By Carl Bass, Autodesk President and Chief Executive Officer
For years, I’ve been fascinated by the promise and frustrated by the reality of 3D printing. Today, Autodesk is announcing two contributions to help make things better. First is an open software platform for 3D printing called Spark, which will make it more reliable yet simpler to print 3D models, and easier to control how that model is actually printed. Second, we will be introducing our own 3D printer that will serve as a reference implementation for Spark. It will demonstrate the power of the Spark platform and set a new benchmark for the 3D printing user experience. Together, these will provide the building blocks that product designers, hardware manufacturers, software developers and materials scientists can use to continue to explore the limits of 3D printing technology.
Spark will be open and freely licensable to hardware manufacturers and others who are interested. Same for our 3D printer – the design of the printer will be made publicly available to allow for further development and experimentation. The printer will be able to use a broad range of materials, made by us and by others, and we look forward to lots of exploration into new materials.
The world is just beginning to realize the potential of additive manufacturing and with Spark, we hope to make it possible for many more people to incorporate 3D printing into their design and manufacturing process. Over the coming months we’ll be working with hardware manufacturers to integrate the Spark platform with current and future 3D printers. Both Spark and our 3D printer will be available later this year.
3D printing will make it possible for us to create all sorts of things we create today, better, and to create all sorts of new things that we haven't even imagined yet. If you are interested in working with us, sign up at www.autodesk.com/spark.
Goood morning all 3D fans!
Is this visulize package Im ben waiting for since Autocad 1.2?!
I look realy forward to this release.
In the meantime Im just show my ideas the old fashion way.
Rolf now at the sommerhous by the seaside.
OK sign me up
That looks like a resin based system, not filament. I notice the little ship is like tiny, so wondering how it scales to larger print areas. Autodesk has not been very present in the reprap.org scene, so interesting to see them jump in and claim they have the answer. You can make a reprap prusa I3 for $600 or less, and it does .1 micron prints. Also, how does the sprk platform claim multiple materials, given that abs needs heated build chamber and there is a patent on it.
Thank you, Thank you: Waiting for my 1st purchased 3D printer, while I build one of the many RepRap versions and stockpile parts for future printer and CNC projects.
Watched so many exciting innovation arrive the past 74 years, 3D printing is another biggie.
Very cool. I hope it’s designed in Inventor!
I hope that the Spark isn’t like 123D or Autocad. I actually really dislike the old school Autocad way of doing things in 123D. Having learned modelling in animation programs, Autocad and 123D seems clunky.
Sounds promising! I hope that this project will focus on solving some of the current challenges in additive manufacturing other than just having an open source software (which is a good thing as well).
3D printing, yay. Now we can make our own lego pieces 🙂
Will Spark be easy to use with Inventor. We are using Inventor in our STEM / PLTW classes. I am writing grants to obtain a few 3D printers. When will Autodesk’s 3D printer be out and what will be the approx. price?
Great article! I am interested in hear more about this project and how the shift towards 3D printing will impact the Spark platform. Other companies are beginning to look into using 3D printing for their products as well, and it will definitely influence the future marketing of these consumer goods. Ronn Torossian speaks on the future of Nike in the software industry on 5WPR http://www.5wpr.com/new/future-of-nike/
Where can I find a copy of the licence?
I think I’m missing something. I don’t see any official statement saying ‘open-source’, which is *not* the same as ‘open’ (and also not the same as ‘free/libre/open-source’, despite overlap and confusion).
The 3d Printing Store http://www.the3dprintingstore.com is growing but we need better printers to serve our customers. We welcome both the Spark platform and the new printer from Autodesk. We have already seen many people, businesses and schools who have had poor experiences with printers. This is unfortunate for our industry. A reliable and well made printer that has reasonable operating costs and good support is needed. Our business is built on providing quality 3d prints at reasonable price points and we continue to look for printers that meet our operational and quality print requirements
“Spark will be open and freely licensable to hardware manufacturers and others who are interested. Same for our 3D printer – the design of the printer will be made publicly available”
Does this mean will be available to every one, and by that you will host the source code of Spark in public repository like Github, or you will just give the code for who request for it?
I find it strange to see B9 creations offering help to open source projects being they just slapped a C&D order on makerjuice for their version of a vat they created. I think they use the term open source for there machine very loosely since they have a patent ** Pending ** on the vat and release method they are using. By suppling open source kits it does elimate the certain certifications required to sell abroad and also to supply a very low end warranty. The most I have seen from the B9 team is a new HD projector at 4000 lumens to cure faster. Makes you wonder about the hot spots it might create.
I find it interesting that I was thinking on the same lines as Autodesk as to what would make a good printing software. This is a little more on the printer. Maybe Autodesk should hire me!
– Would you be able to supply details on pricing, when it will be available, etc?
