Dimension 3D Printer Used as Output Device for Google Earth
Swedish Design Company Constructs Stockholm City Model in Fraction of Time with Help from Dimension and Google Earth
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Dimension 3D Printing Group, a business unit of Stratasys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSYS), reports that Mitekgruppen (Mitek-group), a Swedish design firm hired to create a 3D model of the city of Stockholm, Sweden, completed the project in a fraction of the normal time by using a Dimension 3D printer and Google Earth.
One of Sweden's largest daily newspapers recently reported that the 157 square-foot replica was the second most visited exhibit in the country last year. Until recently, the exhibit was displayed at Stockholm's Kulturhuset (The Culture House) in Stockholm's city center. It is currently being stored and readied for shipment to another, yet-to-be determined, location within Sweden.
To construct the Stockholm model, Mitekgruppen used aerial photos and drawings to create the city's buildings in a computer aided design (CAD) program. Where aerial photos and drawings weren't available, designers relied on Google Earth to prepare these CAD files for the 3D printer. The CAD files were then sent to the 3D printer to produce models of Stockholm's buildings. The finished building replicas where then positioned, secured and hand painted along with other landscape features including bridges, cars, boats trains and trees.
Combining the information from the photos, drawings and Google Earth with Dimension's accurate models, the replica was completed in under six months months. Mitekgruppen is currently engaged in discussions with other cities in Sweden to create similar city models.
"A handmade model of this scale would have been a tremendous time investment," said Martin Jonsson, co-owner and designer at Mitekgruppen. "Similar city replicas have taken years to construct. With the Dimension 3D printer and the images we gathered from Google Earth, a project that could have taken years to finished was completed in a matter of months."
Other companies have used the Dimension 3D printer to create neighborhood models within cities. Gordon Ingram Associates (GIA), a U.K. based lighting consultancy firm, used a Dimension to generate scaled 3D models of areas in central London, allowing interested parties the ability to witness the effects of light on the buildings in the cityscape.
"The Dimension 3D printer offers a significant advantage to organizations looking to model architectural projects and cityscapes in a short amount of time," said Jon Cobb, vice president and general manager of 3D printing for Stratasys. "We are excited to see how design and architectural firms use the Dimension 3D printer to produce these complex replicas so efficiently. The use of Google Earth for these projects is exciting, especially where aerial maps and drawings are unavailable or fall short of giving designers the information they need to create accurate replicas."
High-resolution images of the Stockholm City model are available at www.dimensionprinting.com.
For more information about Mitekgruppen, visit www.mitekgruppen.se.
About The Dimension 3D Printing Group
The Dimension 3D Printing Group is a business unit of Stratasys, Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minn. Dimension 3D printers - which include the Elite, the Dimension 1200 Series and Dimension 768 Series - are networked, desktop modeling systems that provide CAD (Computer-Aided-Design) users a fast, office-friendly, low-cost alternative for building functional 3D prints. Dimension 3D printers build accurate models layer by layer using durable ABS plastic, allowing users to not only evaluate design concepts, but test 3D prints for functionality, form and fit. As the first large format desktop 3D printer that sells for less than $30,000, Dimension incorporates many key features found in modeling systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars more.
Source: Stratasys
Released March 1, 2007