

3D-print a Norwegian fjord from your browser - wilhelm
http://terrafab.bengler.no/

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joeframbach
Arthur Dent: Are you telling me you originally made the Earth?

Slartibartfast: Oh, yes. Did you ever go to a place - I think it was called
Norway?

Arthur Dent: No. No, I didn't.

Slartibartfast: Pity. That was one of mine. Won an award, you know. Lovely
crinkly edges.

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mkl
"genuine gypsum heirloom mantelpiece display replica"

3D printing is only going to get cheaper and more accessible - I think pretty
soon that "heirloom" is going to look like a dollar-store trinket.

Still, aside from the hyperbole this is a pretty neat idea, and New Zealand
certainly has some landscapes worth this treatment too (including fjords,
even). Australia has some impressive cliff forms that would work; seems like
thousands of areas worldwide.

~~~
BerislavLopac
Reminds me of the old aluminium cutlery...

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kawsper
This is really nice, I wanted to get a version of Nordkapp for my father, but
I feel that $100 is a bit to pricey for a 10cmx10cm version.

Nice project, and very nice with their partnership with Shapeways.

Exporting their model, and uploading it on Shapeways gives me a price of 42.65
EUR ($57.59) including shipping.

~~~
evenwestvang
We've deployed a fix for the pricing model capping markup at $20. Does that
feel about right?

~~~
kawsper
Yeah, that seems more right, thanks for answering so fast.

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maaaats
Heh, it says "removing trolls" when generating the preview (after clicking get
it printed)

I walked Besseggen last summer [1] and the model [2] for that looks pretty
accurate with the huge drop on both sides down to two different waters.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walking_on_Besseggen.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walking_on_Besseggen.jpg)
[2]
[http://terrafab.bengler.no/preview?box=164077.08468046575,68...](http://terrafab.bengler.no/preview?box=164077.08468046575,6832040.627495152,167821.9149399036,6835785.44929775|18)

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erre
So, how can I get the one with Slartibartfast's signature?

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zokier
Huh, one nice and _actually useful_ application of WebGL for once.

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TimGremalm
Are all the models signed by Slartibartfast?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast)

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diziet
I love the fact that they generate the mesh for users that have their own 3d
printers for free.

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bdickason
Thanks for posting this! Very, very cool app :) I helped create the Shapeways
API and just shared it with our dev team.

People are blown away, this is by far the best app we've seen using our API!!

Perusing your Github repo right now :D

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arethuza
Google's 3D building data for some cities (e.g. here in Edinburgh) is
incredible - I'd tempted to get a 3D printer and work out ways of printing
interesting parts of town.

Maybe my favourite mountains as well from OS data...

~~~
sambeau
I'd love to see this for Scotland. I'd be tempted to buy my favourite
Hebrides.

~~~
arethuza
What would be _really_ cool (at least for me) is to be able to print landscape
models with geological data included as well....

[e.g. the Black and Red Cuillins of Skye]

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jacquesm
Not equatorial enough.

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jacquesm
Downvoter: hand in your nerd card.

~~~
hnha
Your comment added nothing to the discussion so no. Such cheap jokes are
really not interesting.

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cgore
I like backpacking, and often spend money on topographic maps because of this
(typically from mytopo.com). I do like this site's idea. It obviously wouldn't
work as a map, but it might be nice to integrate a lot of standard topographic
map features into the models themselves. Especially if you can do it on really
small-scale areas, architects might really want it.

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jimmytidey
Presumably landscapes with gentle gradients and fewer overhangs are going to
be significantly easier to print than architecture.

~~~
DougWebb
That depends on the 3D printing technology. Some are perfectly fine with
overhangs because the medium is self-supporting, and most can handle small
overhangs at each vertical step without much trouble.

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icefox
It would have been really cool if trolltunga had shown up

[http://terrafab.bengler.no/?box=41148.01808864827,6694070.28...](http://terrafab.bengler.no/?box=41148.01808864827,6694070.280164548,42955.380242522224,6695877.163669086|19)

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r0h1n
Very interesting. But why restrict this to just landscapes? What's to prevent
someone from allowing 3D printing of _any landmark_ in the world like the Taj
Mahal, Machu Picchu, Eiffel Tower or London Eye?

Sigh, copyright I suppose.

~~~
wilhelm
The dataset they use is the just-released public Norwegian map data. There are
few man-made landmarks in the local topography. (c:

~~~
r0h1n
Oh, okay. But assuming we get there, in terms of the dataset, do you reckon it
would be legal for a service to offer 3D printing of famous landmarks?

~~~
mjn
It would almost certainly depend on the country, but if the structure has some
kind of copyright, miniature replicas would likely not be legal without
permission.

In some countries, building facades and similar can be copyrighted, which is
mostly discussed in the context of photography. Some countries have an
exception called "freedom of panorama", which gives some fair-use rights for
photographs of things that can be photographed from a public street. How broad
such permission is varies: in some jurisdictions it's fairly broad permission,
while in other countries it may only apply to photographs of a general street
scene that contains the building as one element, but may not apply to detailed
architectural photography focused on a particular building.

But that's only for photography, at least so far, not for 3d reproductions. To
take an existing area where the distinction between the two comes up, in some
jurisdictions you can take (and sell) photographs of sculptures that are
installed in public squares under freedom-of-panorama, but still cannot sell
_reproductions_ of the sculpture, whether full-size or miniature, if it's new
enough to be copyrighted.

The above doesn't typically to things old enough to be out of copyright, like
Big Ben, or Rodin sculptures, though I wouldn't be surprised if some
jurisdictions have special-case laws about use of their famous landmarks.

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andreer
Very neat. I'm ordering a print of my home town. Then we can add pins to show
where our house, where grandparents live, etc. I'm sure the kids will enjoy
it.

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thomax
Sweet! The number of places I want to visit just increased!

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DanBC
It'd be ace if I could 3d print the moon at some sensible scale. Or Mars.

~~~
T-hawk
They wouldn't be that interesting. Planetary sized bodies are really spherical
(oblate of course.) Even Olympus Mons at 22 km height is only 0.3% of Mars's
diameter of 6700 km. If your Mars model was a meter wide, the biggest mountain
would protrude for all of 3 mm worth of relief on the surface.

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rileyteige
I, for one, was expecting a horse.

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adamsch
just saw the print in real life in the Bengler office, looks awesome

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kristofferj
Wow!

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marincounty
physibles

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thenomad
Not, I'm assuming, life-sized.

