MakerBot takes wraps off the Digitizer 3D scanner (pictures)
At SXSW 2013, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis introduces his company's new Digitzer printer, which uses a laser scanner to grab a 3D rendering of an object to be replicated and printed.
James Martin
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During his opening keynote speech at South by Southwest 2013 in Austin, Texas, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis took the wraps off his company's new Digitizer printer, which uses a laser scanner to grab a 3D rendering of an object to be replicated and printed.
2 of 4James Martin/CNET
Firing laser scanners at a garden gnome
"It's kind of like Tron," MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis explained, as a prototype of the new Digitzer 3D printer fired its laser scanners at a garden gnome.
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Gnome closeup
A closeup of the gnome setup. The Digitizer will be available this coming fall, and is ideal for scanning cylinder-shaped objects between 2 inches and 8 inches high. It will work under indoor light, which is important to note since it uses lasers to scan the objects.
4 of 4James Martin/CNET
3D printing taking the world by storm
The impact of the MakerBot printers can't be understated, Pettis argued. From children born without hands who were given prosthetics 3D-printed for them, to companies that use MakerBot's tools to prototype their prototypes before going to their larger prototype-making machines, to a set designer on New York's Broadway who prints out her sets overnight, 3D printing has taken the world by storm, he said.
