Pettis stepped aside from his duties at MakerBot to head up the Bold Machines initiative only last month, and already has been making quite some progress on his first project, ‘Margo” the movie. Years ago, Pettis and Robert Steiner thought up the characters of a movie that they someday would have liked to produce. The sketches for these characters have laid dormant for nearly two years, until Bold Machines was formed, moving into MakerBot’s old warehouse and testing facility.
Stratasys has hired 3D character artist and illustrator, Jose Alves da Silva to turn Pettis and Steiner’s character sketches into actual 3D models which can then be printed and painted by model painter Adrian Yablin. Up until today, 3D printable files for two of the main chracters, Margo, and Mr. Walthersnap have been made available to the public via Thingiverse, and judging from the number of downloads, over 4800 for Margo, and 2450 for Mr. Waltersnap, buzz around the future film is slowly building.
Today, a third character, Margo’s dog named Eddie, was announced and subsequently the files were also released on Thingiverse. The model, created specifically for the MakerBot Replicator Z18, is quite large and detailed. As a special promotion, those wishing to purchase the Z18 printer, can do so at a discounted rate, thanks to a special coupon code announced today by Bold Machines. The coupon code ‘TENOFFZ18’ can be used at checkout to save 10% ($649) off the purchase of a Makerbot Replicator Z18 until the end of October.
As for Eddie, the dog, Bold Machines has created a bit of a back story about the cute little white animal which has been tethered to two jet turbines:
Margo’s workshop is filled with advanced prototypes of technology that nobody else in the world has ever seen. One evening, she brings her dog, Eddie to the workshop and he immediately goes to a section of the workshop filled with jet turbines and returns with a jet pack on his back. He trots over to a wall, nuzzles a brick and a secret escape exit opens up. After barking 3 times, the turbines windup and Eddie is flying out the secret escape exit into the night sky.
“Having a flying dog will probably come in handy,” thinks Margo as Eddie returns making a crash landing and trotting over to sit at her side.
If you are looking to print your own ‘Eddie”, head on over to Thingiverse and download the files. Stay tuned to BoldMachines.com as well as 3Dprint.com for the latest ‘Margo’ character releases. Let us know if you have printed Eddie out. Feel free to post images of your prints in the BoldMachines forum thread on 3DPB.com.
