MakerBot Unveils ‘Zee Blank’ Blank Canvas Customizable Character

Many artists seem to be having a field day utilizing the capabilities that 3D printing has to offer them. Artists of today are provided with so many additional tools to work with, when compared to artists of just a few decades ago. 3D printers are, without a doubt, one of the more important new additions to their toolboxes. MakerBot seems to understand this, and yesterday announced quite an interesting design project for the artist within us all.

If you are familiar with MakerBot’s Digital Store, then you know that the company offers a numbers of unique designs, many that are trademarked, such as characters from Uglydolls, Sesame Street, and Around Town.

Their latest addition is pretty much a blank canvas. Called the ‘Zee Blank‘, the design was inspired from the ‘Around Town’ collection, which features characters with a distinct chubby, round look to them. The rotund design is often seen within the Japanese vinyl toy culture. The Zee Blank, has no facial or body features, and is simply a profile of a character. Pretty boring, right? Wrong! Actually the whole idea is to cater to the inner artist within us all. By providing a file for a character lacking any physical features, besides its rounded shape, that character can become virtually anything the designer wishes, from a baby, to a clown, to an elderly woman…. anything.

These blanks can be totally customised however you see fit, using acrylics, clay, or whatever other method one desires. MakerBot even has challenged artists around the globe to create their very own Zee, many of which are quite incredible, as you can see from a few of the images we have posted.

MakerBot has made the file for Zee Blank available for just $0.99. For those of you without a 3D printer, the company is also making starter kits available at their retail stores in New York, Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut, where you can purchase an already printed Zee Blank along with a paint pen set.

For those who do own a MakerBot 3D printer, the company claims that the designs are compatible with the MakerBot Replicator 2, Replicator (Fifth Generation), and the Replicator Mini. They estimate that the Zee Blank, which measures 69mm X 86mm X 111mm, will take approximately 2:10:00 to print. Have you customized your own Zee Blank? Let’s see them posted in the Zee Blank forum thread on 3DPB.com.  Download the design file here to get started.