Developers are putting in a good share of effort lately to simplify the process of 3D printing — and a Swedish company, Tribility AB, has launched a piece of hardware which controls what they call Smart 3D Printing.
They call it “the future of 3D Printing where your 3D printer is connected to the Internet, where you can choose what to print without complex settings and where you can easily design whatever you like without being an expert on 3D programs.”
At the center of the idea is Tribility Core. It might well be called a “print server,” but Tribility say “it’s so much more than that.”
The product is the work of Johan Nordstöm and Johan Blom, and they say that by connecting the Tribility Core module to a 3D printer, the process becomes easy and intuitive to use and the focus of the activity is shifted from configurations, settings, and general complexity.
Tribility Core can be operated from an intuitive user interface which allows a user to monitor and control a printer, discover models to print from an online model library, and even design objects using a series of built-in design apps.
The server includes functions like wireless printing, pause, and resume and does away with the need to change settings and tune configurations via a tablet or smartphone.
Nordstöm and Blom say Tribility Core means it’s no longer necessary to use a computer with a 3D printer, and add that it includes the ability to browse a library of 3D models or, if you like, upload and share your own objects.
The device also includes a series of apps: Cube Maker, Tribility Designer, Lithograph Maker, Tribilty 3D Inventor, and Tribility Vase Maker.
Vase Maker is built to let users design bowls, vases, or shot glasses via an editor which can draw the shape of the object’s contour and allows for the selection of the ultimate the roundness of the design.
Cube Maker is aimed at allowing users to create printable objects by adding cubes one on top of another, and they say the process is similar to how worlds and characters are created in Minecraft, and it allows for designing everything from small figures to advanced objects block by block.
Tribility Designer is billed as “an easy to use, yet powerful CAD software.” It’s a drag and drop interface which features a variety of different shapes to place on a drawing board. The user can then create a 2D drawing and select how tall they wish each each shape to be printed. The designer also includes functions like resize and extrude, and access to each layer means users can models from the simple to the complex as the Tribility software creates a print-ready 3D model.
Tribility 3D Inventor makes it easy to design any 3D model by combining different pre-built 3D shapes.
Lithograph Maker lets users easily create 3D versions of photos following a simple upload and choice of frame style. The app then creates 3D replicas of the photo.
At this point, the developers say Tribility Core supports the MakerBot Replicator 2 and the Weistek WT150, but they say this new 3D print server will soon be capable of supporting other 3D printer models as well.
Tribility Core retails for around $240 USD (€220.49), and it can be ordered from Creative Tools.
Would you be interested in a “3D print server” which can take care of most of the details of preparing objects for printing? Let us know in the 3D Print Server forum thread on 3DPB.com.
