[GregBuchholz]

Free startup idea for the day. 3D design software for the masses. It seems to cover lots of the bases in the article. I feel the need for this right now (just this weekend I wanted to print out a plastic part to fix the broken piece on my lawn mower). 3D printing seems to be an up-and-coming area. The hardware for this is still being perfected, but the software seems further behind. There are lots of competitors making 3D modeling software, ranging from FOSS to the ultra-expensive enterprise-y, but they all seem to have a very steep learning curve. Most people who are going to own 3D printers aren't going to want to dedicate their live to learning the intricacies of 3D CAD. Ideally, I'd think the software would be based on photogammetry [1], which would allow you to take pictures of an object you want to copy, but allowing you to make tweaks (i.e. extend the portion that is missing because it broke off, etc). Think of the MS-Paint for 3D objects. I think it covers the unsexy and schlep aspects, since it seems doable, but would take a lot of tedious work. It seems like it could start out very focused at first, and expand from there.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry

[gfodor]

Problem with 3d printing (and one blemish on this otherwise fantastic essay) is that 3d printing related stuff I think is too sexy to be a good startup idea. Much like video games or developer tools, it's too meta and every nerd on the Earth who has read any sci-fi would jump at the chance to work on these types of problems.

That's not to say that being an employee of a company working on these wouldn't be a lot of fun, if that's your thing. But founding a company around sexy technology is more about self-indulgence than trying to create a wealth generating enterprise.

[frabcus]

My experience makes me think you're not right.

I worked on what I, at the time, called software to do "3D printing" in the late 1990s. CAM - Computer Assisted Machining - software. (It was CNC drilling, not additive sintering).

Sure, it was very expensive (like a mainframe), not cheap (like a PC). However, it definitely wasn't sexy. Nobody, not even sci-fi nerds, was jumping to work on that type of problem.

It's actually quite schlepy, at least the part we did. Lots of maths and problems with floating point rounding errors, and weird edge cases of strange shapes.

Bet there are plenty of schlepy bits in the new, cheap world of 3D printing. We're certainly early enough, it has nowhere near even begun to play out.

[jbarham]

> 3D design software for the masses

https://tinkercad.com/

[PanMan]

This! I'm convinced 3D printing will become a lot cheaper, but until I played with tinkercad last weekend I thought the design of objects would be really complex. Here it's quite easy!

[chubot]

My friend had this idea about a year and a half ago. Any programmer who gets involved in 3D printing does, because the software is so primitive. It's like random unmaintained tools you download for Windows only with Windows 95 UIs. Or AutoCAD, which does 1000x more than you need and is hard to learn.

The main problem I see is that development is going to be hugely expensive. It's an inherently complex problem domain. You need people who know hardware and 3D modelling. And you need people who can design UIs. There's a reason AutoCAD costs so much!

Someone will do it eventually. But it will be interesting to see how they are able to make it affordable and still make money. I know about Tinkercad but don't know what their plans are.

[tarr11]

Since everyone is on the 3D thing ... What about a Kinko's for 3D printing?

[GregBuchholz]

http://www.shapeways.com/ probably the closest to the Kinko's of 3D printing.

[pizza_boy]

Check out ponoko (http://www.ponoko.com/).

[jQueryIsAwesome]

Nobody uses MS-paint to actually solving a problem of theirs, its prevalence is only because is the free bitmap editor that it comes pre-installed in Windows; you actually hace to learn Photoshop, Fireworks or other software to be able to solve decently your problem.

Furthermore I think SketchUp[0] is already a solution for this kind of problem, is extremely easy to use; trought I have to admit that it could improve with some tools specifically for photogammetry and 3D printing.

[0] http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/index.html