Materialise Launches ‘Ideas Worth Making’ 3D Printing Android App

What I love most about 3D printing is obviously all the useful applications that it enables. Sure, cute little trinkets are fun to look at and play with, but it’s the functioning mechanisms and learnings tools that will carry the technology forward ultimately. While there are many great designers out there capable of creating awesome 3D printable models, and also hundreds of thousands of people and businesses with 3D printers, there is still a disconnect between designing and 3D printing.

It’s not easy to simply sit down and design a model to 3D print–unless of course you have the experience and know-how to do so. The Belgium-based company Materialise understands this and earlier in the year launched their ‘Ideas Worth Making’ platform. Described by the company as “a community of passionate people using 3D printing to make stuff that matters,” the platform basically enables individuals with awesome ideas to communicate with those capable of making those ideas come to life via 3D printing. It connects the thinkers with the doers, and is also the starting point of numerous design challenges hosted by Materialise.

This last week, the company announced a major expansion of the platform via a new Android application. The Ideas Worth Making, version 1.0 application can be downloaded on any device running Android version 4.1 or higher.

“If you’re a troubleshooter, visionary or designer, Ideas Worth Making is the place for you [to] engage with the 3D Printing world,” explains the app page description. “Ideas Worth Making introduces you to a passionate 3D Printing community. Discover how people use 3D Printing in their everyday lives, contribute by sharing your own ideas or scout for ideas which you might be able to design and help realize.”

Some of the key features for this new app are as follows:

• Ability to share your ideas on the go. Did something spark an idea that could be a life changer? Simply log onto the app and submit it within minutes for others to view and possibly help bring it to fruition.
• Thoroughly explore other’s ideas and see if you have what it takes to make them happen.
• Easily access your own models and ideas anytime, anywhere with a few taps of your smartphone or tablet screen.

After downloading the app myself, the user interface seems fairly straightforward and easy to navigate. Users are able to browse their own workspace or explore the numerous other ideas that people have posted on the platform. This is just what the 3D printing and modeling community needs: something to further connect those capable of making things with those who have bright ideas.

Let us know if you’ve downloaded the application, and what you think of it in the Ideas Worth Making forum thread on 3DPB.com.