MakerBot Introduces an Easy Way to Duplicate Objects

NEW YORK CITY — 3D-printing company MakerBot introduced on Friday its first desktop 3D scanner to go along with its printers, allowing you to scan objects that can then be replicated and printed in 3D

Called the Digitizer, the $1,400 scanner creates 3D digital design files that are ready to print in 12 minutes. This means, for example, if you have a small figurine of a gnome or a shell you want replicated, the scanner will create the file the 3D printer will use to crank out a model.

"I've seen 3D scanners priced from thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands and each one was focused on something specific; for example, boat scanners are used to scan holes of boats," a MakerBot executive said at the Digitizer's launch event at the company's headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. "We wanted something you could scan and make on a MakerBot replicator. When I realized there wasn't anything out there for our users, we started the internal project to see if it was even possible." Read more...