3D printing coming to.... Photoshop?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looks like it: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/15/adobe-partners-with-markerbot-and-shapeways-to-bring-3d-printing-support-to-photoshop-adds-perspective-warp-tool-resets-30-day-trials/

[DKS]

While you could always create basic 3D models in Photoshop, it’s clearly not a tool that was designed for this job, and Adobe freely acknowledges this. Because of this, the company assumes that you are bringing in models from a third-party tool and then finishing them in Photoshop. This means adding textures to these models, for example, and doing the kind of image manipulation fine-tuning that the product is best known for.

Which means I have to ask: what value is adding photo-textures to a 3D model? I'm just scratching my head and wondering what real value this is over learning a true 3D rendering tool, other than a big marketing co-op between Adobe and MakerBot...

[pnolan48]

Stop-gap announcement by Adobe, until they buy something for 3-D. Yawn!

[wcfn100]

The 3D prep tools look like they could be useful with each printer having their own profiles for support structures and such.  You might also be able to see what issues your model might have across different printers or see which printer might be best for a certain model.   And multicolor prints are going to be popular.  PS will certainly have an edge over any 3D package in regards to mapping that out.

I also like the idea of a better front end to Shapeways.  The current one doesn't provide any real feed back about your model. You just have to send it and wait and see.


Jason

[3rdboxcar]

I also like the idea of a better front end to Shapeways.  The current one doesn't provide any real feed back about your model. You just have to send it and wait and see.

Jason

I am struggling on that one, what I draw and upload is what I get back or am I missing something.

[DKS]

I am struggling on that one, what I draw and upload is what I get back or am I missing something.

You've been lucky. Everything submitted to Shapeways must be verified as printable. This step is done by them offline; there is no automated means whereby this can be done by the user. The result is either you receive your part, or you get an (often obtuse) email informing you it can't be printed. It would be nice (and I should think more efficient for them) to make the user interface intelligent enough to perform this step in an interactive fashion, rather than have a human do this while you anxiously wait...

[Zox]

It would be nice (and I should think more efficient for them) to make the user interface intelligent enough to perform this step in an interactive fashion, rather than have a human do this while you anxiously wait...

However, the ability to do this depends on the ability to integrate the software they're using with a user-friendly Web-based interface. If they didn't write their own software, don't have enough money to make it worthwhile for the software company that did, and can't find other software that does integrate nicely, they're probably stuck with a manual process.

Imagine, for example, trying to integrate Microsoft Word as the message-editing tool within The Railwire. It's not going to happen unless Steve Ballmer comes forth from his hidden fortress within Mount Saint Helens and orders Microsoft to make Railwire integration a priority.

[C855B]

"Pre-flight check" software existed in the Postscript output days (early high-res 2D printing). Hi-res output was expensive then and you couldn't rely on your office laser-printer at 300dpi, and sometimes a non-Adobe rendering engine, to proof your final output. This was especially important if you were shooting for color separations with traps in vector artwork, or even just halftones.

That's a long way of saying, if there isn't such pre-flight software available today for 3D printing, I suspect somebody will write something sooner or later.

[DKS]

That's a long way of saying, if there isn't such pre-flight software available today for 3D printing, I suspect somebody will write something sooner or later.

Exactly. As Shapeways continues to grow, it will almost certainly become a necessity, since the ROI of having humans do it continues to drop as the volume of work increases. Furthermore, the pre-flight process doesn't need to be integrated into the web application. The web interface can simply hand off the finished drawing to a verification application on the server and receive back a go/no-go status, preferably with at least a minimal description of the error(s) if no-go. This kind of client/server software model is widely prevalent (indeed, I wrote a fair bit of software that worked this way).

[tom mann]

It's not going to happen unless Steve Ballmer comes forth from his hidden fortress within Mount Saint Helens and orders Microsoft to make Railwire integration a priority.

He signed up here but I rejected his membership...I didn't want a forum that would have to work on the Zune.

[Zox]

Furthermore, the pre-flight process doesn't need to be integrated into the web application. The web interface can simply hand off the finished drawing to a verification application on the server and receive back a go/no-go status, preferably with at least a minimal description of the error(s) if no-go.

That "hand off and receive back"? I'd call that integrated, myself. 

Unfortunately, an awful lot of software these days, especially GUI-based software, can't do that sort of integration. The only way to get a file into those programs is to click on "File/Open," and the only way to get a status out of them is to copy-and-paste.

That's all I meant to say in my earlier post--if Shapeways doesn't have control over their software development/selection, then they (and their customers) just have to grin and bear it until someone else fixes it. Ah, the joys of outsourcing core functions...

[DKS]

That "hand off and receive back"? I'd call that integrated, myself.

Hardly. The applications can be from different vendors, and even operate on different platforms. Indeed, they can even be on different servers in different countries.

Unfortunately, an awful lot of software these days, especially GUI-based software, can't do that sort of integration.

Um... I used to do this sort of thing for a living.

[Zox]

Um... I used to do this sort of thing for a living.

Me too, except scratch the "used to" part.

I think we must be working from different definitions/assumptions somewhere. It could be an interesting discussion, but better suited to a Comp-Sci board than a model railroad board, so I'm just going to bow out now. 

[wcfn100]

A little more or different info here:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/16/5312790/photoshop-cc-adds-3d-printing-support-makerbot-shapeways

some snippits -

Users won't have to worry about their model falling apart, because Photoshop will automatically generate temporary supports beneath and around their model to make sure that it doesn't collapse during printing.  It's also partnering with MakerBot and Shapeways so that Photoshop can automatically generate previews of how a model will look when it's made by any given one of their printers.

The integration is particularly useful for outputting to Shapeways, a made-to-order 3D-printing service. From inside of Photoshop, you'll be able to see what a printed model should look like when it's made with any of Shapeways' materials, from colored sandstone to solid bronze. The app will even estimate how much the print job will cost.

Jason