

Microsoft’s 3D Builder Comes to Windows 8.1 - ThomPete
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2013/11/15/microsoft-s-3d-builder-comes-to-windows-8-1.aspx

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LukeWalsh
Reminds me of what iMovie did when it shipped native on Mac. When I was
younger it gave me an opportunity to play around with video editing software,
and really lowered the barrier to entry.

I would love for this to do something similar in 3D printing where kids might
not know where to start, but happen to open up the app and play around.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
For a Windows analogy, the Movie Maker of 3D Printing?

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swalsh
I recently started using Google Sketch-up as I've been learning woodworking.
Its not the first time I used a CAD or 3D modelling application. I went to
high school in a blue collar town, and the local industry bought a bunch of
CNC machines for the school. As part of that we learned how to use Auto CAD. I
also used lightwave 3D, and 3D studio max (through less than legal means...)

but these latest programs are really making the process dead simple. I'm
excited to see the stuff people make with these applications as they become
easier to use, and more prevalent.

~~~
jianshen
I'm an avid Sketch-up user (printing primarily with the Replicator 2) but I've
been super impressed by www.tinkercad.com lately.

It's browser based (WebGL) but surprisingly powerful.

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math0ne
This is a nicely done windows 8.1 app. Playing with it right now and it really
has polish and usability, much more so than any other consumer 3d design
program I've ever seen.

EDIT, maybe design program is a little strong, more like 3d manipulation.

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newsreader
This is very good news. Getting a 3D printer is not in my immediate future but
OS support for something like this is always a good thing.

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mtsmithhn
I hope it includes a NSFW filter in the parts library. There are things little
Johnny should not be able to print.

~~~
gpcz
They can filter the parts library, but if Little Johnny heard of something at
school and made his own design, I don't see how the system can prevent that
short of a parental lockout / corporate approval system where every printed
part must be approved before printing. Even then, the most determined hacker-
kids will figure out how to subvert that system.

~~~
justncase80
It looks like it only has a small set of built-in models, then the rest are
file imports from somewhere on your machine. It doesn't seem to connect to an
online store of models at this point.

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netcraft
anyone know what kind of files this thing can export to?

~~~
justncase80
I think it imports files, then prints them. I don't think it does modeling on
it's own.

~~~
math0ne
You can do very simple manipulation of 3d objects, resizing moving etc.

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forgottenpaswrd
Looks like a copy of Ultimaker's cura(which is opensource) combined with a
copy of thingiverse integrated in the same program.

This is what MS does best, copying someone else idea that already works, and
putting money onto it.

It seems that MS is going to put some hundred millions into this as they
realized this is the future.

~~~
dragontamer
On the surface, perhaps. But as far as I know, Microsoft 8.1 is the only
operating system with a standard 3D Printer API defined.

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/dn26313...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/dn263137.aspx)

Microsoft may not have any innovation in the end-product (its not like any of
us expect MS Paint to be "innovative"), but the OS-perspective, they are years
ahead of both Mac and Linux. Of course, a de-facto 3d Printing API may
eventually be developed for *nix systems, but Microsoft's standardization upon
a 3d Printing API puts them far ahead of the curve on this one.

\--------------

For other tidbits of OS Innovation, Transactional Filesystems (yeah, its
deprecated, but word on the street is that next-generation ReFS is going to
support it), User-mode Schedulers, WebSocket supported in the BSD Socket
layer, and more.

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/bb96...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/bb968806\(v=vs.85\).aspx)
[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/dd62...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/dd627187\(v=vs.85\).aspx)
[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/hh43...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/hh437448\(v=vs.85\).aspx)

Microsoft's main product is the Windows OS, and they seem to continue to
innovate in this sector. Adding 3D Printing support to the OS is only a good
thing!

~~~
mckoss
I think you could argue that including a 3d printing api in the os is
premature at this point. It could do more harm than good to get in between
applications and their target devices when 3d modeling file formats are not
yet mature.

~~~
math0ne
I think the level of polish and usabbility this has combines with the standard
printing interface will be good for 3d printing in general.

A normal user can now download this 3d printing app and make the realization
they could print a custom train set for their kid right now on this device
with no fuss if they had a OTC 3d printer.

Pretty cool stuff.