· Spark and the Autodesk 3D printer will be available later this year. We have not determined a final price but expect it to be in the $5k range.
– Can you provide specs on the 3D printer?
· We will provide designs for the Autodesk 3D printer when we make it available later this year.
– Also do you have plans on manufacturing any other 3D printers perhaps targeting industry or prosumers?
· We expect businesses to be the primary users of the Autodesk 3D printer, and hope that by providing designs for our printer others will innovate on our design
– Any further details on the platform and how developers can get access or when they will have access?
· Spark is an open 3D printing software platform that sits between digital information and 3D printing hardware. It will include the necessary algorithms (for example slicing and supports) to easily convert 3D models into the necessary format for 3D printing. It will also include tools for checking and repair of 3D models, utilities for print preview that are compatible with mobile and desktop operating systems, cloud connectivity, and the ability to publish and share models. Spark will be a highly extensible platform, with SDKs and APIs for software developers, materials engineers and designers who will be able to create software, services, and information on top of the platform. Autodesk will license the basic aspects of the Spark platform for free to 3D printing manufacturers and software developers. There will be some restrictions and usage guidelines to ensure a consistent user experience.
– Any screenshots of the Spark Operation System?
· We don’t have Spark screenshots available, but here’s an image of the 3D printer.
The massive area every newcomer company keeps overlooking is good, easy, integrated software/hardware support for full color printing. This news would have been much more exciting if it weren’t just another rehash of technology which already exists. The software will frankly need to be extraordinary to make up for the monochrome, resin-based printer.
Ready and excited to try it. Do we plan to have discounts for Autodesk employee/developer? Looking forward to it!
If someone knows which printing technology they are using in the new printer (e.g. DLP, SLA, other), I will be happy to hear?
In addition, what is the printing tray size?
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/79/79af6b3bc5b23131ace1d835c402fa444ebd7cfc574c6b040665280337e74d7e.jpg
That is all.
FANTASTIC….I can’t wait to get one and your Spark software.
Thanks for all you folks do for 3D printing, FIRST Robotics and eNABLE…
Inventor Pro is a hard learning experience for middle and high school kids, but once trained, I’ve seen them do some amazingly creative and complicated things with it.
And hopefully you’ll accelerate the development, testing and implementation of stronger, exotic 3D printing filaments!!!
As for open source…again Thank you…the legions of hard working geeks that continually test and improve things will make you happy you did! I’m sure you’re aware of what it did for eNABLE.
Hi Carl,
I see that Mike Joyce, the creator of the B9Creator has already offered to make the B9 an your Spark compatible with each other (Comment #3) …
You should definitely consider touching base with Mike, as he has already solved a lot of problems that other 3D printers are still having.
We’re owners of a B9 as well, and the Open Source Idea and output quality of the B9 is just great. The B9 works much better than similar or even higher priced 3D DLP or SLA printers out there.
All the best
Etienne
Great news – it is awesome to see Autodesk going even further to drive the adoption of 3D printing.
Hope this will lower the costs of the 3D printers a little bit. The design is lovely. For the top 3D printers list and prices, visit:
http://3-ddd.com/en/top10.php
U of O undergrad here!
Can we please talk about getting one of these for the PD program!?!?!?
email me, ah?
ngaskill@uoregon.edu
Waiting with bated breath
Autodesk is offering something OPEN SOURCE and FREELY LICENSABLE? Did I just wake up in a parallel universe where everything is its opposite?
I’ll believe it when I see it.
I am so ready to drop coin if this is priced accordingly, aka, at $3K, or, comparable to Formlabs Form 1.
I look forward to hear more about this project from Autodesk. I know one way they could put themselves above others currently is to have a piece of software that is easy to model in but allows for complex shapes/forms to be drawn for the power users. The software would also have a slicing engine build in along with the computer/printer interface. Maybe start to use voxel modeling and have the voxel size match the printer z-height so essentially the model is sliced up when drawn. I also think the printers electronics will have to move away from the current standard of 8-bit controllers to allow for more complex algorithms for controlling movement. It would be beneficial to separate out the G-code interpreter and movement monitor/task assigner to 2 different micro-controllers. These are just to name a few things that Autodesk could do to make a name for themselves in the currently growing 3D printing market.
Autodesk has really been impressive in this area. From the 123D line of apps to the purchasing of instructables.com and now an open soft/hard ware platform for 3D printing.
Next up, I’d love to see Autodesk lead the charge into the Linux platform for some of their flagship titles.
Hi Carl,
As you may know, Gilman Louie purchased our B9Creator open source HD printer back in January.
I would be very interested in working closely to be compatible with Spark.
Please let me know who to talk to about this?
Thanks
Mike
My 2015 Revit book will feature 3D printing. Published by Pearson > Peach Pit, it is due Fall 2014
i want it …!!!! just take my money now!