VizWorld.com

Last week at SC11 I saw the “ZCorp” 3D Printer in the Intel booth.  It’s a great 3D printer that natively prints in-color models, and they showed it on the floor printing fake-wood airplane propellers (to go with Intel’s Flight Simulator), along with wrenches and multimeter designs.  I had planned to write it up, but just found out that ZCorp is no-more, being acquired by 3D Systems.

“Z Corporation, the leader in multi-color inkjet 3D printing, today announced that it will be acquired by 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD), becoming the first company capable of delivering an integrated platform of mixed 3D printing technologies, 3D content, and 3D design services. The news is part of a wider announcement today in which the Contex Group, a subsidiary of Ratos AB, announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its subsidiaries, Z Corporation and VIDAR Systems, to 3D Systems Corporation for USD 137m in cash. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.”

3D Systems has really been on the merger-run lately, acquiring lots of companies. ZCorp seems to have one of the better 3D Printers I’ve seen, so now hopefully 3D Systems can add in some extra software to improve their model management capabilities.

via 3D Systems Adds a Bit More Color, Plan to Acquire ZCorp – SolidSmack.com.

Hardware 3d, 3d systems, printer, zcorp

Folks in the printing industry might want to pay attention to Gandy’s new Grand Format Digital Printer they’ll be premiering at the SGIA show in Las Vegas.  Named the ‘Pred8tor’ (someone in marketing is playing too much online Halo, methinks), it can print a 4x8ft rigit sheet at 1200dpi in under a minute.

“Everything is new on the Pred8tor”, says James Gandy, “at the design stage we wanted a total revolutionary new digital printer in everyway, from the mechanics and software, to the end user’s experience. We wanted to make things simpler to use without compromising quality and still push the boundaries. We wanted to deliver technology that was ubiquitous but not obtrusive, it works seamlessly behind the scenes, and still remains in full control, these are the best types of advanced technologies”, I believe we’ve achieved this and more.

Another whiz-bang feature is that the entire rig can be controlled from an iPad.

The Pred8tor is also be the first commercially distributed Grand Format Digital Printer that is fully controlled by an interface delivered on the iPad. Using the iPad allows the operator full freedom to control, monitor and work anywhere around the printer. The new interface will monitor many aspects of the printer behind the scenes and alert the user. Built in diagnostics, documentation, video tutorials and more all come as standard.

Of course, you can also control it via a web interface or software GUI.  Get the full release after the break, or visit their booth (#573) at SGIA next week.

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Hardware gandy, printer