Dear Ms. Grossman:
I've made a few comments within your letter below:
In a message dated 99-10-29 18:37:56 EDT, you write:
<< On Fri, 29 Oct 1999 EdGrenda@aol.com wrote:
> Maybe I'm not aware of what's going on, but the curious thing is why this
> hasn't been happening using existing technology, and why at least one
service
> bureau hasn't considered the market potential and gone after it.
>
Returning to reality for a moment, I think color's a big sticking
point at this time. We all agree that finish needs to be better, and
that it's going there, but nobody much seems to be working on color,
and it'll be a big leap when they do. I see it as part of a general
lack of attention to RP objects as final products, rather than
manufacturing tools.
I do like the idea of hand-painting 3-D portraits - I can see a nice
high-end business in that. Or would the products be too eerie? I
guess they wouldn't always have to be painted superrealistically.
EG: You obviously weren't around in the 60's, otherwise you would be aware
that reality is a crutch. At least that's what the bumper stickers said.
Well, I was there and am now reaching my anecdotage:
Many years ago, a business partner and I were visiting our very first patent
attorney for the very first time. We had to wait a few minutes in the
reception area while he finished performing a dollarectomy on the guy ahead
of us. There was an electrician waiting there patiently too. He was just
standing there, resting on a piece 'o' pipe, clearly bored out of his gourd.
Well, we spent a joyful couple of hours with Mr. Beelzebub, esq., and when we
came out I noticed the electrician was still standing there - and he had the
same bored look. It was just then, that our counsel asked how we liked
"Andy". We hadn't met him, I said awkwardly, and wondered why he asked.
"Did you really look? Everybody here loves Andy." He went right up to Andy
and began pointing out some of his features. It was only after a few MORE
minutes that my partner and I became aware that Andy's nationality was
Fiberglas. Andy was a statue that was such an exact replica that it was
embarrassing to look at. Every hair and every pore was visible. He had been
hand painted and the real Andy's arm hairs had been transplanted to the
Fiberglas Andy.
I can't remember the artist's name, but he became quite famous in the '80's
and I saw some additional pieces in Harvard's Fogg Museum and other places.
Returning to RP reality for a moment: Elaine once suggested that color be
accomplished in a secondary process and I think she's right. While there is
no doubt that true color RP would be the ultimate goal, it ain't gonna happen
for a while for economic reasons. I'd suggest that combining an appropriate
inkjet head with the RP technology developed by BPM (7? -axis robotic head)
might offer an interesting interim solution that would stimulate the market
for color. This solution would have the advantage of possibly being able to
color any RP model from any process - and doing face painting, as well.
There would be problems to solve with respect to fiduciary referencing and
accuracy, and probably ink chemistry problems too. However, it would be a
lot faster and cheaper than trying to develop true color RP, and potentially
might have a wider market that just RP.
> Why haven't one of you artists offered this service to consumers using a
> multiplicity of SB's? They bronze baby shoes, don't they? I don't know
why,
> but they do.
BG: For my part, the main reason I'm not doing it is that I'm
undercapitalized and otherprioritized. To make money out of a $60K a
box that's going be dead obsolete in three years, you have to be ready
to let it take over your life, able to market your niche like a wild
ape, and (as in any business) prepared to eat the cost if it fails.
EG: Don't buy it - buy spare time on it from a service bureau just like you
are doing now.
BG: Hey, with this technology you can bronze the whole baby.
EG: I would add to your list, personalized skeets.
BG: Here's a question: is anything being done with glass? It seems as
though if you can make a metal object it ought to be possible to make
a glass object, and I could think of some very nice uses for that.
EG: Glass isn't easy to get into a plastic state. Nothing I'm aware of in
true RP, but there have been at least a couple of artists who've discovered
plate glass LOM. A couple of pieces exhibited at the Boston MFA about 2
years ago were pretty startling in their 3-dimensionality although they were
made of limited paint strokes on a relatively small number of glass panes.
Regards,
Ed
Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
19 Pondview Road
Arlington, MA 02474 USA
781-646-6280 (voice or fax)
EdGrenda@aol.com (email)
http://home.att.net/~castleisland/
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