“By mixing science and art, observation and imagination I hope to elucidate both, the breathtaking detail and complexity that exists at every level of scale in nature transformed by the eccentricity of the individual imagination.”

Artist Rogan Brown takes inspiration in Nature and the infinitesimally small to create one of a kind paper sculptures, and works in an interdisciplinary fashion, for example by meeting with microbiologists, to help planning his exhibits.

The execution process, while relying on planar material, becomes inherently 3D as the artist conceives the final sculptures, and assembles layers to create them. So this art-meets-science work already highlights a very interesting element of 2D to 3D thinking.

The layers are painstakingly cut by hand, and interestingly, via laser cutter for most recent works. As digital fabrication progresses, the use of technologies such as laser cutting and 3D printing opens the door for artworks that push us to see Nature under different lights and better grasp some of its dimensions, and perhaps its beauty. Could this intersection of science and art also help approach learning and teaching science in different ways? :)

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Wallace Chan, renouned artisan jeweler.

“... I am a person greedy of knowledge and wisdom, ceaselessly investigating and learning. I have been this curious since I was little. And I will still be thinking of creating until my last three breaths.”

— http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/fashion/the-jeweler-wallace-chan-the-stone-is-me.html

Today we are highlighting Wallace Chan as a ‪#‎cyantistwelove‬! In this video and feature from the New York Times, he describes the essence of his approach, how creativity is an integral part of himself, and how his work requires knowing about many disciplines, from gemology to metallurgy. And while viewing jewelry as a carrier of heritage, he experiments with different technologies, and makes his own tools.

From the New York Times, "The Stone Is Me", published: Dec. 6, 2015. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/fashion/the-jeweler-wallace-chan-the-stone-is-me.html

For example, he is famous for inventing the "Wallace Cut", a novel and unique carving technology. Despite his modest origins, he has always had an insatiable thirst for learning, and has combined art and technology to innovate and create unique jewelry pieces. An inspiration for all young creators and learners!

Connecting With 3D Printing: Scanning And 3D Printing People Captures Life Events

For our second Connecting With 3D Printing event, we had the pleasure to speak with Dylan Saloner, founder and CEO of PocketMe. PocketMe has created a fully operating booth that can rapidly scan people. The scans are then sent off to a 3D Printing service which uses a powder material to create 3D prints of the scans. The powder material has the advantage of offering high-resolution, multi-color 3D printing.

The technology for creating the scans requires simultaneously taking pictures of the subject from different angles, identifying corresponding features in the images, and recovering 3D information from these correspondences. We discussed with Dylan how he and his team were able to creatively overcome some of the technical difficulties associated with this process. This discussion also spoke to what it takes to develop a business around 3D printing.

One of the key themes of this event however was the magic of capturing life events offered by scanning and 3D printing people. Every print reflects a particular time in someone's life. For example, one print captured a man proposing to his fiancee. Another print was made during Halloween. Yet another print captured a family of four. And we're showing in this post other examples that represent not just body scans, but people's events too. PocketMe's prints have also been used for wedding toppers. At this time the toppers are printed with powder, but could one day be printed with sugar for guests to eat or take home.

As to where the future of 3D printing lies? For Dylan, a very interesting area is building and architecture. The promise of designing and constructing homes in such a way that many parts can be built in place, at once through 3D printing is one that Dylan is particularly interested in seeing happen. The medical area is another domain where Dylan is expecting great progress: his own father has, for example, been using 3D printing to create venous models that can be used for surgical training.

Thanks Dylan for being such a great guest and sharing all these experiences with us!

We will be on a break next month due to the Holiday Season!

A Spooky (And Fun!) Time At The East Bay Mini Maker Faire

We had so much fun attending this year's East Bay Mini Maker Faire!

To showcase our upcoming product and some of the things we do in our workshops, we worked with our visitors on a Halloween themed activity.

We 3D printed all the hand drawn items used for the activity during the event, and our budding cyantists helped us paint them as well as paint and create a beautiful backdrop for them.

We finished the day with a beautiful Halloween Shadow box!

So we'd like to extend our warm thanks to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire Organizing Committee for welcoming us at the Faire and helping us with set up. And if you were one of our visitors, share this post with your families and friends!

A Great First "Connecting with 3D printing" Event

This month, we started an educational event series at WeWork Berkeley to showcase connections between 3D printing and art, and engage our community with the human side of the technology.

We had the great pleasure of having Jessica Hedstrom as our first speaker. Jessica is a 3D printing enthusiast, the founder of the blog and podcast: "Printing Everyday", the community manager at Sculpteo, and a contributor to the blog: "Women in 3D printing". Jess walked us through some great projects she has encountered in the course of writing her blog: these projects showcase how art, technology, design, robotics, biomimicry, medical imaging can all intersect to produce beautiful jewelry, interactive displays and unique art pieces, while having an educational impact too.

This notion of adding value, a topic brought up by Nancy Liang on the Women In 3D Printing blog, was one of the important points we discussed as one of the closing remarks. One of the concerns one might have in that regard, is whether the opportunity for each and every one to make can lead to more waste, and not more value, at a time where sustainability is of prime importance. However, we reviewed and discussed several recycling and sustainable development initiatives, as well as reasons why 3D printing could in fact open up more possibilities than raise issues. As to where 3D printing is heading in the next 5 years? Eyeware and fashion are two areas where Jessica feels a strong growth will take place on the consumer side. Thanks Jessica for being such an amazing first speaker!

We'll have our next event in November, stay tuned for upcoming details!

Today's #CyantistWeLove: Jansen Chan, Director of Pastry At The International Culinary Center

“I think creativity is not learned, but rather cultivated from within. Everybody has some creative talent. It may come in different forms – some are less visual and more conceptual. Most adults don’t develop their creative side enough because they have less opportunities to exercise that part of them. People assume creativity is one thing, when in reality, it can be anything that you produce, construct, generate, foster, or imagine, and then share.”

— Jansen Chan, Director of Pastry Art at the ICC

With Cyant's CEO Barbara Hanna, an alum of The International Culinary Center and a hobbyist chef, we are glad to feature today's #cyantistwelove: Jansen Chan.

A UC Berkeley Architecture Alum, Jansen Chan draws inspiration from architecture and the arts, while bringing his design and critical thinking discipline to his work. His creations reflect this beautiful connection between food and art, as well as a desire to connect with and engage his audience.

3D printing technology has been expanding to print sugar, chocolate, pancake batter and many other food stuffs. So foodie cyantists may find new opportunities to bring food, technology, design and art together in new and exciting ways! We look forward to seeing many cyantists drawing from art artifacts and experiences around them to express their creativity, and following in Jansen Chan's "foodsteps" :) !

Looking Forward To Being Part Of WeWork Berkeley's Presentation For NewCo Oakland!

If you are in the Bay Area, mark your calendars for NewCo Oakland!

NewCo, a new type of conference where attendees find out about innovative companies and their teams directly in their native environment, is coming to the East Bay on October 8th.

A number of Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley companies will be hosting tours throughout the day, and Cyant is thrilled to be part of this day as a presenter during WeWork Berkeley's tour, starting 9:30am.

We look forward to showcasing the company and our work along with two other great Berkeley startups and WeWork Berkeley residents: Butter Home Services and Truly [M.A.D.] !